IR LEDs vs IR filtered Incans? Which is better?

[Juggernaut]

Ok legit Incan use case here. I'm building an IR scoped airsoft gun. I see there are lots of dedicated IR LED flashlights around, my question is, in this domain, are Incans still king?
I have no way to do side by side comparisons between whatever is the "best" IR flashlights. As I do not know what they may even be at the moment, but I do know IR is "heat" and Incans sure make a lot of heat that otherwise is "Wasted" outside of the visible spectrum, however as an IR illuminated would a filtered high power hot wired Incan out preform an IR LED of the same watts? How close are they? Anyone have any experience?
I just can't imagine a 50 watt LED thrower light combusting paper as fast as a 50 watt Incan, so that's my logic for asking.
Worth noting I'm not looking for "clean" IR. IE it doesn't bother me if my IR filter still glows in the dark.

 

[BillBond]

If it is for airsoft just go for the cheapest setup.

 

[Juggernaut]

Ok I figured it out, for anyone curious about this in the future.
I have not tested this, but from what I've learned IR comes in many different spectra just like visible light. Likewise video / camera sensors are tuned for those "locations" on the spectra.
Cheap IR (AKA night vision, IE "Near" Infrared) cameras only hone in around 700nm to 1,300nm
The ACTUAL "heat" that would be 100% efficiently generated via being absorbed by the filter on an incan would not radiate in that spectrum, it would instead be between 5,000-8,000nm which is outside of the sensitivity range of of these cameras. You would need a "true" Thermal camera that "sees" or is sensitive to these "deep" IR. This is the reason why IR night vision scopes that rely on IR flashlights do not "see" body heat. It is not in their spectrum of visibility.
This photo summarizes this: