RED light for varmint's

[Toster]

Ok, I'm pretty new here but have spent the last couple days with my head spinning reading all the "gun mounted / predator lights / Red light" searched stuff that I could find. I have PM'ed several people and hope they weigh in on this post for all to read.

I am looking for 2 very good lights mainly for night predator calling.

1 - First light) Something that I can really reach out there and spot / search with. I was thinking of Thrunite Thrower King TN31 (if they make a red bulb for it), getting a custom red pt-54 mag light built (run time kind of concerns me) or a HID of some type. Again needs to be Red light as not to spook the wildlife, and cannot be run off any motorized battery source (ie no lights that would run off the 12v cigarette lighter). But could be 12v or more as long as it is portable.

2 - Second light) This light would be a smaller gun mounted (AR platform/22 rim fire/ various other smaller caliber guns) for the closer in 100-250 yd crosshair work. Here I was thinking of the Solar Force L2 or L2p, a UltraFire WF-502B, (I'm not sure of the difference there) or simmilar light, a nailbender P-60 red drop in, and a spherical lens of some sorts maybe. I get the feeling that there are much better lights out there than the Kill light 250, and simmilar.

As for price, well I would like it to be reasonable, but if spending a extra $100 is going to get me something that is "the next level better" I will. I have seriously looked at the thermal night scopes but those are just a little too much. Starting at $6k it would take a hell of long time to recover the cost of the scope in fur!

Thanks!

 

[Gunner12]

Dereelight's Nightmaster and X Searcher can both come with red LEDs. The lights provide no spill though, so are only good for long range spotting. They are $100-$150 depending on what you get with them. You can also swap the pill out for a white LED if you want.

They can be gun mounted from what I've read.

I don't think the TN31 comes in red.

 

[regency]

I really like the kill lights, we have 2 - 100's and 1 - 250. There probably are some better out there but for the price and the items with the package you really cant beat its value!!

And with the XLR250 you can swap the led with whatever color you want (green, red, white, blue), of course you would have to buy them extra or get one of the pro hunter packages.

 

[Gunner12]

The Kill Lights look interesting, I wonder how they compare to the other lights commonly used around here. I know Dereelight is advertising 800m for eye shine and 500m for identifying animals with the Nightmaster at some UK sites.

Do you have a set of 18650 batteries and charger already? Those are ~$50 for a good set (2 batteries and a charger).

 

[Toster]

No18650's but I do have a very nice charger (icharger 208b) that will charge everyting under the sun. So if you want to recomend some good 18650s that would be ok too.

 

[JohnGalway]

The Kill Lights look interesting, I wonder how they compare to the other lights commonly used around here. I know Dereelight is advertising 800m for eye shine and 500m for identifying animals with the Nightmaster at some UK sites.

I borrowed one to see if it would suit me or not. I couldn't recommend it to be honest, I didn't find it reliable in all conditions. Shot at three rabbits with a .223 between 150 and 200 yards and I missed two of them with the white light. It's my belief they put in the wrong tint LED, it looks cool white to me for throw, where a neutral white would work better for picking out targets but then won't throw so far. I found the bunnies merged in with the ground. Yet at other times I could see the facial features of sheep 280 yards away. It was frustrating to be honest.

 

[Gunner12]

That's a nice charger there! For batteries, many suggest AW over at the Marketplace or Pila's batteries. I have some keeppower batteries that are nice as well, and I hear the Nitecore and Eagletac batteries are also good.

Most LED lights are cool white nowadays, I'd love to see more neutral white ones but those tend to be dimmer (can advertise large numbers anymore).

This list is a bit outdated, but it could help for neutral/high CRI lights:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...Available-HighCRI-Neutral-amp-Warm-LED-Lights

 

[Toster]

Got my smaller gun light ordered I am going with the Solar force L2p, a nail bender P-60 XPE in red with a smooth reflector in a 3 way drop in, and sprung for the remote switch for it. I guess I will have to order my lens from DX unless a US vender has them.

For the larger search light right now I am leaning toward the Dereelight Xsearcher. It has 2 batteries (longer runtime), and a 70mm head where the NightMaster only has one battery (unless added on) and a smaller 53mm head. I thought about just getting the Nightmaster and just mounting that one light. But still think I would prefer to have two separate lights.

John- any more info on the HID setups?

 

[JohnGalway]

Got my smaller gun light ordered I am going with the Solar force L2p, a nail bender P-60 XPE in red with a smooth reflector in a 3 way drop in, and sprung for the remote switch for it. I guess I will have to order my lens from DX unless a US vender has them.

For the larger search light right now I am leaning toward the Dereelight Xsearcher. It has 2 batteries (longer runtime), and a 70mm head where the NightMaster only has one battery (unless added on) and a smaller 53mm head. I thought about just getting the Nightmaster and just mounting that one light. But still think I would prefer to have two separate lights.

John- any more info on the HID setups?

