My dad is one of those "worryingly concerned about self-defense" boomers and I got an LED/lithium ion maglite-ish flashlight last year for Christmas.

It still doubles as a bludgeon and it's rechargeable and puts out like 5k lumens, so while I didn't think I needed anything like it, it's quite handy if you live in the mountains like I do. Nothing scares off a couple coyotes or a bear like just blasting them in the retina with a high-end LED photon cannon (short of an actual shotgun with bean bag rounds like my neighbor uses)

I had a couple of maglites around the house for years. Never thought of getting batteries because they only last about two or three months sitting and then only about a few hours of actual use as lights. So they sat empty of batteries for years.

Heard of the led conversion and now my lights last forever and double as a security bat. Never thought of getting lithium batteries for them ... once I do that they'll be flashlights for life.

And to think I was just going to throw them away because I had given up on them ever being useful.

Does that make them more or less effective for beating in a face?

I've got a 4D Mag but just can't justify the expense of the conversion kit. Got one for an old gf's light and they are DOPE! But for the $70 price tag I can get a couple of super nice handhelds that weigh nothing.