Using a SureFire P2X and FM45 filter for night flying? Would that be a good combo?

[weegidy]

I am looking to get a really nice tactical light and red filter to use for nighttime flying. I thought I would go with surefire since they really seem to market their gear towards things like that.

I noticed they have an "Aviator" light that can output a red light, but it also has blue, green, and white. And I don't want to risk cycling though a white light in the cockpit.

The P2X has a 15 lumen low. This is my main concern, it seems like 15 lumens is quite a lot for keeping night-vision in a cockpit, does anyone know if that will be OK? And how about the FM45 filter, it loos like it is very secure and well-made, it even has the option to flip the filter up so you can use white light without removing the filter.

I guess I mostly want other people's opinions on this before I go and blow $300 on a light.

I am new to this site and I don't think I can link to surefire's website, but a quick google search of the products I am talking about will lead to the pages.

"FM45 Red Filter"
"P2X Fury"

Thank you all for your input.

 

[Gunner12]

White LEDs don't produce much red light, so you will loose a lot of output with the filter, but that could work in your favor since you don't need too much light anyways. If you'll be using red a lot and runtime is important, a dedicated red light could work better. Zebralight makes red LED lights with a large output range.

No product links in the recommendation forum as noted in the yellow/orange box above.

Would a normal white light with a really low low (say 0.3-0.03 lumen) work as well?