FloggedSynapse
Enlightened
Made an interesting discovery, thought I'd share. Now that Dr. Lava has completed the group buy hopefully there'll shortly be some people with working laser flashlights.
I used to be very interested in amateur astronomy. I'd seek out the darkest locations on the darkest nights to practice the craft. So, I developed a taste for the night, for undiluted starlight. It's my contention most people don't know what the word 'dark adaption' means. You'd be surprised how well you can see if you give your eyes a chance to adjust. I also enjoy walking and hiking at night, and I almost never use a light. Of course I carry one, but it collects dust most of the time.
Red light is best for preserving dark adaption. What I've found is if you have a laser you can focus it can make an excellent flashlight. In my case it's a ~25 mW red laser (635 nm) - about 4-5 lumens of light. With a diode laser when you defocus the beam you end up with a rectangular patch of light, with an aspect ratio of around 8:1 (varies depending on the diode).
I was going for a hike at night earlier this week. Dark moonless night. Without any extra light only the coarsest details can be seen - the black silhouettes of trees, broad details. About 20-30 feet away not much can be made out. When focused the laser is almost useless as a light source... HOWEVER, once I defocused the beam I found it made an AMAZING flashlight.
The laser projected this rectangular swath of light with incredible penetrating power. It was probably best from about 10-50 meters. What was interesting is the red light hardly disturbs your dark adaption. It's like having the best of both worlds. There was no glare or after images. But everything within the patch of grainy light was laid bare (I would orientate the rectangle so the long part was parallel to the trail). I kept comparing the two views. I could see every twig, branch, all the textures in the bark of the trees. After the beam has passed they descended back into blackness with no afterimages or blunted night vision. Awesome. It's hard to describe, but very cool. Very useful for sweeping out sections of the trail in front of you.
You people out there that like dimmer lights might want to give this a try. A more discreet way to get around, but still a very useful light when needed.
By adjusting the focus of the laser you can tailor the amount of useful 'throw'. In my case if I only defocused slightly I found the laser could provide useful illumination of objects up to 100 meters away. Green lasers that you can focus would work too, but they are much harder on your dark adaption.
I used to be very interested in amateur astronomy. I'd seek out the darkest locations on the darkest nights to practice the craft. So, I developed a taste for the night, for undiluted starlight. It's my contention most people don't know what the word 'dark adaption' means. You'd be surprised how well you can see if you give your eyes a chance to adjust. I also enjoy walking and hiking at night, and I almost never use a light. Of course I carry one, but it collects dust most of the time.
Red light is best for preserving dark adaption. What I've found is if you have a laser you can focus it can make an excellent flashlight. In my case it's a ~25 mW red laser (635 nm) - about 4-5 lumens of light. With a diode laser when you defocus the beam you end up with a rectangular patch of light, with an aspect ratio of around 8:1 (varies depending on the diode).
I was going for a hike at night earlier this week. Dark moonless night. Without any extra light only the coarsest details can be seen - the black silhouettes of trees, broad details. About 20-30 feet away not much can be made out. When focused the laser is almost useless as a light source... HOWEVER, once I defocused the beam I found it made an AMAZING flashlight.
The laser projected this rectangular swath of light with incredible penetrating power. It was probably best from about 10-50 meters. What was interesting is the red light hardly disturbs your dark adaption. It's like having the best of both worlds. There was no glare or after images. But everything within the patch of grainy light was laid bare (I would orientate the rectangle so the long part was parallel to the trail). I kept comparing the two views. I could see every twig, branch, all the textures in the bark of the trees. After the beam has passed they descended back into blackness with no afterimages or blunted night vision. Awesome. It's hard to describe, but very cool. Very useful for sweeping out sections of the trail in front of you.
You people out there that like dimmer lights might want to give this a try. A more discreet way to get around, but still a very useful light when needed.
By adjusting the focus of the laser you can tailor the amount of useful 'throw'. In my case if I only defocused slightly I found the laser could provide useful illumination of objects up to 100 meters away. Green lasers that you can focus would work too, but they are much harder on your dark adaption.
