"bump in the night lights" question

[Dave_in_PA]

\"bump in the night lights\" question

Has anyone tried using a red (or blue) filter on their light they go to for anything suspicious at nighttime?

Recently, I had the occasion to grab my SF 6P, with P60 lamp, when I awoke in the middle of the night. When I lit the room for just an instant, I had trouble seeing for a short period. I work as a cop, and when I work nights, I've never noticed any such problem. I assume it's due to being awake and being used to the darkness. Even with flashing strobes at night, I've never had trouble, or even noticed this in more than 15 years of service.

I've seen folks here, and elsewhere, advocate using a BRIGHT light for bump in the night stuff, but either they are different from me, or they've never actually tried it when awakening from a deep sleep.

So, how about trying a red filter? Should I give it a try, or give my wallet a break for awhile? I want to see clearly, but not be blinded.

Thanks for any assistance.

Dave

 

[tkl]

Re:

i've noticed the same thing. you blind yourself when you awake from a deep sleep and fire off a bright surefire.

i currently use my E2e for nightstand duty but may be replaced by a G2 soon.

i did notice with my KL1 it illuminated rooms enough to identify a target while being easier on the eyes. not quite bright enough though.

 

[Chris T]

Re:

I find that red or green are much better for vision when I first wake up.

I used to have the same problem you describe when I worked EMS at night. If I woke for a call and turned on the room lights I would be squinting for quite a few seconds and unable to focus. Back then I would leave on a light in an adjacent room so the light would be reduced and allow me to adapt slowly to the brightness as I walked to the garage. By the time we got to the scene though we would use white lights since our pupils were adapted by then and that was all there was.

To answer your question, I would get a task or photon light in red or green to keep on the nightstand. This will be easier on the eyes and bright enough for the smaller environment of the bedroom.


Chris

 

[dano]

Re:

It takes your eyes about 30 minutes to equalize and become more "low light" sensitive. Being awakened, you will have very light sensitive eyes. If you use a bright light to go play hide and go seek in the dark, you'll significantly impair your vision, obviously.

I'm not an advocate of anyone doing their own house clearing if they hear that suspicious "bump."

--dan

 

[FalconFX]

Re:

Usually, an Arc AAA or CMG Ultra is enough to wake up and get your eyes acclimated to light before turning on something brighter. After blinding myself numerous times with a Helios and a 10X, I gave up and started using my Arc more. My eyes are thanking me each night I do use it...

 

[Size15's]

Re:

I've read on the gun forums that "clearing" your house is very dangerous. Knowing your house can give you a false sense of security.
Securing the safety of your children is a pretty damn good reason to leave your bedroom. Other than that, I'd have thought it was safer to wait for the police in your bedroom staying on the phone to help them out.

Even for trained professionals clearing houses is highly dangerous.

Al

 

[tkl]

Re:

everything i've seen the cops wait outside and tell everybody to come out. uh, no thanks. walking out the door is the same as clearing your house to the door. i'm standing my ground.

this is a tricky situation though with too many variables to say what you would, could or can't do.

 

[flownosaj]

Re:

This is the one thing I've always wondered about when using your lights to "blind" someone. Half the time when I shine my light close up when my eyes are night-adapted, I'm temporarily blinded as well.


For normal use, maybe an A2 in led mode for a few seconds before turning on the high-beams will help you. And if you don't like your new purchase, I'd be happy to take it off your hands. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

-Jason

 

[this_is_nascar]

Re:

My M6 with MN21 is my bump in the night light. If/when I hear something I want to see it. I want "it" to see me.

 

[flownosaj]

Re:

Seriously though, if you want to cut down on the initial burst of light, I'd recomend the filter.

I use my old m!n!-mag red filter and shroud on my E2E when I don't quite need 60 lumens and I'm going to have it on for only a little while. It's parts on hand=free for me.
You'd have to shell out the cash, though for something that fits... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon23.gif

-Jason

 

[Seppo_Vesala]

Re:

[ QUOTE ]
Size15s said:
I've read on the gun forums that "clearing" your house is very dangerous. Knowing your house can give you a false sense of security.


