Maglite Heavy-Duty Incandescent 6-Cell D Flashlight, Black - S6D016

No it's not the latest LED technology. With a lot of batteries it lasts a long time. I use it at work to open the gate and do my truck inspection. Being big has its advantages. If I am ever somewhere that I need to bang someone on the head I have this.

Maybe you're a cop or security guard, maybe you're a guy who lives in a place where you can't carry a firearm, maybe you're just someone looking to fill the 'use of force' void that exists between shooting someone the bird and shooting them between the eyes. Any way you look at it, lets not beat around the bush here... Anyone buying this light is doing so for one reason only, the 'light' aspect being totally secondary to that one reason. It's a club that doubles as a flashlight.So, how do we judge it on the objective criteria?As a whuppin' stick, it definitely works- so well that some 'kinder, gentler' Police Departments don't even allow it anymore. Kind of a bummer that they discontinued the thinner 6C; barring finding one second hand and paying a real scalpers price for it, the 5D/6D is the pretty much the only 'in production' option in the Mag line for a "big defensive flashlight" but that's OK. Unless you have very small hands, the 6D is perfectly controllable.It's big. Really, really big. The light itself is about 19.5" long- a foot and a half- in total. When weighted down with cels, it's heavy, too.You will want to tread lightly with this, as it definitely would generate enough striking force to fracture a skull, break bones. Be damn sure you're legally justified to use it, if you ever do use it. You can hurt someone with it. It's does cut a pretty intimidating profile. Walking around with one, it's almost as if you're carrying a bat. In some situations, this is OK. In other situations, where drawing attention to yourself isn't the desired outcome, you'd definitely want to leave this one home (in this regard, probably worth noting that given its weight, this is essentially a two handed club. I'm a large guy who has decent enough working strength- swinging a six D-cel flashlight with one hand is pretty slow going. Slow enough that you might risk your adversary grabbing on to it)As far as brightness, it's bright by 'bright enough' standards. Not bright enough to impress flashlight geeks who obsess over marginally relevant technical details on internet forums, plenty bright for Average Joe to use for real world stuff. Unless something has changed, these are still shipping with incandescent bulbs, which aren't anywhere near as bright as a good LED (for example, the Maglite 3d LED torch is significantly brighter)... of course, let us not forget the reason we bought this in the first place. The 'flashlight' part is a secondary consideration, or, a primary consideration inasmuch as it allows us to carry it around in places where the same thing absent the flashlight function would be considered an unlawful bludgeon or club.If you want to juice the light aspect up to balls-out bright, terralux makes an upgrade that turns the thing into a portable sun... It's pricey- three times the cost of the light itself- but it does add a monumental upgrade in brightness (700 lumens), which can be quite practical. If you shine that into someones face, they're either turning away, or, if they're really determined to keep advancing, they'll be doing so blinded and/or with their eyes closed, at which point we option the 'club' functionality.I don't throw around the five star rating too often, but this is a five star piece. Right now, as of October 2010, with Amazon free shipping on purchases over 25, you can get one shipped to your door for right at 25 bucks. Is this worth 25 bucks? Hell yeah.

I just purchased some of these along with some 3 -cell LED units.as donations to some mobile Haitian police force officers who patrol the tent cities at night from jeeps and four-wheel drive vehicles. There may be some more advanced units out there but I have been using these for twenty-two years now and my love for them has not diminished. I now have them stationed with tool boxes in the U.S.A., Venezuela and Haiti. I have used them in rain storms and all kinds of other inclement weather with no problems. Ever. When one breaks one of these out the pure visual impact is hard to imagine when people see them even in the U.S.A. but especially in foreign countries. Definitely an ice breaker!!!! I have replaced the standard bulbs with the 140 and 220 Lumen LED bulbs and man are these things even more powerful, especially with the 220 lumen bulb. You can't let people point it at someone's face as it can temporarily blind somebody for more than a few seconds. The 6-cells allow for this unit to literally piece the darkness like a 12-volt Q-beam. It is quite the thing to illuminate a patch of jungle or possibly a deserted housing or warehouse lot. The length is perfect for allowing the body of the flashlight to rest on one's shoulder (especially the officers in those aforementioned truck beds) while either pivoting it slightly right to left or moving ones whole upper torso. This does reduce fatigue as with 6 quality D cells the weight is substantial though not over-powering. The one thing to remember is that it eats batteries at a very high rate if one is using the original bulbs. That is the reason for my usage of the LED bulbs .The only other thing that I have found over the years is that if one leaves the batteries in a hot vehicle the batteries will explode causing them to jam in the body after chemicals corrode the aluminum body. To this end I remove the batteries or the whole unit and store it in a cooler location. I also coat the inside of the unit and the end cap threads with a light anti-corrosive or spray oil to keep this issue at bay should I forget to do the former. Other than that no problems. Makes a nice nut cracker or light hammer, too. One more thing, don't leave them out of your sight and in plain view even at your house or they will disappear! Such is their appeal.