ASP Metro Defender Pepper Spray, Self-Defense for Women and Men, Quick-Release Personal Defense Equipment, Personal Protection Device, Safety Running Gear, Personal Security Devices

Great product, packaged well and delivers quickly. These are just the right size to be small enough to carry without attracting attention but large enough to hold enough OC spray to stop an assault. You get about five short bursts. I do some evening walking in a downtown area and this is the perfect size to carry. A bit too big for my pants pocket but actually very easy and comfortable to just tuck this into the front of your waist band.

Anyone 18 or older who thoroughly reads the well-written instruction brochure that comes with this product will be safer than they were before, and anyone who test-fires it carefully in the sequence (my modification) of ROWSHE - React - Observe number / size / prowess of agressor(s) - Wind (get as upwind of threat as possible) - Safety Off - Head bursts (up to 5 ft, about six half-second bursts) - Escape the area and re-engage safety - will absolutely be able to count on this product performing its job as an intermediate force option in a critical incident. Pepper spray is just pepper spray. You're better off than falling for the wasp-spray-stops-a-determined-attacker myth, but this is not a guaranteed stopper, as the instructions note. Know what you're getting, and know that, as far as I can tell after a careful reading, test fire sequence, and cleaning of this product, THIS UNIT WILL WORK EXACTLY AS ADVERTISED! Superb product. Follow all instructions carefully.

I recently was put at increased risk and decided to begin carrying pepper spray at my family's urging. I chose this option because it is more discrete than a traditional pepper spray, and I liked that it doubles as a kubaton (which I have prior experience working with) giving you multiple defense options. Because it is not obviously pepper spray, I feel comfortable keeping it on me at work and I have a force multiplier should I ever need to defend myself. It is comfortable in my hand and fits well in the pocket of my uniform. While I don't feel "safer" per se it is comforting to know I have options if escaping or pepper spray misses or fails (there is a population of people unaffected by pepper spray and as well as who become enraged and fight harder rather than being distracted). I like that there is an option to purchase practice cartridges. Know your tools and practice with them. Running should always be your first choice if possible. Great option.

I exercise in a public park and I have been threatened by two off-leash dogs within a month. Since, I bought this, I have not had to use it for protection, but I feel much more secure by having it in my pocket. It's easy to use with one hand and it does have a finger activated safety switch to prevent accidental discharge. It's a solid piece of aluminum, so it could have additional use as an impact tool similar to a Kubotan for people who have some training in self-defense techniques.

I purchased this for my girlfriend. As a LEO, I am very familiar with ASP products. All ASP products I have used have been of the highest quality, and this is no exception. The Key Defender is essentially a kubaton style tool, with the added functionality of pepper spray. I can assure you the formulation used by ASP in their Defender products is effective. Upon receiving the Key Defender, the packaging was in good shape, standard ASP retail packaging with excellent instructions. Included was a high quality split ring, in case you want to attach it to your keys. This configuration makes for a formidable flail type weapon as well. The unit is constructed with high quality aircraft aluminum, and operation is easy, even under stress. A simple flip of the safety ring and depress the rear button. This is not to say it does not take practice. With any tool you may use in stressful situations practice is necessary. I suggest purchasing a couple of inert canisters sold by ASP to practice with if you are unfamiliar with the Key Defender. I did deduct one star because the range on this is relatively short. An effective range of approximately 5-6 feet is pretty close. But, the reality is that is likely the range it would be deployed in during an attack by a person or dog. The spray is delivered in a cone, making it prone to deflection by wind, but in a close deployment, this is less of a concern. Overall, my girlfriend likes it. She stated it was too big for her liking to attach to her keys, but carries it in her hand when she walks to her car from her office. I highly recommend this product.

I've carried this on my key chain for almost two years now. It fits in the pocket of standard wrangler jeans no problem, along with my keys. I've never had to use it, but I did have a kid at a local tire dealer wind up with a nice whiff of it in his face when he set it off in my car while he was moving the car. He said the key defender went off by accident, but I find that hard to believe as I've never had it go off and I've not been very careful with it. The safety is pretty tight. I figured he was about 15 years old and wondered what it was and decided to mess with it. No one told him curiosity killed the cat! He was sputtering and coughing and choking for at least ten minutes, and I don't think he got a direct hit with it either. He said it hit my dash board. He said he wiped it up, so I suppose it wipes up easily as I saw no residue left behind from it. I definitely like the product, and should probably get some new inserts for it soon.

