Need a spotlight to hunt with

[Jim Peterson]

I am looking for a spotlight to use with a red lens for hunting fox and coyote.The light i use now is a Q-beam 2 million cp. Problem is the battery life is only about 20 min and you need to run it at all times when making a stand while calling to look for eye glow. I dont think I need 2 million cp to shine for eyes,I just need longer battery life so I can hunt longer at night. Can a person maybe change the bulb to some other type? Maybe another type of battery? Or just another light all together? thanks for your help.

 

[Sway]

Welcome to CPF!

Have a look at LightForce here they should have something thats fits your needs

Later
Kelly

 

[Patriot]

Here http://www.outdoorlightingsource.com/spotlights/varspecspot.html is a quality 200,000cp that which plugs into a 12v source. That could be a vector jumpstart box or some other compact 12v source. It would last for many hours hooked up to portable jumpstarter. Since you're sitting in one place anyhow, it might be ideal. Has a red filter too.

 

[IsaacHayes]

a red-orange luxeon in a maglite works great for this kind of stuff. And lasts forever if you use a 1W luxeon1. 60 lumens of pure red light.

 

[Patriot]

Maybe. I just know that for me seeing eye reflections even with a P61 lamp assy is very difficult when I've shined it out the drivers window while driving dirt roads at night. Even my M3 with MN11 lamp struggles. I'd think that something starting with 250-500 lumens with good throw would be a good starting point.

Jim, how far are you shooting? Out to 75-100 yards maybe? It's not enough just to see the eyes, because when you decide to take a shot you'll need to be able to make out the shape of your target.

 

[IsaacHayes]

Trust me, the red-orange luxeon is 60 lumens, but thats 60lumens of RED light, not 60lumens of white light that's then filtered to only produce a little of red.

And the mag reflector makes it throw. Eyes really reflect the red, and yes red doesn't scare animals as much as other colors (I've compared on the same animal). I even tried a green luxeon and the racoon moved away/turned his head when it was on, but then turn on the red and he would look back after a sec or two.

If you need more, then a luxeon3 red-orange at 1.4amps will put out more light, but it will be wider and throw won't be any better. Max throw I'd go with a luxeon1 red/orange at ~500ma. Or a red-orange K2 driven to it's max.

 

[kingoftf]

Microfire K500R HID, easy to carry, very small, Runtime 110 Minutes, very, very bright.
Did I mentioned that it is very bright? :laughing:

 

[crewcabrob]

Hi,

My buddy is really interested in my new boxer 24w for just the same reason. He currently uses a remotely powered spotlight with a red filter. He brought it in to work and we compared it to the boxer as far as brightness and output. I put the red filter over the boxer and it was still brighter than the spot light he was using.

The boxer line has a red filter for all of the models: 10w - 24w. I know they are expensive, but this can easily be a dual purpose light with the filter on.

Good luck with the calling! Are you using a Fox Pro to call them in? One of my co-worker's husband is the designer of the Minaska calling products. www.minaskaoutdoors.com I got to play with one the other day, and I must say it is very nice. I'm trying to talk him out of one for cheap!

Rob

 

[Jim Peterson]

Thanks for the tips I will check them all out. When I hunt at night I really only need the light to identify a fox or coyote then I can shut it off because I have a night vision scope on my rifle. With this scope,a D-740,and my .223 I can shoot out to 200+ yards.It is just hard to scan while calling and look through the scope at the same time.I do use a foxpro and also mouth calls.thank you again.

 

[crewcabrob]

I went and looked at the link Sway gave you, that is exactally what one of my coworkers have. He brought it in to compare with the Boxer 24w I have. It was a nice light. One thing I noticed right away was the hand deld spot is very light to hold and can be mounted on your rifle scope.

Good luck!

Rob