Stun Gun Hype/Myth & Batteries

My wife is a late night bartender. I am not on the payroll, but I make sure I am there from 9:00 until close to act as bouncer if the need arises ( The bar owners are too cheap to hire a real bouncer ). We have developed a two staged approach to deal with troublemakers. Her first line of defense is pepper spray. Since she has a bar separating her from the customers, we wanted something that could be used from a distance ....... therefore the use of a pepper spray. 

I, on the other hand, work the customer side of the bar, and anticipate being toe to toe with the troublemakers. I therefore opted for a stun gun. My requirements for a stun gun were very simple ...... I demanded the biggest, meanest, most powerful gun that will drop a troublemaker as quickly as possible. After weeks of research, I came to several conclusions. 

Primary Alkaline vs Rechargeable Batteries

The vast majority of stun guns on the market today are based on a 9 volt source of power. Most rely on a 9 volt battery, some utilize a 9 volt battery pack made up of multiple 3 volt cells. Let's compare the rechargeable vs the
Primary ( disposable ) alkaline equivalent. To minimize the size of this post, I will use only one brand for comparison purposes. However, the argument is the same for other brands. When we compare the Energizer 9 volt Alkaline to the Energizer 9 volt NiMH Rechargeable we observe the following : 

1. The rechargeable has a full charge terminal voltage of only 7.2 volts compared to a full 9 volts for the alkaline.
Advantage to the alkaline.

2. The rechargeable has a full charge capacity of 150 to 175 mAH compared to 625 mAH for the alkaline.
A big advantage to the alkaline...... almost 4 to 1. For the same current draw, the alkaline will out last the 
rechargeable 4 to 1.

3. The rechargeable has a full charge power capacity of 1.25 watt hours compared to 3.56 watt hours for alkaline.
Once again, advantage to the alkaline, this time 2 to 1. The alkaline delivers twice the power of the rechargeable.

4. The alkaline has a shelf life of years. The rechargeable has a self discharge rate of 1 to 1.5 % per day. After one month, the rechargeable will have lost 30 to 45% of its capacity. After 2 months it will have lost 60 to 90% of its capacity ....... essentially DEAD !!! I, for one, will not trust a self defense gun that could be dead in two months if I should be even the least bit forgetful. 

5. A rechargeable stun gun is always more expensive than its non rechargeable counterpart. The rechargeable battery is more expensive than its non rechargeable counterpart. And, there is an added cost for the recharger.

6. Remember that there is an added failure rate associated with the recharger. If the recharger happens to be a standalone unit, you might be able to purchase a new one if it fails. If it's built into the stun gun, forget it. Throw it away and buy a new gun. 

With all that said, any stun gun I consider will be powered by PRIMARY ALKALINE BATTERIES !!!! 
 
Now the search became a lot tougher. Why was that ? The very simple reason is that none of the stun gun manufacturers publish meaningful specifications for their guns.

What does a meaningful specification look like ? Take a look at the Taser International website and select any of their products. From the product page, click on specifications. Now that's the type of information we would all like to see. Of major insight is the "power delivered into load" specification, expressed in terms of watts. The higher the "power delivered into load" value, the greater the take down power of the gun.

I have a theory as to why the stun gun manufacturers do not publish these values : The vast majority of stun guns, from the 50,000 volt entry level, to the 2,500,000 super zappers, are powered by a single 9 volt battery. Now there is only so much power a single 9 volt battery can deliver. Can anyone honestly believe a 2,500,000 volt stun gun with a single 9 volt battery has significantly more take down power than the 50,000 volt unit with a single 9 volt battery ? Without actual specifications,I suspect that all of these single 9 volt battery units have close to the same "power delivered into load" value. If that in fact is the case, then the only marketing hype they can throw at us is "My voltage is higher than your voltage". And strangely enough, that is what we are all seeing. 

What then, is left to evaluate, when we attempt to determine the guns with the most take down power ?

Rightly or wrongly, I based my final considerations on the number of 9 volt batteries within the stun gun. And I strongly believe I am more on the side of right than I am on the side of wrong. Look at it this way : A gun with 2 batteries has twice the power capability than a gun with 1 battery. A gun with 3 batteries has three times the power capability than a gun with 1 battery. And so on .......

( Another reason I eliminated rechargeable stun guns as candidates for most take down power....... I was unable to find ANY model that provided more than a single 9 volt source. )
 
Applying selection criteria established above results in less than a hand full of stun guns with really big knock down potential :

TOP TIER

Stun Master 775,000 volt model.

This is the King Kong of stun guns, with four 9 volt batteries delivering power into your assailant.

SECOND TIER

Stun Master 625,000 volt model.
Street Wise 1,000,000 volt model ( SW1000 ).

Both of these provide lotsa power potential with three 9 volt batteries.

THIRD TIER

Street Wise 700,000 volt model ( SW700 ).
King Cobra 900,000 volt Police Model.
Sabre 500,000 volt model.
Cheetah 1,000,000 volt model ( with 2 batteries ). Not to be confused with single or rechargeable battery.

All of these utilize two nine volt batteries.

TIER 1 and TIER 2 Stun guns will give you the maximum knock down capability. I added TIER 3 for those of you that might want a smaller gun than can be had with the top 2 tiers. The trade off at the TIER 3 level : You are giving up some knock down potential for the sake of smaller size. BUT ........ the TIER 3 models are still better than the run of the mill single battery models. 

That's it folks. Hope it helps in making a decision.

Oh yeah ....... what did I end up finally buying ?

I went with the Street Wise SW1000. I did so for the simple fact that I was able to purchase a pair of the SW1000 for what a single Stun Master 775,000 would have cost me. Now I have one, and my wife has a back up behind the bar as well.