Your honest opinion on 'tactical' marketing

[Alan]

For me, it's mostly nonsense designed to separate people from their money. A 'tactical' flashlight is just a durable flashlight with aggressive branding. Tactical pens are overpriced pens. Some gear deserves the label, but 90% of it is marketing hype for regular products painted black and marked up 200%.

 

[nksmfamjp]

I like purpose built gear, but what I see is tactical often means an overbuilt design for 99% of use cases and the losers are price and weight.

 

[Deleted member 30]

I agree with what you said. They often throw in an ex military guy with some heavyweight credentials to drive the point home.....none of this stuff is of interest to me.

 

[Alan]

I like purpose built gear, but what I see is tactical often means an overbuilt design for 99% of use cases and the losers are price and weight.

I love purpose-built stuff too and sometimes tactical just means you’re carrying extra weight for no reason

 

[Alan]

I agree with what you said. They often throw in an ex military guy with some heavyweight credentials to drive the point home.....none of this stuff is of interest to me.

Spot on! It’s like a celebrity cameo selling gear you’ll never actually need or use

 

[David Marlin]

Are you talking about weapons someone would rather be seen with than use?

 

[nksmfamjp]

I love the fancy tactical slings. Then you put some super warrior on YouTube to sell it and the guy never uses any of the features of the sling to run through all of his use cases, while talking about how great the sling is!

 

[Alan]

Are you talking about weapons someone would rather be seen with than use?

Exactly, it’s all about the image. Most people buy “tactical” for looks not because it actually improves performance.

 

[Alan]

I love the fancy tactical slings. Then you put some super warrior on YouTube to sell it and the guy never uses any of the features of the sling to run through all of his use cases, while talking about how great the sling is!

Right? YouTube demos often feel like theater. There are lots of hype but zero practical testing in real hunting or shooting scenarios

 

[more_ammo]

For me, it's mostly nonsense designed to separate people from their money. A 'tactical' flashlight is just a durable flashlight with aggressive branding. Tactical pens are overpriced pens. Some gear deserves the label, but 90% of it is marketing hype for regular products painted black and marked up 200%.

There's a guy on YouTube, I can't think of his name, but he's into preparedness and all that.... However it is so refreshing in that he points out the absolute absurdity in a lot of the marketing for "tactical" gear. "Your family won't be safe unless you have x,y,z tactical night vision cqb room clearing high speed blah blah blah" never gonna happen. Not gonna be kicking in doors, not gonna be on patrol, not gonna be clearing rooms, etc.
"Would you trust your life to it" is one of THE most effective marketing gimmicks of all time.... While somewhat true.... 95% of the gear being pushed is going to sit and collect dust. At this point in time, you are pretty good to go with almost any main brand you pick.
"Don't get THAT.... It's junk"..... Because apparently it's not "duty" rated (whatever the standard for that is or isn't) and wouldn't survive jumping out of a plane, swimming to shore in the ocean, rucking through the desert to your target, and 50,000 rounds in combat!!!
Dude, I just need a gun for beside my night stand, or something to carry concealed for self defense.... I'm not going to the trenches in Ukraine.
But these marketing geniuses prey on the insecurities of those who genuinely want to protect themselves and their families..... AND those who watch too much YouTube and think they're going to be clearing their house every time a floorboard squeeks.
Most of what's on the market is absolutely fine. Glock is no longer the king of reliability. The industry has caught up, and arguably surpassed. You don't need a $2,000 rifle to protect your home, the "budget" model is absolutely up to the task.
If someone is in to all of the gear, that's awesome, but trying to convince people that they need to dawn a plate carrier and ballistic helmet and grab their $3,000 "rifle build" to be safe is just silly.
Anyways.....

 

[Deleted member 16]

I'm Low Speed, High Drag. Tactical is not in my domain.