Need Advice For Light Used In Wilderness Search And Rescue

Hello all! First of all I'll echo what I have read from several other postings from newbies on this site – I never knew there was such a large selection of lights out there that could do so many things (and can cost thousands of dollars!)

So I'm hoping that some of you may be able to help me. I'm a member of a wilderness Search and Rescue team in the Appalachian mountains, and I'm looking for a lighting solution for navigation and searching for clues. I guess the best way to explain is to lay out the challenges and see if we can come up with a solution that will improve my effectiveness at night.

I know from reading a lot of posts here that there is no one "magic" light for all of my needs, especially in this price range. I've got a decent headlamp and a 4 AA streamlight xenon that I carry that work pretty well.

My budget is limited, as I pay for all of my own equipment (we're volunteers). Is it possible to find a light in the $50 – $100 range that will work well (less would be awesome, but I know that you usually get what you pay for)? What about the lights from Dealextreme?

We use a lot of Orange flagging tape that needs to be found in areas that contain pretty thick foliage. Does one type of light show this better? Does LED or Incan wash out this color?

I'd like a nice balance of flood and throw. It would be nice to be able to stand at the bottom of a ravine and shine the light up the mountain to locate the flagging tape, while at the same time lighting the immediate area in front of me so I can locate clues like candy bar wrappers, clothing, etc.

Size is not a huge issue, but since I carry two lights already it would be nice if I could keep it to a tactical light size that I can clip to my radio chest harness. If this isn't possible, a two cell would probably be the max that I would want to carry.

Any advice you can give is greatly appreciated. Thanks!!!!!

1) Get a Surefire 6P Original & ditch the incandescent module
2) Replace it with a Dereelight P60 1SM-2 module with SMO reflector which uses 2xCR123

The combination of the above 2 will cost you less than $100 and give you quite abit of throw/flood

http://www.surefire.com/maxexp/main/co_disp/displ/prrfnbr/889/sesent/00
http://www.dereelight.com/module-list.htm

get a power thrower. There is no other way youre gonna hit anything at a distance.Short of a HID type light, LED power throwers are good. Below is information for what can be considered to be perhaps the best one made at the moment. As you already have a headlamp, you should have more then enough near-by lighting.

http://www.dereelight.com/dbsv2.htm


info about the different kind of pills you want

http://www.dereelight.com/pills.htm

basically, if you want Only one super bright mode, or if you want 3 modes, one super bright, one low, one in the middle...

i would suggest the
3SM 5A Q2 one, as the type of Cree give you better colour rendition, which might be inmportant.

dont worry about spill, reflectored throwers generall have good spill too.

i realise its abit over your budget, but its only slightly, and you potentially wont ever have to buy another light, you can just buy upgrade pills later on if you need to.



Crenshaw

Seeing different colors is apparently different from person to person. One person might need an incandescent to see certain colors and another person might be happy using a blue led to see certain colors.

I would probably do the Surefire route, 9P, get a couple 17500's, and see which module you prefer. A Lumens Factory Incandescent lamp, a Dereelight 5A Q2/Q3 module, or a normal cool white module.

Happy hunting, and welcome.

Dereelight DBS came to my mine but I didn't recommend it because of the budget. :laughing:

+1 on the SureFire 9P for longer runtime.

And to get the jump on the rest of the Malkoff crazies here, a Malkoff M60 drop-in LED. Great throw with decent flood, good tint and built like a tank. You can choose your output vs runtime with the M60 & the M60L.

And this combo should only break your budget by +20%.

+1 for the Dereelight drop-ins AND Malkoff Devices.

Gene Malkoff is nice guy who genuinly wants you to be happy with his work. If you request a warm tint (better for outdoors color rendition), he'll select one for you. He also makes the M30 modules on request that run on single Li-Ion cells such as 17670 & 18650.

A good cheap host is the Solarforce L2 that can take Lithium 123, Li-Ion: 16340, 17670, and easily be bored by Jesus Hernandez for about $25 to take the Li-Ion 18650.

Recharging Li-Ion cells will save you money in the long run.

for easy stock options, look into the Tiablo A9 and Fenix TK10.

Wow, you guys are quick to respond.

Thanks! So here's the thing about me - I'll set a budget but I always seem to go over by a tad, so no worries there I really like the suggestion of buying something that I can upgrade / play with different components to see what works for me.

Having a million modes is not important to me, although a basic high/low setting would be nice. I guess my fear with LED is that the cheap (older) led lights that I already own tend to wash everything out on the ground and it's actually harder to see definition / items on the ground and in the trees. Now that being said, I've also read (on here) that the more modern "warm" LEDs take care of this problem pretty well.

[Sigh]...I can tell this may quickly become an expensive habit. I've spent the last couple of days prowling around this site and drooling over the possibilities. It's amazing how far flashlight / battery tech has come in only a few short years...

I wouldn't normally suggest this light, but in this case it seems like it might suit you well.

Fenix TK20

Runs on 2 x AA, and (supposedly) has good color definition.

2 modes as well.

I think it' worth considering.

How far is the orange tape usually?

Any pictures of the said tape? I can try to replicate for you if I can find something similarly colored.

I have following lights which I think might be of use to you
1) Dereelight DBS R2 1S (in the mail)
2) Tiablo A9S(in the mail)
3) Surefire Z2 with Dereelight 1M-2 Q5 dropin
4) SF M6(out of your price range)
5) ROP low/high
6) P7 Mag 2D
7) 3D Mag with Malkoff

pivot44 said:

I guess my fear with LED is that the cheap (older) led lights that I already own tend to wash everything out on the ground and it's actually harder to see definition / items on the ground and in the trees. Now that being said, I've also read (on here) that the more modern "warm" LEDs take care of this problem pretty well.

Click to expand...

All LED's will wash out. The tints have been getting better, but the tint does nothing for rendition. Once you start understanding the color spectrum, waves, etc then you'll realize there is much more to it.
The best way to find out what works for you is to take a bunch of flashlights and see what suits you best.

Flagging tape distance varies, I'd like to be able to see it from as far away as possible (50 meters or more or am I dreaming?) The challenge is discerning the tape from the foliage at night.

Here is the type of tape we use. Simple glo-orange (that looks fine during day but tough at night):

http://images.google.com/imgres?img...firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&sa=N

I would recommend Malkoff:

1) MagLite 3D with Malkoff module.
Great runtime and great throw. Price: Lite $20, module $50 = $70 total. Great throw, awesome spill. Runs in regular cheap D cells you can find in any store. PLUS you can use 4xC cells for a lighter lite and a bit more brightness.

2) For backup, Surefire 9P with Malkoff M60.
Less throw but better overall balance of throw/flood. Have to run on expensive primary CR123A cells but can get rechargeable Lithium-Ion cells for it.
Very compact.
SF 6P is another great choice.

pivot44,

I have both a DBS v2 (a replacement that I received for a faulty DBS I bought in July) and a Mag3C w/malkoff. If you are interested in either of these lights and want to see them in action before you purchase, I'm in Frederick Maryland, not far from DC. If your up this way you can check them out.

Thanks

Would you mind buying two lights?

I'm thinking the Fenix Tk20 might work. 2AA, warm white LED, 2 simple modes, and good throw. 50 meters should be no problem at all. 8% off coupon at Fenix Store/4sevens is "CPF8".

The Dereelight DBS throws a lot further and also has the option for a warm white LED. It is larger and has a narrower beam, both of which might limit its usability overall, but is easily upgradeable.

But a warmer white LED makes things seem a bit more orange yellowish, so I'm not sure which would be better. I'm leaning towards the Warm white LED right now.

What size do you prefer?
What runtime?
What kind of beam pattern?(sharp cut off between hotspot and spill or not. wide or narrow beam)

:welcome:

Surefire 6P. It has a BOMB-proof switch design that won't leave you in the dark. I find it small enough to fit comfortably on my work belt without being too big or bulky. Stay away from strike bezels, tactical grips, TypeIII anodize and other things that increase cost, unless you think that you really do need them.

From there, add a drop in module of your choice. Or just use the stock Xenon P60 for its warm incan goodness. There are dozens of modules to choose from. I have beat the snot out of my 6P, hosting a cheap DX11836. Chinese junk is not supposed to be this durable, but my particular 11836 is just that. I have dropped my 6P hard enough (several times) to dent the bezel and put a small crack on the Pyrex window. Yet the DX light module is still going strong. At $13 each you can afford to have a couple backups, although I have never needed it.

If you need more flood, they make diffuser-caps that can transform a thrower into a completely different animal.

I think you should also consider the Surefire G2, there's a $25 deal on the camo-version. Stock up on primaries and an extra P60 module for backup. The light weight of the G2 would be very nice over the long haul... IMHO.

Carry backup cells and reload to extend run times. I find it easier to carry a smaller light + extra cells in my belt pack, than to carry one large long running light.

I'll also put in a good word for dereelight and Malkoff.
50m is not difficult at all for these lights. LEDs are getting better at not washing out color so much, though I still find in dense woods tat all the greens loose depth with some lights still. The thing is the orange markers will stand out even more with the LED lights due to the very strong blue component of a white LED and the fluorescence that it makes. Now further on the flattening out problem, it's already ben recommended that you look into a Dereelight 5A module. This will have a much "warmer" light and it will not flatten out the field of vision in the greens so much.

For S&R you want a light that can spot the target at long distances. Most LEDs do not match up to good quality incan ilumination.

Incandescent lamps seem to resolve warmer colors and also increase depth perception in the outdoors at night over LEDs. Although the LEDs will have better runtimes and run a little cooler than incans in terms of the light heating up in your hands.

I would go with a SureFire 9P running on the Lumens Factory E0-9. It gives you an awesome beam in a relatively small package. The lithium batteries also perform in lower temps better than other types. You can also use an extender and use two 17670s for the rechargeable option as well.

Of course bring some type of a backup in case the main light fails.

I would select the A2 in Yellow Green as the backup. You get a very compact warm light source that is regulated. Also the LEDs can be used for lower illumination tasks as well.

The ability to spot the seach target quickly is key. Most LEDs render the landscape in a 2D look which may not aid in spotting the person(s) you are searching for. The warm glow of the incan seems to aid in better 3D rendering of the darkness, especially when resolving warmer tones such as, say skin tones of a lost hiker and/or the red flagging tape?

I second the incandescent lamp's ability to spot anomalies in the tall grass much better than LEDs. I have the Maxfire LX, and am amazed at how the incandescent lamp makes the underbrush stand out. For search and rescue, I would think that alone would be high on the list.