Red LED's

[ruger357]

What are they basically used for? Thanks in advance for any responces.

 

[Marduke]

The short answer is to preserve night vision. You can use more red light than white and still preserve night adapted vision in darkness.

 

[Flying Turtle]

No particular constructive use for me. Mostly for fun, to be honest. As a very eye friendly night or area light it's hard to beat. I suppose there have been a handful of times when I've used the red in my Proton in a situation where I've not wanted to be obviously turning on a flashlight or wanted to preserve my night vision. I still like having it available.

Geoff

 

[Grog]

They are excellent at making red lines on a map disappear.....








Ask me how I know :D

 

[ruger357]

:crackup:

They are excellent at making red lines on a map disappear.....








Ask me how I know :D

lol

 

[Element of Darkness]

Red is an excellent color to illuminate the night, but retain as much night vision as possible. Most people with red filters use them for night hikes, or walking the dogs in pitch black areas (if you live out in the sticks), etc etc. You won't see them used much in the city, with the exeption of some peace officers or other specialized use.

Personally, I do a lot of night hiking in the mountains, and I will not get on the trail without a red filter anymore. My hiking buddy and I usually night hike (or jog) in the mountains with no light for 85-90% of the hike, obviously depending on how bright the moonlight is (moonlight often times is plenty bright to see where you're going in the forest, depending on conditions). For the other 10% of the hike, we've often got red filters blazing, illuminating much of what we couldn't see with the naked eye. What's amazing though is that you can light up the forest with red light, then shut if off, and continue running or walking without breaking pace.

To contrast this, no matter how bright the moonlight is in the forest, with an LED or incan you get this amazing wall of light when you turn the light on, then once the light turns off you are blind in a wall of darkness for 15-20 seconds until your eyes re-adjust.

With most people living in the city, this is almost never an issue (for most folks). In the sticks, it happens all the time. If I'm in the mountains at night, I'll wear a dual red led headlamp, keep my regular bright white led EDC torch w/ forward clicky in my hand at the ready, and my backup reg white led torch in my backpack or front pocket. Hope this helps.

 

[greenlight]

They are excellent at making red lines on a map disappear.....Ask me how I know :D

Shouldn't the red light reflect off of the red lines?

Another use would be to highlight red objects, like red chairs or a red sign.

Looking for rubies?

 

[diff_lock2]

Shouldn't the red light reflect off of the red lines?

Another use would be to highlight red objects, like red chairs or a red sign.

Looking for rubies?

It does reflect off the red lines, and the light/white background. with a red light white looks red, red looks red, red on red, red. You can't see the lines. Blue looks black. Red light can really mess with you mind at times. I would guess other narrow spectrum light sources do the same.

 

[bullfrog]

What are they basically used for? Thanks in advance for any responces.

The PERFECT trip-to-the-bathroom-at-3am light!

I also use mine when I want to read in bed and don't want to bother the wife.

As far as walking or hiking with one, I'm not a fan as they mess with my depth perception...

They seem to work best for me for stationary tasks...

 

[Blue72]

I also use mine when I want to read in bed and don't want to bother the wife.

I find dim blue light works best for this.

I used to use red light to check on the kids at night but it would wake them.

I have been using dim blue with better results ( to check on the kids not night preservation).

Test it out yourself. Shine the red light at your eyes with your eyes shut and do the same thing with the Blue light. you will notice the blue is less disturbing.

 

[3000k]

What works better, a white led with a red filter or a red led, or does it not matter?

I have a small red keychain light I keep on me, besides being red it it is bright enough for most tasks but not too bright to take away night vision. I also outfitted the dome and map lights in my truck to red leds.

 

[mrmonk7663]

We use the red lights to track people through the brush, the red helps us see the sign left behind and allows us to stay "hidden"

 

[Guy's Dropper]

I find dim blue light works best for this.

I used to use red light to check on the kids at night but it would wake them.

I have been using dim blue with better results ( to check on the kids not night preservation).

Test it out yourself. Shine the red light at your eyes with your eyes shut and do the same thing with the Blue light. you will notice the blue is less disturbing.

Are you kidding?
It could vary from person to person, but blue light is almost as bad as green light for my night vision.

 

[bullfrog]

I find dim blue light works best for this.

I used to use red light to check on the kids at night but it would wake them.

I have been using dim blue with better results ( to check on the kids not night preservation).

Test it out yourself. Shine the red light at your eyes with your eyes shut and do the same thing with the Blue light. you will notice the blue is less disturbing.

Interesting - thanks for the info!

I have never owned nor tried a blue light... I think I'll pick up an F06 :huh:

 

[Blue72]

Are you kidding?
It could vary from person to person, but blue light is almost as bad as green light for my night vision.

Like I said in my post, I do not use blue for night vision. I use blue to prevent waking others up while roaming around the house.

 

[baterija]

What works better, a white led with a red filter or a red led, or does it not matter?

I have a small red keychain light I keep on me, besides being red it it is bright enough for most tasks but not too bright to take away night vision. I also outfitted the dome and map lights in my truck to red leds.

It depends on what you mean by better. A white LED doesn't create much red light to pass through the filter. The plus there is is might be dimmer doing even more to preserve your night vision. Another plus is you have a white light handy if the need arises. The downside is you are burning power making all the other light that you are filtering out. A similar amount of red light can be gotten with better power efficiency from a red LED.

 

[Moonshadow]

Good comparison is the Surefire L1:

Red LED version:
High: 22 Lumens for 4 Hours
Low: 1.1 Lumens for 90 Hours

White LED version:
High: 65 Lumens for 1.5 Hours
Low: 10 Lumens for 16 Hours

Now assuming that a red filter used on the white LED version will block about 90% of the light, you can see that you are getting a much better runtime with the pure red LED version - since all of the energy is going into red photons in the first place. 90 hour runtime on low - sweet !

Bugger - think I've just talked myself into buying another light !

 

[Blue72]

If you are looking for a floody beam get an red LED, the filter kills most of the light except for the hotspot in most case scenarios.

 

[DreamCrusher]

We use the red lights to track people through the brush, the red helps us see the sign left behind and allows us to stay "hidden"

Another PA here I see. :twothumbs:twothumbs

 

[Flying Turtle]

I'm thinking of a slight compromise. A Photon Freedom with an orange LED. A bit more light than red, but still easy on the eyes, and a way to dispose of a few 2032 batteries I've accumulated. Anyone here have a light with orange?

Geoff