[/ QUOTE ]

True, I would never clear a house by myself on duty, even with bullet proof vest. But sometimes you have to do dangerous things. And checking the children is not the only time you may to go searching. You just can´t call the cops every time you hear something suspicious...

 

[Gandalf]

Re:

[ QUOTE ]
dano said:

I'm not an advocate of anyone doing their own house clearing if they hear that suspicious "bump."

--dan

[/ QUOTE ]
What do you advocate? Calling 911? Aside from the looooong response time, I doubt the dispatcher in my large urban area would even *send* the LEO's for a 'suspicious sound'.

And if they came more than once, and found nothing, they would *never* be sent to your address again; unless there was a fire or something. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/help.gif

I think this would be true for just about any urban area, and likely many smaller towns as well.

I long ago learned that the first line of defense is *me*.

I live right in the city, and during the summer, when windows are open (no more than 7"....) I hear 'bumps in the night' with some regularity. Already once this spring, even though the window wasn't open, I was awakened by a sound.

Although I live right in the city, my neighborhood is generally very quiet at night.

My bedside light is a SF 9P with a KL3 on it, which seems plenty bright, when I wake up.

My other 'bedside accessory' is made by Glock, with night sights. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

No offence intended, but I'm not going to wait for 'somebody' to open my bedroom door...

 

[flownosaj]

Re:

[ QUOTE ]
Gandalf said:
My other 'bedside accessory' is made by Glock, with night sights. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
No offence intended, but I'm not going to wait for 'somebody' to open my bedroom door...

[/ QUOTE ]

If they do open that door, I bet they'd be awfully suprised!!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bowdown.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/twak.gif

-Jason

 

[Tomas]

Re: \"Things that go bump in the night\"

I've only actually cleared a house by myself once, and I do not recommend it unless there is no alternative.

Luckily that time the person, uh, "unlawfully entering" my friend's house was the one surprised, and decided that laying on the floor waiting for the police was better than seeing if he could dodge a 118 gr. hollowpoint.

All in all I (and my friend) were lucky that night - the intruder expected a single female to be alone in the house and instead found an adrenalized male with a S&W. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

(Kimmie followed instructions exactly and called the police while locked in the upstairs bathroom.)

First choice, if possible, is to evacuate the premises, second choice is to prepare to defend from a good, barricaded, position, last choice is to "look for trouble." (That's just my opinion!) If the threat is reasonably confirmed, call for backup if possible!

We were additionally lucky in that the response time for the police that night was incredibly short - probably no more than 3-4 minutes (it felt a LOT longer). The idiot didn't have time to reconsider and force me to make an ugly mess of her rec room.

EDIT: Three points I forgot to mention 1) The intruder had actually made it into the house by breaking a lock, 2) Lighting was house lighting, 3) Laser sight helped convince the intruder.

 

[Carpe Diem]

Re: \"Things that go bump in the night\"

[ QUOTE ]
Tomas said:


First choice, if possible, is to evacuate the premises, second choice is to prepare to defend from a good, barricaded, position, last choice is to "look for trouble." (That's just my opinion!) If the threat is reasonably confirmed, call for backup if possible!

[/ QUOTE ]

Good advice, Tomas.
Good advice.

And Gandalf, you are a kindred spirit. I used to shoot pistols competitively...and those firearms are set up with all of the usual fancy "bells and whistles". For self defense, though, the Glocks are, IMHO, one of the best semiautomatics you can buy.

The Glocks are great right out of the box, and are, in my experience, totally reliable. When you sgueeze the trigger of a Glock, it will fire. End of sentence. Period. And that is the most critical quality needed in any self defense firearm.

Revolvers are, of course, also highly recommended for self defense for the very same reason. In the world of semiautomatics, though, you`ll never go wrong in buying a Glock.

