I have not used the spray ... but I would offer these thoughts.

If you look at comments from people who have worked as prison guards, they will tell you that pepper spray does not work on all individuals. Some violent felons are just super-aggressive, and will carry out their actions after being sprayed. Therefore, don't imagine you've got a one-stop defense with this stuff.

I happened to be watching a screening of the TV show "Fear Factor" this weekend. Haven't watched that show in quite a while. Anyway - they took four motivated contestants and placed them inside a room with dense CNS gas. Really dense thick gas - you couldn't even see the ceiling from an inside camera. The object was to see how long each individual could tolerate the atmosphere, before they had to bail out (go outside for fresh air). The shortest time was 1 min 30 secs, and the longest was about 1 min 47 secs. Therefore, take this as a guideline. If you spray somebody, you should expect that they will keep fighting you for at least 90 seconds. That's a long time in an attack - your assailant can do a lot of damage in that time. This could include knocking you down, forcibly seizing the pepper spray cannister from your hand, and spraying you directly in the face with the spray.

Finally, many policemen who have used pepper spray in real sitations report that they have received some secondary inhalation of the spray themselves. Their eyes also became teary. So you should figure that you will get some spray too.

In spite of these drawbacks, it's probably a helpful tool for some situations. I think it would be especially useful against vicious animals - but i would still count on getting some effects of the spray on my own face and lungs. But the advanatage of using it against animals is that you are generally spraying downwards towards the ground - which takes the spray away from the level of your own face.

Pete2