I think that the ASP Defender Series OC Spray is the best self-defense keychain you could buy. I have a personal preference for the ASP Key Defender compared to its smaller counterpart, the ASP Palm Defender or their gran’daddy ASP Street Defender. But this is just a matter of size preference. They all share similar characteristics. Those with a larger hand might prefer The Key Defender and those with smaller hands might opt for the Palm Defender. Those who also want a bit of range and extra spray might want The Street Defender.
Quick Spec Comparison
ASP Key Defender OC Spray
This review will focus mainly on the ASP Key Defender as this is what I’ve been carrying for years and it has gotten me out of trouble already. As you'll observe in the photos, my Key Defender bears the marks of usage. Most of The Key Defender’s characteristics also apply to the shorter Palm Defender and the longer Street Defender. Again, I would like to emphasize that the main difference between the three is one of size preference, insert capacity, and a bit of range.
In this review we'll talk about: Similarities: ASP Key, Palm & Street Defender
All three of them are made out of machined aerospace aluminum sealed with O-rings, all come in different colors and all of them have the 10% Oleoresin Capsicum formulation, rated 2,000,000 SHU ready to fire in spurts of 0.5 secs. They’re also made in the USA, if you care for that. All are perfectly capable of functioning as a hand stick or blunt weapon.
As a Self-Defense Keychain
As a pepper spray, it’s hard to beat. Even a whiff of a 10% OC pepper spray is enough to make you cough. How much more directly into your face?
Its compact form factor makes it easy to carry, conceal and handle. The 2oz heat inserts for the Key Defender, 1.8oz for the Palm Defender, and 3oz for the Street Defender makes it legal to carry without restrictions in most jurisdictions. Its form factor makes it mundane enough and non-obtrusive for regular use as a keychain. (Although before buying please checkout if it’s legal where you live.) Piece of advice: attach only the most important keys that you access most of the time on your self-defense keychain. Don't attach all your keys! It'll make your self-defense tool heavy, hard to use and uncomfortable to use–your keys will hit your knuckles and hand when you strike. The ASP Key Defender, Palm Defender, and Street Defender doubles as a blunt force weapon or a pain compliance tool, pretty much like a Kobutan, when the heat insert runs out. This way you’re not stuck with a useless canister. And being a keychain, it has all the characteristics that make it ideal as a self-defense tool: it’s on you most of the time. The Good (Attributes & Characteristics)
At first glance The ASP Key Defender OC Spray looks like a Kubaton or, to a normal person, an odd-looking keychain or a short aluminum stick. Its body is made from a hallowed aerospace aluminum body that accommodates a 10% Oleoresin Capsicum Heat Insert or an Inert water test insert (2oz for The Key Defender, 1.8oz for The Palm Defender and 3oz for The Street Defender).
On one end you have a pinhole nozzle and on the other a solid brass attachment for the key ring, which doubles as the trigger for the pepper spray insert. This trigger mechanism is locked firmly by a plastic safety mechanism to prevent accidental discharge. This entire contraption detaches from the main body to accommodate ASP’s heat or test inserts. The entire body is a simple piece of aluminum with a textured section to provide extra grip. There are particularly a lot of good attributes to these self-defense keychain. What makes them excellent in my eyes as a self-defense tool is range. The ASP Key Defender has a 5 feet effective range, with 6 one-half second bursts pepper spray. More than enough to buy you some time to run or do some evasive maneuver. It also doubles as a blunt force instrument or a pain compliance tool if the heat insert runs out or should the insert fail on you. I personally prefer The Key Defender than its shorter brother The ASP Palm Defender, because at 5.5” and with a lager capacity, I think that it’s more capable than its 4” smaller brother, The Palm Defender. It’s easier to use and a lot closer to a Kubaton, so if you trained how to use a Kubaton, you’ll find yourself just at home with The Key Defender. I find The Street Defender too big for daily carry and use. It tends to get in the way. I keep my Key Defender in my front pocket and I can’t do the same with The Street Defender without it’s head poking out of my pocket or the hot end poking my legs. The Bad
I would like to point out the plastic safety lock mechanism that prevents The ASP Key and Palm Defender from accidentally discharging the capsicum insert. It may seem that ASP went cheap on this and many people complained about it.
