Are the stun guns that work by contact effective?  Same question about the air tazers. Are they worth the money?  Or would I be better off with a good can of pepper spray? Thanks.

Striker,
I've always wondered how well/if these things work in the rain ??

The technology isn't mature enough yet. I've been zapped with one of the new Air Tasers. It is extremely effective. It is not a "pain-compliance" weapon like the old Taser; this one overrides your CNS (or so I've been told) and makes you curl into the fetal position (the pain is a side effect). You can't fight through this one, unlike the older version. The old contact ones require you to be close proximity to your assailant, which is a bad idea. You want as much reactionary gap as possible. Just recently, we had local robbery where the victim attempted to use her stun gun on the suspect. He took it away from her and used it on her. She would have been better off making some distance and shooting him, but hindsight is 20/20.

The problem with the new Air Tasers is that both darts have to hit the target (it can also be used as a contact weapon after the CO2 cartridge has expelled the darts). If one does not contact the target, they are too close, or they fail to penetrate the clothing, you get sparks but no effect. Tactically, this weapon has limited value for personal self-defense. Where it would have value is in law enforcement work where there are multiple officers attempting to arrest a violent subject or restrain an emotionally disturbed person. In those cases, there can be other persons employing other force options in case the Taser darts miss or fail to work (OC and deadly force cover, at a minimum). For self-defense, you would be gambling that it would work. You also would have to release the darts and cables or abandon the weapon to retreat from the scene, which you should usually do in a self-defense situation.

For general personal defense, I would recommend OC in a quickly deployed container (anything by Def Tech/Federal Labs), backed up by a handgun in a good combat caliber. The tasers are too "special purpose," in my opinion, for personal defense at this time.