You should have bought the Thrunite TN31 for your search light when it was on special offer. My money, for what it's worth, say's they'll have another special on after Christmas. I have one, and it's fantastic. See individual sheep with the naked eye past 500 yards, saw a river winding it's way through a bog in a valley at 711 yards, verified by Leica CRF rangefinder. Spot foxes eyes hundreds and hundreds of yards away.

I bought a 30W HID kit from that Australian guy, had a very long exchange of emails with him, very nice helpful guy, so that's in the post to me now. When it will get here I don't know, so will have to wait upon answers. He assured me it will draw 1/3rd of the battery power of my 100W incandescent bulb, and give me more distance.

 

[Toster]

I haven't ordered the Deerelight yet, just the smaller L2p Solar force. John are you running a red filter over the TN31? Or do they have red bulb for that light?

 

[JohnGalway]

No Toster, I use a white light. Same as when I would use my Lightforce Striker, I had a dimmer switch on that, or if I didn't have the time I would use the spill/halo to track the fox instead of the spot. The TN31 has several power settings so is a bit like a dimmer. I'm not sure how LED work with colour filter, not so well I think. I haven't seen a coloured LED for the TN31 but they would sell well if they had them for hunters. A drop in interchangeable LED would be excellent.

 

[Toster]

I haven't seen a coloured LED for the TN31 but they would sell well if they had them for hunters. A drop in interchangeable LED would be excellent.

I emailed Nailbender to see if there is a way. There sure is a want! Sorry anyone else that might make drop in's I'm new here. But make a Red and green drop in for the TN31 (or knockoff) and you will have some happy hunters!

 

[Gunner12]

The TN31 doesn't take drop-ins and such from what I know. The LED will have to be desoldered and swapped, and the driver might not match the voltage a red LED needs.

I think Solarforce has some turbo head lights that take modules, Dereelight is similar and I hear they have better quality.

 

[JohnGalway]

The reason I suggested the TN31 is because I use one as a search light for initial spotting of foxes, and it's really, really, really good at that job. But I've had a PM conversation and yeah, coloured and IR LED's seem to be a no go right now.

The Dereelight, the Nightmaster at least, is no good as a search light, I've one out on loan from a man in Wales. The LED "Spot" is tiny. Though I did shoot a fox at 210 yards with it the night before last using a higher than standard power white LED.

A 30W HID converted LF 170 is my next experiment, that can use coloured and IR filters AFAIK. Stop gap measure but improving on where I'm coming from all the time.

 

[Toster]

I have been following the HID thread as well, just not a huge fan of filters in this day and age.

Well if I knew where to get the LEDS, and what voltage they needed, I got the tools and skills to solder it up. From this picture out of this review it looks like sometype of "drop in".

 

[JohnGalway]

I am not technically minded enough to go messing with my TN31 so I won't go that way. I have been told of a red LED but that it's expensive, and the output won't be as much as expected.

But......................

The same person also has plans to offer a colour alternative (won't be a TN31), and if I were you, I would keep my powder dry until then :sssh:

 

[Toster]

Oh come on John.. please "shed some light" on who your talking about.

 

[wertzius]

I got a Nailbender P60 Red Dropin! http://www.taschenlampen-forum.de/drop-ins/20051-nailbender-sst-90-red-dropin.html
Here you can have a look.

 

[Alankujala]

Hello fellow predator hunters! I have been through numerous lights looking for the best possible combination of scan and weapons mounted lights. So far to date my favorite Red LED scan light is the St-90 from Electro Lumens, I had to pay a little more but Wayne made one for me with the Red LED and it is a beast. If I am traveling light my favorite scanning light is the Wolf Eyes Nite Hunter with the Red LED as it is the brightest followed by the SmallSun that the gentleman over at Onestopthrowshop threw in a Red LED in for me. The SmallSun has a better flood to spot option but the Nite Hunter is quite a bit brighter. On my rifle I have mounted an Olight Triton M3X and I am extremely happy with it. I am shooting a Wilson Combat tactical sniper in 223 and there isn't any recoil at all so I have mounted several light that are not rated for recoil but have never had a problem with function. I did get an XSearcher a couple of weeks ago and have been playing around with it. I use a Schmidt and Bender scope and when I dial my scope down in power for the close shots the Olight has great spill as well as a great hot spot for the longer shots. But if my shots were all past 200 yards I would definitely deal with the size difference and mount the Xsearcher. It is an awesome thrower!

 

[Toster]

For my smalllight I got the solarforce L2P with the NailBender P60 drop in with the smoothreflector. I don't have the aspherical lens (yet). I took it out the othernight, and I would say it is good for short range ~60 yards. It bleedslight, and does not keep it focused, and doen't really cast it out there a long way. I will say it is a lot better than a 1300 lum HID Stanley light with Red theaterlighting lens film over it.

I got a Nailbender P60 Red Dropin! http://www.taschenlampen-forum.de/drop-ins/20051-nailbender-sst-90-red-dropin.html
Here you can have a look.