Krill lights for reading?

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Well, i have decided to purchase a krill 180 extreme light for my hiking and camping duties. The next dilehmma i which color to buy?!?!!? I am going to be usuing this for night time map reading and i want the light that will most efficiently let me be able to read in the dark (you know what i mean... have you ever tried to use a red LED for reading??? It makes letters and lines look weird and sometimes the light makes them "disapear") Anyone with experience on this subject is asked to reply to this topic, thanks!!!

 

[vcal]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by yzingerr:
Well, i have decided to purchase a krill 180 extreme light for my hiking and camping duties. The next dilehmma i which color to buy?!?!!? I am going to be usuing this for night time map reading and i want the light that will most efficiently let me be able to read in the dark (you know what i mean... have you ever tried to use a red LED for reading??? It makes letters and lines look weird and sometimes the light makes them "disapear") Anyone with experience on this subject is asked to reply to this topic, thanks!!!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I have 2 Krills Exts.(one 360 deg. green and one 180 deg. white-which comes with Velcro mat. on it's back side).
While I've never been impressed with their total light output, I've found that the white one does by far the best job for reading flight maps in my plane.
Green one=20% brighter
White one=accurate colors!
Your concern about color was well founded.

 

[Steelwolf]

If you don't mind the very slight reduction in brightness, get the white extreme 180. At least the colours get rendered properly. But if you want the very brightest Krill, then the 180 Extreme Green is the go. Strangely enough, this also applies with LEDs. The green stuff is brighter than the white stuff by a fair amount.

BTW, if you want to use it as a marker, you'd probably find that the 180 leaves a little to be desired as it only emits light on one side. It's alright for my night scuba dives as 1 goes to either side of the tank and gets velcroed and tied on.

Now... the real question is how to make a proper conversion with those white Infinities sitting at the back of the drawer so that the resultant lightstick is waterproof like the Krills.

 

[vcal]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Steelwolf:

Now... the real question is how to make a proper conversion with those white Infinities sitting at the back of the drawer so that the resultant lightstick is waterproof like the Krills.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
I went ahead and did just
that, by using the nice translucence of the LazerBrite tube (avail.@$3.US). from www.lazerbrite.com .

All that's necessary is to moderately sand out the inner diameter of the tube and the White Infinity goes in with a press (twist) fit.-The diameters of the two are quite similar

The finishing touch was to find the right poly/plastic cap (threads Match) that screws tightly onto the threaded far end of the tube for looks and water-tightness.

If you do this, and get VERY snug fits on both ends of the tube, and use a Li "AA" cell, you will find that your new "lightstick" will float!
This little project took me about 45min. to complete

p.s.-it took me about 3 weeks to find just the right size screw-cap for that puppy.

p.p.s.-a piece of alum. foil liner inside the top cap also helps to give a nice uniform, even light diffusion the whole length of the tube.(approx. 30cm.x 2.5cm)

 

[vcal]

Yet another handy-dandy

thing you can do with that old white Infinity, to make it just as bright as the Arc-AAA, is to substitute 2-1/3AA NcD/NimH cells, (with a foil-for Length spacer), in place of the single AA batt.

-After xperimenting with this a LOT, I've concluded that it doesn't seem to hurt a bit,-the "step-up" regulator OR the LED itself. However, your run time will be cut to about 1 hour

 

[PeLu]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by yzingerr:
I am going to be usuing this for night time map reading and i want the light that will most efficiently let me be able to read in the dark <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I cannot see any advatnages to use such a light for map reading. I would prefer (as always) a small headlamp (Petzl Tikka or Zipka).
But if you like some kind of a more flood light, an Osram Dulux Mini should do the job much better.

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

The reason that i decided on the krill light is because i can use it for a marker light and a late night tent light. It (the krill) just seems perfect for what i am looking for in a light, in addition that it being highly water resistant is a real plus. When i go backpacking, i carry several lights (trust me, i emphasize the several). I carry everything from a headlamp to my surefire to a lightwave to a maglite to a lantern (flourescent) an on and on. I carry these lights to see what is useful and what is dead weight. Maglites are dead weight. I like the new energizer half flashlight half flourescent light (the only problem i have had with it was the switch turned on by itself somewhere between my truck and the place where i decided to camp for the night and those brand new pair or duracells were gone !!) Thanks for the replys guys !!