Red light into the night!

nikocamf

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So I have come to the place of ultimate knowledge once more. I have scoured the internet for this simple thing but to no avail. I am looking for a head torch that uses a red LED chip. I often walk my excitable hound at night and during the summer months the number of bugs that white light attracts beggars belief! They swim round my face like a cloud of tiny ghosts making vision difficult and eating the little beggars al too easy! lol. I need a light that will light up an area ahead of 30-40 meters. It would be nice to have a central hotspot that throws that little bit further, but not essential. I've seen plenty with add on red LEDs but no dedicated ones. Thanks in advance.
 

kerneldrop

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Aliexpress has several. Or the 2 below are in the states. Here's two options with an option of red only. You specify you want a red LED in the notes at checkout after selecting the red led option


 

fulee9999

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Black Diamond SPOT350

It's very light, has three seperate LEDs, a thrower, a floody, and a red one. It has memory for all three different LED brightnesses, and has an instant turbo switch. I've been using it lately and it's awesome!

 

nikocamf

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Aliexpress has several. Or the 2 below are in the states. Here's two options with an option of red only. You specify you want a red LED in the notes at checkout after selecting the red led option


Cheers matey. Much appreciated
 

DRW

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I have a couple of these. 2 red levels, clip, magnetic base. It's my EDC (without headband) and hunting light (with headband).

 

nikocamf

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I have a couple of these. 2 red levels, clip, magnetic base. It's my EDC (without headband) and hunting light (with headband).

Thank you but the red light needs to be the primary source of illumination. Would be used to avoid walking into trees when out with my dog lol
 

nikocamf

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Aliexpress has several. Or the 2 below are in the states. Here's two options with an option of red only. You specify you want a red LED in the notes at checkout after selecting the red led option


There seems to be bit of a bone on contention regarding these customised lights. Mostly positive comments but also some negative ones from reputable sources regarding safety issues.
As for Aliexpress. I've been looking at their site a while now and tempted to spend some money there. Prices are certainly keen. Any feed back on there reliability etc would be good to hear.
 

kerneldrop

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I'm not sure what kind of safety issues there would be. The convoy is a stock convoy with the LED being swapped to a factory LED.

Most safety issues with flashlights involve using the wrong battery in a FET driver creating a high drain short. That convoy doesn't have a FET driver.
 

nikocamf

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I'm not sure what kind of safety issues there would be. The convoy is a stock convoy with the LED being swapped to a factory LED.

Most safety issues with flashlights involve using the wrong battery in a FET driver creating a high drain short. That convoy doesn't have a FET driver.
It's regarding lights being customised in a way that cause excess heat build up I believe.
 

KITROBASKIN

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Here in the USA and elsewhere, many enjoy pushing the limits. Skylumen has a 'must read before purchase' statement to help those lacking experience get a better handle on the very real hazards of hotrod flashlights. Fortunately we can choose how safe or racy a flashlight selected is, before buying.
 

kerneldrop

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That particular light is just a LED swap, not a FET driver. It's a convoy driver and convoy light.
 

Stefano

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Thank you but the red light needs to be the primary source of illumination. Would be used to avoid walking into trees when out with my dog lol
If you live in the UK you may want to consider the Fenix HM65R special version called "ShadowMaster"
Or an Armytek Wizard in WR version.
 

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kerneldrop

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Oh i see, you don't live in USA.

There's not really great red only options on aliexpress. I see the 18650 one that's red only.

18650 is a big headlamp.

All of my headlamps are AAA and AA.
 

Mappo

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If you can find someone to ship it to you, I recently purchased a zebralight H502pr. It is excellent. It is a mule, so it spreads an even distributed wide angle light

Great for situational awareness, it has many different brightness settings. I use this light at bedtime to read, or move around the house/campsite. Red light only lamps are great becuase they DO NOT disrupt your circadian rhythm, unlike blue light. For those unaware here is a brief: All white light has some blue light in it, especially LED's generally have large blue light peaks if you look at a spectrum graph. Blue light disrupts the pathway for releasing melatonin, ie keeps you awake.

The H502pr uses AA batteries, I use rechargeable enloop AA's. Runtime is solid. Build quality and the head strap are great. Try to get one!
 

Stefano

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If you can find someone to ship it to you, I recently purchased a zebralight H502pr. It is excellent. It is a mule, so it spreads an even distributed wide angle light

Great for situational awareness, it has many different brightness settings. I use this light at bedtime to read, or move around the house/campsite. Red light only lamps are great becuase they DO NOT disrupt your circadian rhythm, unlike blue light. For those unaware here is a brief: All white light has some blue light in it, especially LED's generally have large blue light peaks if you look at a spectrum graph. Blue light disrupts the pathway for releasing melatonin, ie keeps you awake.

The H502pr uses AA batteries, I use rechargeable enloop AA's. Runtime is solid. Build quality and the head strap are great. Try to get one!
Great suggestion but the Zebralight site only ships to the USA
In Europe NKON has that model at a good price but it is out of stock on its website
 

greoo

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Great suggestion but the Zebralight site only ships to the USA
In Europe NKON has that model at a good price but it is out of stock on its website
I'm kinda on the same game I need a far throw red for hunting I don't care if it's on gun head or hand I have a son with me to lamp gives him something to do lol saw a hunter using a head torch on YouTube well too

also I'm in uk which seems to be an issue all the good lights are USA and chinas drop offs are crap so have to spend like 200 quid to get a good one

so I'm thinking to make one after stripping my current one to see it's 80 quid costs a mere 15 to buy and i have had to resolder it too then I could prob make one

chip driver battery isn't really a lot to it eh unless ya want extras zooms etc
I have a habit of reverse engineering everything to try reduce cost wish I could get my hands on a fenix or an osled or such for ten mins I'd put it back to together for ya hah

keeping track to see where you end up I might follow ya as you want what I want lol
 

nikocamf

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Have you considered yellow or amber lights instead of red?
I have indeed. Amber may work but yellow would still attract the bugs I'd think. Honestly it's like trying to see through a swirling mist sometimes! lol
 
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