Unfortunately the "Heat" spray was in my opinion absolutely worthless. It came out like weak spit and only traveled about 2 feet. I tried 4 total "Heat" inserts with similar results. I doubt that "spray" would be effective on an assailant. If you want a key flail then just buy a kubaton and put a couple of keys on the key ring and you have a metro defender without the spray. If you want OC then buy a 1.5oz. can at a minimum. Don't waste your money on this product.

I like carrying some form of OC, the problem I have with most OCs on the market is the form factors suck. My preferred product would be the Fox Labs 2oz cans, which come with a nice high quality flip top, but that can is fairly fat/bulky in the pocket especially if wearing jeans. But most smaller "pocket" size OCs on the market have cheap, chintzy tops with the style of safety that you turn to activate. I just don't trust these, both that the safety won't get turned in my pocket (which has happened years ago when I tried carrying one, though it didn't discharge) plus they are harder to find with your thumb and get the can oriented in the correct direction quickly and under stress. It's a shame they don't make the nice flip-tops in a taller, skinnier can. The only exception I am aware of as far as small cans w/ a good flip top, are made by Mace, such as Mace Brand Pepper Spray Police Strength 10% Pepper Pocket Spray . Sabre red also has a tall skinny .69oz product called a Mk-6, as does a brand on Amazon called Defense Technology, though unfortunately the mk-6 comes in a plastic sleeve that makes it almost as fat as the 2oz fox labs. Rant aside, the ASP defender series is a nice alternative in terms of form factor. The things I like about it are as follows - it's tall but skinny, so it doesn't provide a lot of bulk in the pocket. Because of it's length, it's easier to find in your pocket quickly, as opposed to other small OC cans that get "lost" at the bottom of your pocket. And due to the design, when it comes out (assuming you've familiarized yourself with it) you know exactly which end the spray comes from. It would be very natural to get this out quickly and use it, and know it's pointed appropriately in the guy's face. The safety is reasonably easy to disengage once you get used to it, as some others have noted I would recommend putting a piece of skateboard tape on it as out of the box it's a bit slick, and depending how it's rotated in your hand can be a bit tricky to disengage (they should texture the plastic). As far as form factor, the only real gripe I have aside from texturing the safety is it would be nice to have some kind of pocket clip option for those of use who don't want to use this as a keychain (I'll expand on that in a bit). That this can be used as an impact weapon is an added bonus. So, the negatives - the item description says this contains six 1/2 second bursts. I've tested it, using both an intert test cartridge and one of the real OC cartridges, and I think that's generous. From my test, I would say you get more like 1 good cloud out of this thing, after which the volume that comes out with each "burst" declines significantly such that you get like 4-5 more piddly little clouds. Make your first shot count if you carry this! And if you are facing more than one attacker you may be screwed. Also worth noting, the range is very short - you basically need to hold this right in the target's face. I don't really see that as a big negative as I see that the range I would most likely be using OC. But keep that in mind, and if you want more range look at something like the Fox Labs 2oz cans. I would be curious to know how the larger ASP Street Defender would compare as far as range and capacity, the description for that product claims thirty 1/2 second bursts. Related to capacity, the product description claims the canister for this product is 2oz. I'm not sure how they get to that, but it does not have comparable capacity to a Fox labs 2oz can (plus it's visibly a much smaller canister), and even the tiny Mace can linked above, I tested an old comparable sized can from Mace and got a good ten or more 1/2 second bursts (and those were real bursts, not piddly little fractional bursts like the ASP turned into after its first or second shot). That Mace product says 11g in the description which converts to .37 fluid oz. So again, I'm not sure where ASP gets 2oz from, but my tests showed significantly greater capacity from a .37oz Mace can, something clearly does not add up. As far as how I carry this, I don't use it as a keychain. There are several reasons for this, the first is just simply I don't want something that big/bulky on my keys as it's annoying. Also, if it was on my keychain I'm afraid I'd forget to take it off when I fly, and would forfeit it to TSA. Most importantly - if you are in a struggle w/ someone, it seems highly likely you may end up either dropping this after using it, or the key ring could break (esp if you used this as an impact weapon as it's designed) etc. causing you to lose your keys. Resulting in a) you no longer have a means of escape (car) or to get to safety (your house), and b) the mugger now is left with your house and car keys, sweet. No thanks, I'll keep my keys in my pocket where they belong. As I mentioned before, for those who don't use it as a key chain it would be nice to have some kind of pocket clip. Overall, this has the makings of something great but the capacity is disappointing I'm thinking of trying the larger Street Defender as I imagine that would give you a decent number of bursts. If you buy this, I would highly recommend test firing it with either an inert or live insert to see firsthand what the range is and the size of the cloud, then replace it with a fresh insert. Based on the limited capacity I got out of this, I can't imagine the smaller Palm defender having adequate capacity at all.