Our friends’ daughter is doing an internship in Washington DC and asked me to recommend something. I have no experience with pepper sprays. I think Sabre is highly rated. Any recommendations? Brands? Regular spray, stream, gel?

Thanks for any suggestions.

Gave my daughters Saber brand a few years back. Thankfully they have not been needed (but stepson did test his sister’s on himself - hilarity ensued).

small can of wasp & hornet spray.

In the past, I recall Fox Labs was recommended here. https://foxlabs.com/

1000% spray

Spray shoots a wide stream and gets everywhere, but because of that you're more likely under stress to have it actually get into the eyes and nose of your intended target.

Gel was designed for an a detention setting and shoots a very tight stream so as not to contaminate everything around where it is deployed, but requires accuracy and in real life, like where the target is moving and not in a small room, is much harder to get it where it needs to go.

A guy at my department decided to order gel rather than spray one year. It was an abysmal failure the few times someone tried to use it. Unless you work in a jail or a hospital stick with spray.

Another option, and probably the best one for her, is a PepperBall Blast. I think they're selling them on Amazon right now. You can watch YouTube videos of how it is used.

No matter what you buy her get a couple canisters of inert to let her try to using it. The last time you want to figure out how something works is under the stress of real use.

...we issue both DefTech and Sabre.

It's basically 6 of one or a half dozen the other.

quote:

Originally posted by roarindan:
small can of wasp & hornet spray.

Jesus Christ.

Stop recommending this nonsense. It does absolutely nothing. Some idiot went on TV 20 years ago and recommended this and it's been going around ever since. It actually does nothing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eY5mP88c28

quote:

Originally posted by KevH:
A guy at my department decided to order gel rather than spray one year. It was an abysmal failure the few times someone tried to use it. Unless you work in a jail or a hospital stick with spray.

I used to work in prisons and jails and I have sprayed hundreds of people and seen thousands of people sprayed in my career. There were some crazy weeks where I probably sprayed 20 people that week.

At one point I was issued the pepper gel. It works slower than regular spray. The agitated party doesn't notice any effects for about 5 seconds, and then it hits them HARD. Gel is the hottest formula. It comes at the highest concentrations. I wouldnt say gel is a fail, as it does work, it just takes longer.

That being said, I highly prefer a stream spray of the hottest or mid hottest formulas.


I really like this stuff. It works. They come in 4 strengths, 0.2, 0.4,0.7, or 1.3. All will work perfect. I tend to buy the 1.2 or 0.7.


https://www.defense-technology...3-stream-oc-aerosol/
https://www.defense-technology...3-stream-oc-aerosol/

quote:

Originally posted by bubbatime:

quote:

Originally posted by roarindan:
small can of wasp & hornet spray.

Jesus Christ.

Stop recommending this nonsense.

This x 1000

It's like the folks on the interwebs advocating for stocking your trauma kit with tampons.

Is a tampon or wasp spray better than nothing, if that's all you have and you're having to make do? Sure. Maybe.

But it's not something to purposely buy and keep around when you have the opportunity to acquire the actual real purpose-made item to have on hand when needed.

A sharp stick is better than harsh words for self defense if you absolutely must and that's all you have on hand, but you wouldn't purposely buy and carry around a sharp stick when there are way better options available.

quote:

Originally posted by bubbatime:

At one point I was issued the pepper gel. It works slower than regular spray. The agitated party doesn't notice any effects for about 5 seconds, and then it hits them HARD. Gel is the hottest formula. It comes at the highest concentrations. I wouldnt say gel is a fail, as it does work, it just takes longer.

No argument from me there! It works just fine for its intended purpose.

Where it absolutely sucks is in a patrol setting, especially outside.

Let's say in a city park with a drunk dude who stripped his shirt off and is posturing and challenging the cops to fight...distance is about ten to fifteen feet and he's bobbing around.

...or an angry group of late teen idiots fighting in a parking garage where we want to use it to break up the fight.

...or filling up a small space, like a car, where the guy refuses to get out (it just sticks to the dashboard and does nothing).

Those are all real world scenarios where I personally watched gel fail where spray worked.

Giving it to my daughter, the OP's question, I have to recommend spray with absolute certainty, over gel.

There’s pepper spray for bears, but I’ve not heard of one for young women. Maybe the one for bears would work?

WRT the OP about his friend's daughter in DC. It appears that DC has significant restrictions on the carry of self-defense sprays, including pepper sprays, and anything that can be used for self-defense. In particular, they must be registered with the police upon initial possession, and the registrant must be over 18YO. I think there are restrictions on capacity and formulation as well. Best to check this out before purchase and carry.

There's another thing about DC. The young lady is far more likely to be accosted/assaulted/abducted by a group of young men (and/or girls) rather than a lone assailant. Some form of refuse to be a victim training is advised.

Thanks for the info and recommendations. Just to be clear, we want the "spray" as opposed to the "gel", but we're not looking for a "blast" or "mist" or something of that nature? It seems like the spray still requires a fair aim, but does it branch out to a broader stream as opposed to staying very narrow and focused?

I will suggest buying extra to try, or the inert if it's available.

EDIT: I see that Defense Technology makes a "cone" spray as well as a "stream". Would y'all recommend the "cone"?

quote:

Originally posted by roarindan:
small can of wasp & hornet spray.

Worst advice ever .

Any major brand, Sabre, deftech, exit, etc. get it in the 2oz can with the clip and get the stream vs fog and don’t get the gel it takes too long to work.

You don’t need UV or dye to mark people. Just hose em down in the eyes and face until the can runs out, then unass the area.

If my daughter was in DC (and I know they have rules against it) I’d give her one, and I’d tell her to keep her mouth shut about it. It doesn’t come out unless you gotta use it. Don’t tell the badguy about it either. And remember to always have a plan B, like running or fighting back.

I was a cop for 18 years and got sprayed in the CG when I did boardings. I’ve beeen sprayed at least a hundred times, it’s not the end all that you may think it to be-but it’s better than nothing.

When you buy, you want the highest schoville measurement you can get (that’s the heat measurement) some companies express it by percentage. So the higher the better. I think I have a can of 2% and it’s horribly bad stuff. Bear stuff is 11% IIRC

Also tell her it doesn’t work on dogs like it does people, in case that’s an idea.
https://www.amazon.com/Vexor-P...s_id=3222129011&th=1

This Fox Labs stuff is the one you want.

https://foxlabs.com/products/one-point-four-1

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
There’s pepper spray for bears, but I’ve not heard of one for young women. Maybe the one for bears would work?

Ok, I caught that one!

Fox, Saber and Def Tec.
I'd go with the Def Tec gel like Bubbatime talked about.
It takes an extra second or two, but man, does it work.
If they have one with a dye in it, get that.
"Who was the Offender?"
"The blue dude that's crying his eyes out"