>a weapon of some sort
Well, just about anything can be used as a weapon... ummm, but yeah, like Jason said, this one makes for a pretty good weapon.... unless it's attached to the end of my shotgun, in which case, you got other things to worry about:)
But that's not really why I bought it. Flashlights are just handy to have around. I keep them in the car, under the seat of my motorcycle, with my camping equipment, in my nightstand, etc, just like Leatherman tools.... I must have 3 of those floating around too.
This one uses lithium batteries with a shelf life of 10 yrs, which helps with making sure its ready when you need it, and it really shines like a huge mag light but it can fit in your shirt pocket. The button on the end cap helps with one handed operation. I also like that it has a high and a low output so you can use it to work without blinding yourself. And unlike my other flashlights, it's also designed to take shock, so it can be attached to gun.
We've had 2 instances in this house where something crashed and woke us up and I ended up having to clear the house before my girl would go back to sleep... and for some reason the light switches are not close to our room, so you have some darkness to deal with until you can start flipping switches. Normally, I can negotiate the obstacles at night by memory but when I came out barrel first, I realized I really couldn't see anything and decided it was time to add a hands free weapons light to the Mossberg.
Anyway, I have a short list of consumer garbage that I like, but am too cheap to buy, and decided I was going to scratch another off the list. I think the only other thing on it now is a small pair of Zeiss binoculars I could use for bird watching, or whatever, that I've wanted since I was like 12yrs old.