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Jack_Crow

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Feb 9, 2004
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West Palm Beach FLA (for a while anyway)
Hi all,
Greetings from Scania Iraq.

I will be working here as a contractor for the next year and have come to the realization that flash lights are an essential tool.

It get’s dark here in the third world. Right now we have a full moon. In a few weeks we won’t have any and the base becomes down right dim.

Mine are on at least an hour a day. A trip from the tent to the toilet is about 120 yards. From the tent to the com shack about 300 yards. Com shack to the chow hall about 500 yards. This adds up to a lot of hours.

Brought three with me.
One is the standard 2xAA Mag Light. That stays in the tool bag.

The two that I carry are.
A 5 Led unit that’s powered by 2x123 cells.
Don’t know the make, my sister found it at “The Sharper Image”

A 3 Led unit that’s powered by 4xAAA cells.
The name on the side says Princeton Tec. That one came from an Army Navy store.

When you live with the Army in a war zone, a form of institutional paranoia takes hold.

For example I don’t want too bright a light. That last thing I want to do is dazzle the guys in the guard towers night vision gear.

Depending on conditions there can be a lot of glare from dust particles suspended in the air.

Laser pointers are not a good idea either. No finer ways to get dead than to have an 18 year old with an M16 confuse you for a hostile.

So these two units do good work for me.

On the board here I see all kinds of posts for different and exotic devices. Beam shots and other methods of measuring the relative brightness.

A large part of my life was spent in the instrument calibration business. I see a lot of arbitrary measurements. Beam spread, light density, that kind of thing.

Are there any industry standards, or home made tools that can be built consistently?

Are there any links or articles I can read up on this stuff?

I’ve got a lot of hours here and a bucket full of questions.

Hope all is well on your end.

Be well
Jack Crow in Iraq
 
Welcome to CPF!

"I’ve got a lot of hours here and a bucket full of questions." You've come to the right place.
Here's your first answer: "Buy Both." /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Thanks for giving some detailed description of your working conditions.
 
Hi Jack,

First light appears to be Inova X5. Not bright enough for some but very highly regarded by others. Many hours of light from the two CR123 batteries unlike brighter lights which will exhaust the cells in an hour or two. One resides permanently in my car glove compartment. Other one is the Princeton Tec Attitude. Although a bit dated, still considered a decent light for the money and runs on common batteries.

Welcome aboard and fire questions away.
 
Hi Jack,

Your 5 led 2x123 light is probably an Inova X5 or X5T, which is available in a few different versions. See www.countycomm.com flashlights section for a few of them.

The 4aaa 3 led light is a Princeton Tec Attitude, a favorite around here.

Yes, there's several CPF'ers with light metering setups.

If you want a dim light, you can get a CMG Infinity with a red LED, which is a nice 1AA light about half the size of your Minimag, that runs for 40 or so hours on one AA cell.

You could also try a Rigel Systems Skylite, which is used by astronomers who are very fussy about night vision. It has both red and white led's (selectable) and its output is adjustable down to near zero. There's also a military version whose leds are red and green, instead of red and white.
 
Hi again,
This is my last overnight for a while.
Will be back on day shift starting wed.

Scania is like a prison in reverse. There is a wall around the base with guard towers. The good guys are kept inside and the bad ones outside.

Fortunatly there have been very few rude things here. The most recent one was an IED attack that missed the troopers but got a bus full of Iraqi civilians.

Back home we are used to car wrecks and such. This was something else. I don't recomend it. Wounded children are not something I ever want to see again. This was an event byond crime.

It's a very different life here. Not bad, not good. If you remember the film "Ground Hog Day", it's a lot like that.

Keep it safe
Jack Crow
 
[ QUOTE ]
...It's a very different life here. Not bad, not good. If you remember the film "Ground Hog Day", it's a lot like that...

[/ QUOTE ]

In "Groundhog day" things eventually changed for the better.

Stay safe,
Brightnorm
 
Check out BatteryStation.com for your battery needs as well as for the Infinity and Ultra Infinity led lights. They use (1) AA battery and are water proof and just plain tough. I gave a bunch of the red Infinties and the Ultra Infinities (white) to my friends that have shipped out. They love them. They also have other LED lights. Kevin (the owner) is a great guy and a friend to our people over seas.

Also check out this post for a drop in luxeon LED module to upgrade your mini-mag. These Luxeons really put out a lot of light.

Good luck,
Tim
 
All,
Some good ideas. If the vendors can ship to an APO address I will spend some of my ill gotten gains on items.

The 2xAA Mag light is very popular here. As is lamp failure for them. I will look into the Luxeon module.

Im off for the next 24 hours. Will be back wed. Time now 05:50 AM.

Thanks for your help and time
Jack Crow in Iraq
 
Hey Jack Crow. You're bring back my own memories of Nam.

