Hogokansatsukan
Flashlight Enthusiast
Well, it was that time of year again, and so my buddy and myself headed down to Fairbank, AZ (ghost town 10 miles West of Tombstone) on our annual "raccoon hunt". Note: No critters are ever harmed on these hunts.:huh2: Consider it a late night hike through drug running and illegal alien crossing territory. No need for dogs on a AZ raccoon hunt either, just make sure you have a 5 rounder in your gun (and 7 thirties on your belt!
).
This year we went on the 21st at O'Dark-thirty, so we had a new moon to guide us…and tons of lights that needed to be tested in the wilds.:candle:
We geared up and headed through the fenced in town of Fairbank with a short stop to talk to the friendly BLM officer who lives on the premises and let him know if he hears a lot of gunfire
and sees red flares, to send the cavalry in our general direction (no, I'm not joking), then went down the old deserted railroad tracks toward the San Pedro River. I had an HDS EDC U60GT mounted to the left side of my AR, and my buddy used a Minmag with NiteIze leds.
Yes, yes. I had an EOS on my head, an L2 in one BDU pocket, an ROP LE LO, Mag85, M3, L6, M6, Minmag led… you get the idea.
Once our eyes were nice and dark adapted, we made our way mostly with just starlight until we arrived at the train bridge over the San Pedro. After crossing over the bridge, it was test time. This place was ideal from some good light testing. I had been there several times before (repelling off the bridge in daylight) and "raccoon hunting" last year. This particular place gives a few hundred yards to test the lights from a good high vantage point.
Now, walking through the desert on the tracks, the EOS was not really ideal. Even on the low beam, it was still a bit bright, and it was a rather cold night so ones breath would illuminate in the beam.
The HDS on the lowest setting worked very well, especially crossing the bridge at night trying to step on and not between the timbers on the bridge:sweat: . The L2 on low also worked particularly well. I found that the LED lights worked well, but by far the best was probably the L2 on max (night vision be dammed) for massive LED illumination. The L2 on high throws such a wall of light that you still seem to have good depth perception. The EDC though could really throw, and was perfect for making some hot tea on the tracks (once the lowest setting was set even lower). Next time will bring the diffuser for this light.
The two lights I really wanted to test was the ROP LE LO and the Mag85.
The ROP has a MOP reflector from the Sandwich Shoppe and the Mag85 a light stipple from Light-Edge.
I can only say this, the ROP is like a headlight and the Mag85 is like a train light. Both lights lit up well over 100+ yards. I don't mean that you can see the light on some distant objects. I mean it lit up the bank of the river enough to identify a threat at 100+ yards!:duck: I don't see a need for the HO in the ROP. In fact, I plan to go with a heavy stipple in both these lights and give it another go in a few weeks. The ROP made my M3 with the 225 HOLA look sickly yellow.:green: The M6 HOLA was brighter than the ROP LOLA, yet not as bright as the Mag85. Both the Mag85 and the M6 HOLO seemed to have about the same throw, however the Mag85 had a much broader hotspot and spill.
I think if I could only bring two lights with me out into the wilds, the ROP LE LOLA and the HDS EDC U60GT would cover darn near anything I would need a light for, especially with a diffuser on the the EDC, but don't expect to see any of my other lights on the BST!:rock:
).This year we went on the 21st at O'Dark-thirty, so we had a new moon to guide us…and tons of lights that needed to be tested in the wilds.:candle:
We geared up and headed through the fenced in town of Fairbank with a short stop to talk to the friendly BLM officer who lives on the premises and let him know if he hears a lot of gunfire
and sees red flares, to send the cavalry in our general direction (no, I'm not joking), then went down the old deserted railroad tracks toward the San Pedro River. I had an HDS EDC U60GT mounted to the left side of my AR, and my buddy used a Minmag with NiteIze leds. Yes, yes. I had an EOS on my head, an L2 in one BDU pocket, an ROP LE LO, Mag85, M3, L6, M6, Minmag led… you get the idea.
Once our eyes were nice and dark adapted, we made our way mostly with just starlight until we arrived at the train bridge over the San Pedro. After crossing over the bridge, it was test time. This place was ideal from some good light testing. I had been there several times before (repelling off the bridge in daylight) and "raccoon hunting" last year. This particular place gives a few hundred yards to test the lights from a good high vantage point.
Now, walking through the desert on the tracks, the EOS was not really ideal. Even on the low beam, it was still a bit bright, and it was a rather cold night so ones breath would illuminate in the beam.
The HDS on the lowest setting worked very well, especially crossing the bridge at night trying to step on and not between the timbers on the bridge:sweat: . The L2 on low also worked particularly well. I found that the LED lights worked well, but by far the best was probably the L2 on max (night vision be dammed) for massive LED illumination. The L2 on high throws such a wall of light that you still seem to have good depth perception. The EDC though could really throw, and was perfect for making some hot tea on the tracks (once the lowest setting was set even lower). Next time will bring the diffuser for this light.
The two lights I really wanted to test was the ROP LE LO and the Mag85.
The ROP has a MOP reflector from the Sandwich Shoppe and the Mag85 a light stipple from Light-Edge.
I can only say this, the ROP is like a headlight and the Mag85 is like a train light. Both lights lit up well over 100+ yards. I don't mean that you can see the light on some distant objects. I mean it lit up the bank of the river enough to identify a threat at 100+ yards!:duck: I don't see a need for the HO in the ROP. In fact, I plan to go with a heavy stipple in both these lights and give it another go in a few weeks. The ROP made my M3 with the 225 HOLA look sickly yellow.:green: The M6 HOLA was brighter than the ROP LOLA, yet not as bright as the Mag85. Both the Mag85 and the M6 HOLO seemed to have about the same throw, however the Mag85 had a much broader hotspot and spill.
I think if I could only bring two lights with me out into the wilds, the ROP LE LOLA and the HDS EDC U60GT would cover darn near anything I would need a light for, especially with a diffuser on the the EDC, but don't expect to see any of my other lights on the BST!:rock:
