Inova X-5 with red LED's??

Anybody try one of these? I posted a while back about finding a nice light to do backpacking, etc. Red will not dilate the pupils and thus wreck night vision. This might be an idea.

Also, any ideas where is the best place to buy one of these?
Thanks!

I have one. Unlike the white X5 the red LEDs are more of a bright spot than a flood light. Mine also has quite a few artifacts in the beam. It has its uses, but I was disappointed in mine. I used wrap and seal over the LEDs, and that changed the beam to a much more useful (for my puirposes) oval flood.

I like mine a lot, as noted it is not quite as floody as the white X5, but very nice for lighting up good sized room. I am not much concerned with artifacts etc. just the general utlity of the light, which I find impressive for a red led.

As an added aside it uses one Cr123 rather than 2.

Eh, not good. Too bad. My X5 has a very nice flood pattern, I think. I use it often as an EDC.

Lee1959 said:

I like mine a lot, as noted it is not quite as floody as the white X5, but very nice for lighting up good sized room. I am not much concerned with artifacts etc. just the general utlity of the light, which I find impressive for a red led.

As an added aside it uses one Cr123 rather than 2.

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I did not know that!

We sell it for $28.95 before the CPF discount, doubt you'll find it much, or any cheaper.

The red X5, using only 1 Cr123A... I have read that before, but what makes up the extra space inside? Just a hollow spacer? Pity it didn't take 2 cells AND had partial regulation! Do they still make red X5's in the new black tactical design?

MattK, on your site you have both the black tactical and titanium Red X5 listed with "Uses 2 CR123A replaceable lithium batteries". Shouldn't it read 1 only?

zoltar said:

Anybody try one of these? I posted a while back about finding a nice light to do backpacking, etc. Red will not dilate the pupils and thus wreck night vision. This might be an idea.

Also, any ideas where is the best place to buy one of these?
Thanks!

Click to expand...

I have a couple friends with these (I believe they were both purchased from MattK, who is excellent to buy from). As said, they're less floody than the white version and have a little artifacting in the beam, but I find them very impressive for what they are. They are far more useable than my old 7 led red McKinley; similar brightness (if not brighter despite the fewer leds), wider and better quality beam. The red X5 is the only red 5mm led light I've seen that is truly useful in an outdoor setting. Narrow beam on my Peak is quite useless by comparison.

BTW, the retention of night vision isn't due to not dilating the pupils. You can learn more about how red light works with the rods and cones and the chemicals involved in sight on flashlightreviews.com. If you've ever seen one, cameras with "anti-red eye" lights usually work by dilating the pupils with a red light before the flash.

Cydonia - 1 cell for the X5/red is correct. I'll send a note to our webmaster to add a note that it's 1 cell for the red version. Not sure what you mean by black tactical design but the X5 is still available with the black anodizing as well as the silver.

SaturnNyne - Thanks for the nice and informative comments!

Matt, the X1s on your site are shown with the earlier Generation 1 "moonbeam/tightspot" in the pics. Are these indeed the earlier lights with an optic or the newer ones with a lens which are "flood"? I like both and just wondered which you were offering. BTW, I wasn't sure if they were offering the "flood" type lights in colors yet. Thanks...

Those are Inova's pics as supplied - much like their website they're out of date. We removed the 'circle beamshot' pics a while ago to lessen confusion on the white LED pics I didn't notice the slight beamshot in the colored LED's until you pointed it out. We'll get em edited to remove the partial beamshot - thanks for the heads up!

All current X1's - UV/IR included have the flood beam. I wish we had old style ones, they'd demand a premium if available.

I've had one for awhile for use around the telescope. It's not too bright (which is good), and the beam does kind of seem less 'diffused' than its white equivalent. It does take only ONE battery. This light has a reputation for wringing every last electron out of the CR123 batteries ... I can't really say for sure, since I have yet to change my battery! Overall, a nice light, like most Inovas.

Cydonia said:

The red X5, using only 1 Cr123A... I have read that before, but what makes up the extra space inside? Just a hollow spacer? Pity it didn't take 2 cells AND had partial regulation! Do they still make red X5's in the new black tactical design?

Click to expand...

We have a regulated six-LED version using Nichia red LEDs, in a 2AA miniMag, if you need one.

Cheers,
Piers