Recommendation Request: Night Paintballing Light

[Vanguard]

Hey,

I'm new here, been thinking about getting a new light or two. This post concerns a light for nighttime paintball. Here are a few things you should know about paintball before we go into the flashlight discussion:

Ranges for a typical paintball gun:
- Ideal - less than 75 feet
- Effective - 75-100 feet
- Maximum - 100-125 feet
Most night shooting will be done at 50 feet or so because of reduced visual range.

I'm going to a massive game in December that will take place in a fairly open, suburban environment (without streetlights, I think), but I'm also interested in performance in light to medium woods.

The light will be serving a few purposes:
<ul type="square">
[*] Spotting people in camoflauge at long range (Is that a branch or an arm?)
[*]Determining which side someone is on at long/medium ranges. (Sides are usually designated by colored armbands)
[*]Illuminating a known target so I can shoot at it.
[*]Causing temporary blindness/distraction to night-adapted eyes, giving me a chance to get a shot off or hide. [/list]
Note that all of the above only require short bursts of light, so battery life isn't a real big issue (though more is always better, of course).
I have a feeling that a narrow focus without much spill will be a benefit, as it would reduce the "Here I am, shoot at me!" factor somewhat.

I'm looking for something not much bigger than a 2AA maglight. About the biggest I'm willing to go is a Princeton Tec Surge (And that's pushing it...I'd like something smaller).

I'd rather not spend more than $40, but I could go a bit higher for the perfect flashlight.

Here's what I've come up with after a few hours of reading reviews, etc, in no particular order:
- Bright Star Responder 4AA
- Princeton Tec Surge
- Streamlight Scorpion
- Surefire G2
- Pelican M6
I would also consider a used light that would go for around my stated price range.
I'm not too afraid of modding stuff, but I don't have much free time before the game, so any mods would have to be quick drop-in stuff...maybe later we can get into more serious mods.

I'm looking for some help in narrowing the field a bit further. Any information about why any of the above is a good or bad choice, or suggestions on other things that would fit the above uses better, would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks guys!

 

[Kryosphinx]

Re: Recommendation Request: Night Paintballing Lig

the CR123 lights may not be the best option if you are paintballing for more than an hour unless you carry lots of spares.
i say go for the Bright star

 

[cognitivefun]

Re: Recommendation Request: Night Paintballing Lig

the Pelican may not have enough throw.

 

[SilverFox]

Re: Recommendation Request: Night Paintballing Lig

Hello Vanguard,

Welcome to CPF.

Out of all of your choices, the Bright Star has the least amount of side spill. It also looks like it would be easy to carry and won't break the bank if you happen to loose it.

Another light with a pencil type beam is the UK SL4 or SL6. They use C cells, so they are heaver and a bit more bulky, but have a thin beam with minimal side spill.

Tom

 

[Unicorn]

Re: Recommendation Request: Night Paintballing Lig

Check with the field your playing at. They might have a rule against using a light on the field. Something about fairness or something like that. The field I play at, does not allow lights during their night game. Everyone gets a chemlight that is taped to their arm to make them visible to other players.
The Bright Star might be the best choice because of it's narrower beam, and it's longer battery life than the 123 powered lights. The Scorpion can be focused pretty tightly though. How are you planning on attaching it to your gun? Duct tape? That was actually my plan when I played my first night game, but that darn rule spoiled my fun.

Hey, Tom. What's the weather like now? I should be home for leave in a couple weeks and I'm wondering cold I'm going to be.

 

[SilverFox]

Re: Recommendation Request: Night Paintballing Lig

Hello Unicorn,

It's typical here...

Cloudy with some light rain, clearing later.

Winds from the SE at 5 mph.

52 degrees during the day, around 40-45 at night depending on cloud cover.

I guess you will have to bundle up. By contrast, I just got back from AK where I ran into 18 degrees, strong wind, and snow. It seems like summer to me.

Safe trip home.

Tom

 

[youseelabruin]

Re: Recommendation Request: Night Paintballing Lig

Inova T1?

Flashlightreviews.com review of the Inova T Series

 

[LitFuse]

Re: Recommendation Request: Night Paintballing Lig

I don't follow your logic on a light with minimal spill. I would think for your application (most shooting within 50 ft.) that you'd want all the spill you could get.

