Do you ever feel nervous being outside when its dark? I do. That is why I carry one of the best self-defense items I have found. It is a compact LED flashlight. They are small enough to comfortably fit into your pocket so you can pull it out in a moments notice. What makes it such a powerful self-defense weapon is that the LED lights are so bright that if anyone was to try to come at you, you just shine the flashlight in their eyes and the contrast from the dark night and the bright light will temporary disable them giving you time to get away.
LED lights project their light in straight lines much like a garden hose nozzle that is set to a hard stream of water. Regular flashlights are more of the wider spray. You can test this by standing 2 blocks away and point your LED flashlight at a reflective road sigh and it will light the sucker up even if you are 200 feet away!
The LED flashlights are very inexpensive ($5 or less) and you can find them at most stores. Of if you want to make it easy on yourself, you can find them at Amazon. I bought one for everyone in my family. It may be one of my brightest ideas yet!