Since the entire body is made out of aluminum, why use plastic? It may not seem obvious but after using The ASP Key Defender I quickly realized why plastic was chosen for the safety mechanism. The reason for using plastic is the safety mechanism needs to flex a bit when you unlock it. Plastic is softer than metal, and in my opinion makes it easier to operate with one finger. Also, plastic doesn’t wear out metal. For those reasons, I could excuse ASP for using a cheaper material (compared to brass and aluminum) for the safety lock mechanism. The really bad thing about the elctroplated aluminum-colored body is that the color scratches and flakes off easily. I have the black Key Defender (but I assume it would be the same for other colors except, probably, for the electroless version). After years of use, my keys and various impact strikes scratched and flaked my Key Defender, so much so the bare aluminum shows under the electro-plating. Understandable, I think, since aluminum is a soft metal. It doesn’t bother me a bit, since it makes my Key Defender look like it has gone through war. But some might find this unappealing. My advice, opt for the electroless or the pewter version if scratches bother you. Usage & Training
It doesn’t take much to know how to use The ASP Key defender. People who have some sort of boxing or Kali training would naturally use this self-defense keychain without any sort of extra training. People who also know how to use a Kubaton would be at home with this particular self-defense keychain.
The good news for those who doesn’t have time to specifically train Kubaton skills is that it takes 10-15mins (or less) to be familiar with some basic strikes with this self-defense keychain. Another advantage of The ASP Key and Palm Defender is if you keep it in your pocket, you could practice quickly drawing it out whenever you need to use your keys. This way you develop muscle memory and you’ll be programmed to deploy the self-defense weapon quickly and positively.
Another thing that you need to exercise is disengaging the safety mechanism. It requires some medium level of fine motor skills to disengage the locking mechanism.
The bottom line is: you need to practice. No matter how easy it seems. My suggestion is to play a quick draw scenario in your head every time you take it out of your pocket. Practice deploying it positively and aiming the spray forward. This is not a “scatter spray” the capsicum comes out as a stream of 0.5sec bursts. I highly recommend that you buy the inert water insert for practice. This way you can familiarize yourself with how the trigger feels like and how to aim your self-defense keychain. This will make a lot of difference when the need arises. Just have fun with it. If you’re like me, I suggest that you spray yourself with it or just spray it directly on the table and take a whiff. This way you won’t be surprised if there should be an accidental blowback when you decide to use the pepper spray aspect of these self-defense keychain. I would even recommend doing this with a partner, have a short 30-60 second drill of basic jab-cross-swing after being pepper sprayed. Warnings
Having a self-defense keychain is not enough. It’s not the end all be all of personal safety. You need to train and practice constant awareness to keep yourself out of trouble. Always remember to include the safety lock mechanism when drilling yourself, as this requires some (minimal) dexterity to disengage.
You need very minimal training or exercise to handle the ASP Key Defender, the ASP Palm Defender, and Street Defender however the more you drill yourself with this self-defense keychain, the more you’ll be effective with it. Final Thoughts & Conclusions
As mentioned before the ASP Key Defender and Palm Defender OC Spray has all the attributes we need for a defensive weapon. It’s compact and easy to use, even in stressful situations. It doesn’t take a lot of time to be familiarized with the ins and outs of this particular self-defense keychain. Although I would still recommend practicing with it. The better you handle it the better you’ll perform should the need for self-defense arise.
I personally highly recommend these self-defense keychain. I use it and I train with it. And as mentioned before, it has already gotten me out of trouble. I could say with my personal experience that it's an effective self-defense tool.
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