My bedside setting: A Glock 21 (.45 caliber, with night sights), a Surefire M6 (with lanyard attached), and a cell phone for my very first step once a threat would be comfirmed...DIALING 911.

"Dispatch, send /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/help.gif!"

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[SilverFox]

Re:

I had an interesting thing happen the other night.

First of all, I find I do not need much light at all to navigate the house at night. I do need some light to ID beyond general navigation. I have a keychain light (ARC AAA) that takes care of most of the in house situations.

The other night I was wakened by something on the deck outside of our bedroom. I did not know if someone was trying to break in the house or what was going on. I checked that the room was secure and the door was closed and locked. I then made my way to the other room to get my TigerLight. I lit up the deck and found a couple of raccoons climbing down the schrubs around the deck (this is a floating deck and there is no access from the ground). The raccoons paused only for a moment and proceeded to fall out of the bushes to the ground. I think I screwed up their night vision for a while.

I have added a high power light to the bedroom for these situations.

Tom

 

[James S]

Re: Clearing The House

Another thing to consider when clearing the house, is that you don't actually have to do it in the dark. I can turn on every light in the house from my bedside table via a couple of hundred bucks worth of X10 gear. Usually it's turned on automatically from motion sensors all over the house. I use a program called XTension to control them and respond to the motion sensors. And a program called X2Web to make all that information available on my house webserver. So I can turn on all the lights and then open up my laptop to see exactly where in the house someone is at that moment. There is a sample output of the motion sensors here but you can make it look like anything you want. It does not take thousands of dollars to make something like that. But it might take thousands of hours of tinkering /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

I would think that having all the lights come on would be a good initial deterrent to get someone to leave your house before you have to confront them.

Course, I don't ALWAYS have the lights come on when I wander around at night. I have another button that turns on "James is playing with his flashlights mode" which lets me wander around in the dark /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

EDIT: Oops, forgot how to enter links for a minute there. Hope all fixed now...

 

[Beretta1526]

Re: Clearing The House

I'm sorta with James on this, I have X-10 in my house as well. I have a JDS Stargate system and several wireless remotes and voice control. My "tools" are a RED Arc AAA (on short a cord), my X-10 remote, my SF M2 and E1e/KL1(on lanyard), cordless and cell phone, and a Beretta 92fs-CT (S.E. Lasergrips - on tactical lanyard).

First thing I do is turn on all the outside lights and de-activate the motion sensors except the ones in the hallway to the front door and the one by the back door. Then if I don't hear any other noise, I snoop with the Arc or put the red filter on my E1e/KL1. I never got any further than that, and usually use the E1e/KL1 w/out filter to let the cat out/in, scare off the possum or raccoon /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/twak.gif, or whatever else I may need to do before going back to bed.

If I were to continue to hear noise after turning on the outside lights, it would really depend on what the noise was before I were to investigate further, I have to evaluate the threat before I could really say what I'd do.

I'm well-armed, very calm, quiet, and I'm a great natural shot in a tight situation. If the motion sensor activated lights don't scare away the intruder, they probably mean business and could very well be armed. That's where the laser sight comes in handy. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif


EDIT: forgot to mention the tipoff beamshaper on M2 - as Blikbok points out, the diffusion helps with close-quarters illumination and pops open very quickly.

 

[Blikbok]

Re: Clearing The House

I've got two lights. A Blue-green CMG Infinity, and a SF 6Z. The Infinity is great for when the cat is making noise. I quickly found the 6z (65 lu) to be way too bright. However, I now carry a C3 with a tip-off beamshaper. I don't use it for bump-in-the-night, but I've noticed the blinding flashback is much, much, less with the beamshaper, and it pops open quickly. The diffuse light like an LED or beamshaped SF is much handier at close range, since the hotspot isn't there to blind me, and make the corona dim in comparison.

I can see how an A2, L1, or one of the two-level SFs would be ideal, but I'm waiting for the prices to go down, or the L2 or 5W LS's to come out. Too much money for a light I'd leave on my bedstand. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif