Recommendations for a spotlight to scare off wildlife at night?

[avicarmi]

Hi All,

we live in a rural area, lots of wildlife especially at night, coyote, skunks, opossums, however, this never used to be a problem our as older dogs always stayed in at night, but not the youngest one. she is as cute as can be, but this fearless little monster demands to be let out at night, and then barks at whatever is out there. (she already killed five skunks... in addition to numerous other critters)

I am thinking that a strong spotlight might scare off whatever critter the she is barking at, and will let the neighbors and us have a better night's sleep...

Amazon have lots of CCC (Cheap Chinese Crap) at around $30, which might be just good enough for my needs, but I am looking for your advice before I buy.

I'd like to keep price around $50-$80, size/weight does not matter, as is run time (only about 10 minutes per night), but I would like a long reach, about 600-800 feet of very bright light. strobe mode might also be useful.

from reading this forum, I understand that I need to look for candlepower rather than lumens.

and seems that Lumintop GT Mini might be a good choice for my needs...

any other advice is more than welcome,

thanks,

-avi

 

[Lou Minescence]

Hi avicarmi,
I have found animals find light disturbing. It wont necessarily scare them off unless you manage to shine lots of light at them. So your findings about candlepower being best is correct. The more intense hot spot you can shine at the animal the more likely it is to leave the area. I usually shine at lower levels first to find the animals eyes looking back. Then I will shine at the eyes with the highest intensity to scare it off. Eventually the animal leaves but not always. If they don't leave I walk twords them shining them and they leave the area every time. Eventually animals will avoid your home area because they don't like being disturbed.

 

[richbuff]

Second post in ten years.

:welcome:

 

[AEHaas]

My neighbor used a lower power light to find the animals that were causing a disturbance at night. He then, at my suggestion, used an LEP light to shine at them. It really worked and kept them away.

ali

 

[JustAnOldFashionedLEDGuy]

If your dog was barking and keeping me up at night, I would be shining the light at your house

 

[kilogulf59]

We had/have the same problem avicarmi, we're in central Wisconsin. About seven years ago, I too sought help here. This is what's still working for us. Mind you, there's bigger and brighter (and cheaper) out there nowadays but ours is still working.

We use a Streamlight Waypoint Spotlight 4 C-cell. This we've had for 7-years and it gets used nightly. We have to scan the yard for critters before we let the dogs out. I use Eneloop NiMH AA-cells in C-cell adapters, which seem to last just as long as primary C-cells. I can't even imagine how much money we've saved using rechargeable batteries. It came with a 12v cord for vehicular use. Here's the poop on this great light: WAYPOINT® LED SPOTLIGHT.

BTW, skunks are one thing, porcupines, racoons, coyotes, and bear are another...be careful.

 

[hsa]

The Waypoint is a great light at a good price. They now have 4 iterations of it but the one you have is the best bargain.

 

[kilogulf59]

Yeah, it suits our needs and works well.