TASER X3 video hands-on: watch out, baddies
By Paul Miller 
posted July 31st 2009 12:24PM
posted July 31st 2009 12:24PM
After talking it over with the company, it's clear they've put a lot of effort into making the X3 as safe as possible in the hands of officers or our ever-muggable-grandmas (civilians can purchase the X3, but are limited to a 15 foot range). Here were a few takeaways:
- As stated in the video, a large majority of suspects give up once they see the TASER, see the red dots on them, or the device is "arced," and the X3 has been designed to give the officer a maximum amount of intimidation without needing to deploy a tase.
- There's a sort of "guaranteed" delivery of 63 microcoulombs of energy to the subject, no matter if the target is shot three times, shot once, or if it takes multiple shots to complete a "circuit" with two concurrent darts. This will hopefully rectify earlier problems with faulty devices giving off too much electricity, and allay fears that three darts equals three times the tase. The shooter knows they're delivering the optimum charge to the target, for the optimum amount of time (there's a counter on the gun), and the target can't be given more than that optimum charge at any one time.
- Systems track when the gun is turned on, when the officer "arcs" the gun to intimidate a suspect, when the gun is fired, and serial-numbered confetti ejects with the dart to trace a specific incidence to a specific officer.
- The dart tips have been reworked so that the charge is most likely to be applied to the skin, greatly reducing the risk of the electricity passing through the heart.
- The laser sights are very accurate, self-adjusting based on which cartridge is selected (there are different cartridge distances available).
Since when is a Tazer a gadget? These devices are, at the very least, contributory factors in the deaths of several hundred people despite the denials of the maker (who clearly has no vested interest....). Tazer International sponsors police conventions and has a PR campaign and legal team that seems to be reading from the tobacco industry rule book. Their inclusion of additional safety technology (reducing the effect on the heart) is an admission that their previous devices were dangerous - as declared by various courts. But aside from it looking like it’s a weapon from a video game, why review it here? It's just publicity to the makers in an effort to counter the many reports of mis-firings, Tazering of grannies, etc.
Beat me to it. It's a bit uncomfortable to see Engadget doing a hands-on with something that is ultimately designed to hurt people.
How isn't it a gadget? Being designed to hurt people has nothing to do with it; that just makes it a gadget designed to hurt people.
Since I'm not living in some unicorn-inhabited fantasy world where hurting people isn't sometimes necessary, or where there's a reliable way to hurt people sufficiently to ensure compliance without any risk of fatality, I don't see a problem with covering a device which is intended to hurt people, and occasionally kills them instead.
Well I was on the fence, but the 'counter argument' of Benson makes me say: yes stop covering tasers, you'll also attract the wrong crowd to the site if you do ;|
I trust miller though, I think he also thinks the things are a bit iffy and unpleasant in the end, that there's something unsavoury about the taser.
Good point. I think that from now on Police officers should use marshmallows and bunny rabbits instead of guns and tasers.
Nope they should be fired and replaced :)
haha + taser = happy haha
Possible Scenario
Take out yo mutha fuckin money punk. I dont give a fuck u asian or chinese. I just tase that ma fakin Chineeese ass fool!
Prison Break Reference there?
im not exactally sure
I thought a coulomb was a unit of charge, not a unit of energy.
test
This more like the new Geforce ?
I'm sure all 334 would have just dropped dead regardless of tasering.
Electric shock contributing to cardiac arrest in a target? That's a risk we can take. And by "we" I mean the people with the tasers.
Perfect for an escape from iTards and Wintards. :D
I'll have a box please.
i did not know that engadget has turned into a weapon blog. that's sad. reporting about a new taser gun in the same way as you would about a new nintendo game implies some emptyheads that these things are funny gadgets and not weapons designed to cause pain.
and no, just mentioning amnesty international does not really make things better.
maybe the author should have tested the "save" gun on himself, like one guy at wired.com did today. i am sure he would not have written bollocks like "Still, it's nice to see that TASER is continuing to improve the safety of its devices ..." (btw: what does safety mean? does it have a build in pacemaker, pregnancy or epilepsy warner?)
all I see in the first picture is 3 nvidia cards in sli. :)
Kinda like the gun from Dead Space
I don't really care about taser gun ethics, I'm just happy to see one demonstrated by Eugene Tackleberry.
Maybe next time they can have Tacleberry shoot Michael Winslow with the taser and he'll just make the noises for it.
In Oregon, if you want to use a taser (as a police officer) you have to first BE tased. Same goes for pepper spray. But I would just like to say....
DAUMN! THAT THING LOOKS MEAN!
Personally, if I see one of those pointing at me...I am going to put down my SEGA gun.
For those of you who don't remember....
http://www.geekologie.com/2009/03/pew_pew_man_holds_woman_hostag.php
"FUCK THE POLICE" - NWA
if I'm really that threatening where they have to use deadly force, just shoot me and be done.. don't even waste time with the taser
I like things better here in Ontario, Canada where when police officers pull their gun out of their holster, they need to write an essay about why they needed to.
Pshh eveyone knows there are no guns in Canada, just horses and leather gloves.
OK wow. Honestly, that taser looks sexy. I wouldn't mind getting hit my it. Hit me up. I'm willing to be a test dummy for it.
Let me see. 334 dead because they were shot with a TASER. Nope. Don't care. They were probably assholes anyways. Don't want to get killed by TASER? Then don't do anything that will make a cop want to use one on you! Even the most asshole cop won't taze you if you don't give him a reason.
agreed completely
Finally... a glimmer of truth in this inane discussion.
"Like most rational human beings, we have a healthy fear of guns."
Fearing an inanimate object is not rational; therefore your fear of guns is unhealthy.
I suggest a firearms safety course and some shooting range time as the only appropriate therapy. You'll feel much better afterward.
As for Tasers, I want to know how effective they are at destroying electronics.
what is wrong with pepper spray?
Wouldn't you like to be a pepper too?
It could damage the eyes or other sensitive areas if misapplied, and it makes it very difficult to target individually.
can you buy these? as a safety mechanism?
how much?
One shot stuns, two shots kill, three shots disintegrates.
I'll take a tazing over being beaten up with batons or sprayed with pepper spray anytime.
having been actually maced and having been dealt with rather forcefully by my local law enforcement, I completely second that
though, if I was following the laws I wouldn't have had that problem...
guess it's just one of those 2 sides to the coin thingys
..
"Like most rational human beings, we have a healthy fear of guns."
I think the term you were looking for is "a healthy respect of guns". There, fixed that for ya, unless you really are a bunch of candy-ass wussies.
I'm just waiting for the news that a crook used a TASER to mug someone or rob a covenience store (etc)
Is it just me or does the bald guy in the video look like the guy from Future Weapons?