Price aside, I think the ideal light for your needs would be a SureFire L4. Turns night into day with a "wall" of light, free of distracting artifacts and sharp contrast changes. You don't have to "look" for things with the L4, you just "see" them.

Peter

 

[brightnorm]

The Pelican M6, (preferably with integrated lamp-reflector), is one of the three longest-throwing 2x123 currently in production and the best suited of those three for your purposes, IMO. Although the Surge puts out a greater amount of light (lumens) the PM6 is slmost unparalled in its ability to project a brilliant and powerful beam. Other li

For even greater throw and brightness the 3x123 Streamlight TL-3 (xenon) is the brightest, furthest throwing non-turbohead light in its class. Although its claimed 200 lumens is exaggerated there are few if any lights of iys size that can equal, let alone surpass it.

Brightnorm

 

[Vanguard]

Re: Recommendation Request: Night Paintballing Lig

Thanks for the quick replies guys!

Kryosphinx: Since the light will only be on intermittantly, I don't feel that battery life will be a problem. I doubt I will get an hour of total use during 6-8 hours of night play, and if I do, I can always swap the batteries out on the field.

Unicorn: Yes, the field allows flashlights and NV, but actually does not allow glowsticks (they're used to mark field boundaries, etc).

I might not have time to get a mount worked out before the game, but later I will probably have a weaver mount to hook up to. My plan for now is to use the flashlight in one hand and the gun in the other (It's slightly awkward, but doable).

LitFuse: You're right, for the shooting application a wall of light would be desirable. However, for the other applications (spotting and identification at range) I'm thinking low spill. If someone is looking directly at me from the front, they'll see my light no matter how much spill. If someone is looking at me from the back or side, a tigher beam would make me less likely to be seen since my immediate area wouldn't be lit up as much. Make sense? That being said, the L4 is way out of my price range.

I'm not opposed to two lights, one "wall of light" for close-range shooting, one tight beam for long distance spotting...If that's the case, I'd rather not go about $60 total for the pair.

So far we've got one vote for the Bright Star Responder 4AA , one for the Pelican M6 and one for "Not the Pelican"...any other thoughts?

Thanks again guys!

 

[brightnorm]

Re: Recommendation Request: Night Paintballing Lig

Vanguard,

See my edited post that includes the PM6 and Streamlight TL-3. Any statement that concludes that the PM6 is not a long throwing light or that it is not superior in that respect to virtually all other lights in its size and weight class is based either on a poorly functioning lamp, depleted batteries, imcompletely depressed tailswitch or faulty test conditions. The PM6 is widely acknowkleged to be one of the best thowers of its type.

Also, strongly consider the Streamlight TL-3 (xenon) (copied from earlier post):

For even greater throw and brightness the 3x123 Streamlight TL-3 (xenon) is the brightest, furthest throwing non-turbohead light in its class. Although its claimed 200 lumens is exaggerated there are few if any lights of its size that can equal, let alone surpass it in this respect.

VERTICAL EXTREME THROW TEST #1

I'll try again to provide a link to the major PM6 review but there seems to some technical glitch that is preventing that.

Brightnorm

 

[MrBenchmark]

Another vote here for the PM6. I've got one, and it is a long throwing light. The only thing about the light I don't like is it's runtime - slightly more than an hour before it's way dead - but you already stated that doesn't matter because you'll only use it intermittently. Carry a spare set of CR123's with you and you should be fine. It's also not the most durable light ever, but it's pretty tough, and it definitely offers a lot of performance per $.

 

[Vanguard]

Re: Recommendation Request: Night Paintballing Lig

Ok, you guys have sold me on the PM6. Ordering one ASAP.

I noticed there are aftermarket lenses and tailcaps for the PM6. Are these worth the cost?

I think I might grab a Responder 4AA also, it's cheap and it will make a good backup/teammate loaner.

Thanks for the help!

-Justin

 

[DaveT]

Re: Recommendation Request: Night Paintballing Lig

Justin, there's also a tape switch for the PM6 - about $14 or so, and I believe it's available from supporting dealer batterystation.com, who also has really good prices on the PM6 and batteries.

 

[Hoghead]

Re: Recommendation Request: Night Paintballing Lig

Here's a link to Battery Station CPF members special page.

 

[Vanguard]

Re: Recommendation Request: Night Paintballing Lig

I had already found the members section on BatteryStation, but thanks for the help anyway!

Hmm...I guess I'll have to add that remote switch to my order. Thanks for mentioning that!