For a light, consider the new Arc4+. You can click it on to a very low level, enough to get around and read things up close, but not enough to attract attention. Battery lasts forever in that mode (OK, ten days). And you can fire it up to full brightness if you want/need, or to an intermediate brightness. There are also ways to program it to whatever meets your own needs. Quality is awesome, so is the company.

Be safe.

Josey
 
Welcome to the forum Jack,

I will be heading out to Northern Iraq this June, so I am getting ready now (physically and flashaholically (haha is this even a word?) but mentally I'm always ready.)

I understand the whole low light to no light situations. I just got back from a weekend long (Friday morning till Sunday evening) training cycle in the boondocks (reservist.) My Inova 24/7 on high white LED mode was more than bright enough to navigate around (red LED light mode to walk around the squad bay at night.) The Streamlight 1L also was good for lending out.

Red seems to be the color best used for preserving night vision. A Inova X5T is on my list of things to get in red LED color.

I will also get a mini mag lite 2AA but put in a conversion to LED. Opalec, New Beam, and sandwiches are just a few conversions available (a search will turn up a lot.)

Hopefully I'll see you out there,
Jason

EDIT: I was sitting in class thinking it over. I will pack an Inova 24/7, Ultra-G, Mini Mag with InRetech drop in and red lens. Thanks for PM'ing me though about the Inova X5T mod (well add on.)
 
You know, I also think a headlamp might come in handy? What about the new (to me) Tactikka led headlamp that has a red flip cover so your night vision isn't afected? Doesn't that sound ideal? 3 bright white led's for regular use, red for night vision protection plus you leave your hands free. Works for me.
 
how do you like the idea of walking around with one of these Yukon HL headlamps made by Princeton Tec that Quickbeam reviewed?
you've got some experience with Princeton Tec.. the headlamp has a luxeon star for high output with a 25 hour runtime.. and uses 3 small LED's for low output with a runtime of 120 hours.. and that's running off 3 easily available AA batteries.

sounds pretty good to me. (penny for a thought?)
 
I would go for two: Arc 4+ (definitely) for EDC. This would be perfect, given its flexibility, ruggedness and stinginess with batteries. Then you could ditch the Minimag or get the replacement LED Opalec module. You might then want to put the red filter into the MM for a powerful red light.

The other I would carry is an SF A2 in red. You get the red, you get the high power incandescent throw if you really need it.

J
 
Hello Jack,

Stay safe.

Thank you for your service. I sleep better at night knowing people like you are on the job.

One of the best resources on light is the Light Measurement Handbook by Alex Ryer.
http://www.intl-light.com/handbook/registered.html

In general, a light meter is realtively inexpensive and does not require any special training to run. An integrating sphere is out of reach for most of us. Using these tools, we can get some information about the beam of light. The problem is relating that to the real world. There is something about holding a light in your hand and seeing what it does that is a little hard to explain. Of course, our needs vary as well.

We end up trying this light and that one and use the ones that suit our needs the best.

Tom
 
Welcome to CPF!

I would like ask question. Why don't you carry a magcharger with WA01160 bulbs and UCL lens?
 
[ QUOTE ]
chr00t said:
Welcome to CPF!

I would like ask question. Why don't you carry a magcharger with WA01160 bulbs and UCL lens?

[/ QUOTE ]
\
Because he dosen't want to be shot! Reread his post above, the last thing he wants to do is dazzle an 18 year old holding an M16.
 
Hi Jack. Another vote for an Opalec newbeam here. If the Minimag stays in the bag most of the time, it's probably used as a backup, which is an excellent job for a Opalec modified MM. It's not super bright, but it'll run for a looong time on those good old AA batteries. If you want brighter, check out other drop in modules like the BadBoy or MadMax in the Sandwich Shoppe.
 
I will echo the recommendations of another mod for your mini-mag. If you need one little bit brighter light than what you've got, pick up a luxeon drop-in module from the sandwich shop (he has his own forum here /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif ) there are 2 basic kinds. Current regulated which keep the same brightness until the batteries run down and they start to dim quickly, and ones that dim slightly as the batteries get used up but make usable light for much longer on the same set of batteries.

If you want to stick to dimmer lights the opalec newbeam drop in is just 3 LED's but will run on the same set of batteries until you get home /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif (well, not really, but they do go for a very long time)

Someone else has already linked to countycomm.com, they have CMG single LED/AA lights that I think are incredibly useful. They are inexpensive at $18 and next to my arc AAA (http://www.arcflashlight.com/) probably get the most use of any of my single LED lights. Both they and the arc AAA are excellent getting around lights. Get a couple /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
for a great battery eater that is still pretty darn bright, i would bet the new madmax lite would be great.

opalec with/without red filter, madmax lite and infinity/infinity ultra. might be a great combo.

check out the runtimes on the infinity, infinity ultra and opalec. it is pretty mindblowing. note that the opalec runtime is dead flat! not the brightest, but great regulation.

good luck, and many thanks for your dedication and service!

Bob
 
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