What Color Glo-Toob for Military?

[popcornpicker]

I bought a white one for my son to take to Iraq but now I hear everything has to be red or blue or green. My thought was that he could use one to read,write letters,clean his gun or whatever. Indestructible is one thing but useful is even better. Are there different colored sleeves he could put it in? And what's the deal with the different colors?

 

[Marduke]

IIRC, any light used in combat areas must have red capability at the minimum. For use outiside of combat areas, I think other colors are fine.

 

[carrot]

The military specific ones are IR. Colored lights are harder to see at distance, so that is probably why you have heard this. If I were drafted and deployed I would really want a Surefire A2 or Kroma but these are expensive, etc etc, so a Glo-Toob is probably a good alternative as far as low level lighting is concerned.

Red is difficult to tell contrast and bad for depth perception. It is very good for not ruining night adapted vision and should be fine for reading but I find it an eyestrain to use red for much else.
Blue is also not very good for depth perception or contrast although IMHO markedly better than red for what it's worth. I would feel reasonably comfortable using blue for most tasks but it is still not ideal.
Green is the best all around color aside from white and offers good contrast and depth perception. The eyes perceive green better than any other single spectrum color. I find green preferable but of course this may be personal preference.
I would rate green the most useful and blue the second most useful of these options. White is easily the most useful so you might want to check to see for certain if white is not allowed. IMHO there are all sorts of other flashlights (mostly more expensive) that I'd "rather have" if I were deployed but a Glo-Toob is a useful, solid choice.

You could probably wrap the Glo Toobs in some sort of colored sleeves but to my knowledge there is no such offering. Glo Toobs are colored not by the plastic they are encased in (although they are, partly) but by the color of the LEDs they use.

 

[PayBack]

Surely green could be seen by the enemy at a distance as well as white? It sticks out like a sore thumb.

 

[ZMZ67]

When I was in Iraq in the first gulf war we were required to use blue filters on our lights.They seemed to think that blue was the least visible in the desert at the time.Things have probably changed as that was quite a few years ago and the present conflict is very different.Maybe your son can find out the current light discipline from his unit.Dim white light may be OK in secure areas.

 

[angelofwar]

Well, from what I've read, some of the personnel have stopped using colored light altogether...the baddies mentality is "Only the Americans use colored light", so some of them have switched to white light altogether...but, I would ask him what he wanted...red is better for preserving NV, and put's out the lowest signature...blue, in a less visible in a dark, toned down enviroment, but reflects too much off of white...If it's just a small light for reading, finding my stuff in a bag, reading maps, or instrument panels,with the lowest signature, I'd go with (actually, I'm over here now and this is what I use) a SL Sidewinder or a Gerber Recon...after all, the Glo-Toob is designed as a "Marker", and not a utility light. Hoep this helps.

 

[RadarGreg]

I'm in Iraq right now and have a green Glotoob with me. Green is highly visible and I use it when walking around the base at night. In my work, I have a zero chance of needing the IR light and on the bigger bases, there are plenty of lights, white and otherwise. If your son is going to be going out on door-kicking missions a lot, then he may not want to use it except when back on the base or reading a book in bed. Everyone gets excited that all lights must be totally tactical at all times. I'm sure your boy would like to have the white Glotoob for reading or walking to the bathroom at night.

 

[popcornpicker]

He already has a Recon 1-M that he says he uses all the time in training. I upgraded that to the CPL model that has an nvis mode, whatever that is.
They make red transparent tape that people use to repair taillights on cars. Maybe we'll get some of that

 

[Marduke]

The Photon Proton Pro might be a good choice. Removable clip, good lanyard attachment, has both low low red and high white immediately available, infinitely adjustable.

 

[popcornpicker]

Thanks for the link, Marduke. This looks very interesting. I like the variable control. Long runtime is a must. I'll look for reviews.

 

[Marduke]

Thanks for the link, Marduke. This looks very interesting. I like the variable control. Long runtime is a must. I'll look for reviews.

I'll save you the time and link a couple of the better reviews. As most high power lights are, it works best on NiMH or e2 lithium primaries on the high mode, but will work in short bursts on high with alkaline, or fine on lower output modes.

http://www.cpfreviews.com/LRI-Proton-Pro.php
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=182920

 

[TMedina]

As others have noted, a lot of the requirements will depend on what he's doing, where he's doing it and the unit SOP.

I wouldn't classify the Glo-Toob as tactical in any sense because you have to hunt for the exact setting - this isn't to say he can't or won't use it in a non-tactical environment, but it probably won't be a mainstay in his pack.

I was sitting guard tower on Anaconda (Balad) from Sep 06 to Sep 07 - you had to have a non-white light, but the SOP didn't specify what color.

The Inova micro lights were very popular and cheap (about $5 at the PX), but weren't exactly durable.

My tactical/bay maneuvering light was the Gerber Infinity in Red - pocket clip, center-line lanyard hole and feeds on AA batteries.

For my up close and personal tasks, I wish I'd had the Arc AAA - small, lightweight and bright enough for most jobs.

I ended up using the Inova X1 or the Pentagon MOLLE light in conjunction with the Gerber for non-tactical lighting.

A good personal light is invaluable no matter where he goes because you never know when you'll be fumbling around in the dark, even on Anaconda. You just have to juggle output versus run time versus battery availability.

-Trevor

 

[popcornpicker]

I'm at the checkout at CFR for the Proton Pro now and it's asking for a discount code. Do you know what it is?

 

[Marduke]

There isn't a standing code for CPF, but that price is the best for the Proton Pro. It retails usually for about $70

 

[popcornpicker]

Thanks, I'm looking forward to receiving it. I'm not complaining at all about the price. The reviews were great. I went through about 7 pages using the search function and that's good enough for me.