choosing LED color

[Wim Hertog]

Hi,
I want to use an ultrabright 3 LED headlight for the 100 km death march in august (in Belgium). Should I use turquoise LEDs for maximum brightness, red LEDs and preserve my night vision or white LEDs to see in color, or maybe another color???
My choice goes to turquoise, because your rods are very sensitive in this color region...
Any thoughts? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[Lux Luthor]

I assume this is some sort of competition through the woods. In that case, I would use turquoise for max. brightness, as long as you don't need accurate color rendition.

What I wouldn't use is red, since it won't appear very bright. That is to say, it doesn't illuminate typical objects in the woods well at all. This color is good for short range at camp, though.

To tell you the truth, if you want sufficient brightness, I would use a Luxeon headlamp. You'll get much more throw, no doubt about it, and you could stick with white and still have it be bright enough, if not more than bright enough (especially in dark woods).