I’ve been carrying a Streamlight flashlight for several years now as part of my daily EDC. They are field proven, reliable and easy to use. We’ve already covered wrapping a length of 1″ wide duct tape around the barrel of the flashlight which has come in handy on a few occasions. Today I’m going show you two other mods that make an already great flashlight even better as a fighting light.

Maximum output ALL the time

First is the programming of the light. The Streamlight Protac series lights have what they call a 10 tap programmable function. Out of the box they come with 3 modes (High, Strobe, low). As a fighting flashlight I don’t really care for the strobe or low output. I want the flashlight to have only one high function everytime I depress the tail cap. Thankfully Streamlight has a program in their lights for that. To program the light to only use the High output, press the tailcap 10 times and on the 10th press hold it down until the light turns off. Thats it! Now everytime you press the tailcap it will be on the high lumen output, no matter how many times you press it. Pretty handy in a stressful violent encounter.

Always maintain a positive grip on the light

The second tip is to use a piece of shockcord as a lanyard. The primary advantage this provides is retention. By stretching the shockcord over the back of your hand and over the front of the light allows you to always have retention of the light even if you don’t have a solid grip on it. This comes in handy for weapons manipulations or close quarters hand to hand fighting.

Bonus tip: Fueled up and ready to go

Also always be sure to replace/recharge your flashlight batteries the 1st of every month to ensure you’re taking advantage of the maximum output of the flashlight when you need it.