which light will you use in snow whiteout?

If you are caught outdoors during snow storm whiteout, which light would you choose to guide you to safe location? high power LED, incadescent light or HID spot light?

I had found out during our 2005 blizzard (38") that it was an incan that cut through the best. The ultra white LED just had too much glare in the snow. When I used a Lux V it just gave me a wall of white. My SF M3T really did a good job, especially in penetration and color rendition. My 9P did almost as well.

Never been in a "whiteout" and hopefully I'm not going anywhere where there's a potential for it to happen. But I keep hearing similar renderings as Fieldops alluded to both from here on CPF and elsewhere. . .

You mean that nice little bottle of stuff I use to hide my handwritten mistakes on letters is actually made from some special snow? (Hence where it got its name?)

Like tonight? My LED's were worthless in the snow as usual. Incan all the way for this application.

4 D Mag

Can one use a filter on their led light to minimize the affect of a whiteout?

white out.... snow...

probably will use a incan light.don't wanna blind myself with all those white.

ROP

Pelican Big D Nicad, overdriving the SLA version bulb to the tune of close to 30W in a textured 4" reflector. Cutting through difficult environments is what it's intended for. Leds my butt!:nana:

Whatever produces the most heat to keep me warm - I'm just gonna wait it out

picard said:

If you are caught outdoors during snow storm whiteout, which light would you choose to guide you to safe location? high power LED, incadescent light or HID spot light?

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Assuming this is at night, because it wouldn't make any difference during the day. I agree, this is the one time I would prefer incandescent. Yellow light would be much more affective. Or, a yellow filter on my LED.

10 m-cp should do the trick. :santa:

Yellow or green filter on my nFlex variable output Luxeon V Mag loaded with 8AA lithiums. The good thing about Mags is the availability of filters or the lens is easily removable to make your own. The 8AA lithiums for the cold weather with variable output to fit lighting needs.

Lightwave Infiniton C1. Ultra narrow spot beam LED with 7 hours flat run time on 3 C cells. I think it was designed for that, and I've hardly ever used because that has never happened here in SoCal.

Usually when im in a snow storm, the snow reflects so much light that I have never needed a flashlight. But in the few instances I have used one my M3T is the flashlight of choice.

nc987 said:

Usually when im in a snow storm, the snow reflects so much light that I have never needed a flashlight. But in the few instances I have used one my M3T is the flashlight of choice.

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heh... i'd have to agree.. in heavy snow... theres that dull red glow... you can almost see just perfectly in the dead of night... so only a small light for personal tasks would be needed....

i'd want my PT EOS or Quad headlamp on lithiums

In that weather bring a few of both flavor's. incan's (magcharger, and the spare stick) E2d and always my trusty basic 60. those and the ARC AAA-P, and a night vison green freedom on my keychain's, and and when all batt's are dead hope to God the snow lift's for a second for someone to see the green SOS....... VDG

P.S. plan for the best, expect the worst.......

Snow is very different. It also depends of the wind direction. By a very strong snowstorm coming in front of you there is no light very useful imo. It's better to wait or change the direction.
In the most cases fit's the needs a little light with a decent output. If somebody want to use a light with high output, it needs a good throw, but with a lot of snow in the air it's not easy to look in the distance.

I have made some experiences in sand storms in the Sahara desert. It's the same procedere.
A strong sand storm and the brightest light can't help you. But there is another problem. The sand will scrach the glaslense blind, so I covered my headlamps of my car. The solution was ---- waiting to the end

Best regards

____
Tom

Spin said:

Can one use a filter on their led light to minimize the affect of a whiteout?

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Have a pair of amber "blueblocker" sunglasses? They would work well held in front of an LED flashlight, but you would lose some light. Those sunglasses actually work (wearing them) well at night when there are bright lights around.

My choice would be the SF A2 Aviator for best of both worlds, but the ROP is a good handwarmer choice for short walk, like to find your car in a big parking lot.

This whole question brings up a good issue: If cars eventually switch to LED headlights, will we still be able to drive when snow is falling? I have thought for years that blue color is bad and should be banned from headlights because of the increase in glare and the reasons brought up here. There was a whole study done by the French (that was cast aside when they joined the EU) that concluded a yellow tint was better in every way over pure white and blue-ish.

last time I was caught in a white out, while driving alone on a highway, in a RWD old Pontiac Grand Prix with bald tires.
I found no lights was the best for vision.

But if I were to be caught outside on foot, say on a mountain ridge...

high powered LED, tight beam, cyan color. White would simply reflect back terribly. Incan would work great, but may not run long enough to get me out of such a situation.