Best flashlight for wildlife viewing ?

Hi there,

I have been on a number of nightime wildlife viewing trips. Most provide a torch which can be used for searching trees etc to pick out the reflection from the eyes of animals to allow better viewing. However the majority of torches provided have very poor illumination and regularly fail !

I would be grateful for advice on the best torch for this purpose - i.e. that will provide good illumination (spot or flood) for 2+ hours at a time and is reasonably compact (i.e. does not weigh a tonne !) - price is not a concern.

Best regards,

Richard

Richard,

I would use the SureFire M6 with the LOLA (MN20) and carry an extra set of six SF123A Lithium Batteries and spare lamp in a SureFire SC2 Spares Carrier. You'll love the light and the beam! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Dan.

Spoken like a dealer. (but a good one). One of the 4AA lights like the PT 40, or Streamlight 4AA Xenon would give you good throw, and a battery life of 3-5 hours. Not to many $$$ in running or purchase.

I would think a light that's bright enough, but not so bright that it disturbs the wildlife at night, would be in order. Maybe even something that's cyan in color.

I think even a LOLA M6 might be overkill... Something like an E2e or a Surge would be enough to suffice in dark-out conditions. And in viewing areas, maybe something that's not so tightly focused in its beam is what will give you the best peripheral view...

I know you said cost is not a concern and if that's really true, the M6 is a great choice and Dan is a great dealer. You must realize, though, that it's a $300 flashlight that needs about $30 worth of batteries if you buy the batteries in a typical store (about $9 over the internet) and uses them up in 1 hour with the LOW powered bulb (the high powered bulb uses up the batteries in 20 minutes). So you might not have expected such an expense.

The 4AA lights mentioned are very nice, and far less expensive than an M6, but their main goal is to provide good brightness for a pocket sized light, which you didn't say you needed. They will make as much light as a typical 3D or 4D flashlight or cheap 6 volt lantern. I'm guessing you're currently using a generic 2D flashlight, so the 4AA's will provide some improvement, but maybe not enough.

Between the 4AA's and the M6, you might try the UKE SL6. It uses six normal C cells for 3-5 hours of runtime, weighs about 1.5 pounds with batteries (not pocket sized but the weight won't kill you) and is very bright and has a narrow beam for long distance illumination. If you use it a lot, you can put in rechargeable C's. It's around $35 from various dealers (I don't know if Dan sells them). This is probably your best bet if you find your 2D light to not be enough.

ro,

I have a shack out in the desert. Irwin, my local fox circles-in for the BBQ scraps when we're out there. You can spot his(? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif) eyes from about 50 yards with my Arc AAA! Just an observation.

Larry

I think one of Elektrolumens larger 5W lights would work great. Long burning, bright, and I believe LED's don't attract bugs to you as well ( maybe another CPF member can verify? )

If price is no object you may want to look at a night vision device. I have an NVD from Costco, cost about $150.00. LOTS of fun. Combine in with an IR illuminator, an Arc AAA LED (for most uses, like "eye shine"), and a big gun like an SF 6P or G2 when you want to spotlight an animal.

I'd recommend you use the lowest power (LED) first in your searching. There are lots of coyotes where we run cattle and I can pick up their eyes at 75 to 100 yards with an Arc AAA. Good luck.

BTW ro, welcome aboard!

An NVD is a good idea if you don't mind the monochrome image (or if all you're trying to see is eyes). Bright lights at night are kind of unfriendly. No need to disturb the animals or other people who might be around. You could even try a Sony camcorder with "night shot" (an IR mode), along with an external illuminator if the one built into the camera isn't bright enough.

Wouldn't a true color, 3 dimensional NVD be an awesome toy, I mean tool? I don't know what the true color of dark is and I don't care. This is my fantasy.

Of course it would have to be a binocular so I wouldn't get a headache after 20 minutes of viewing.

I would go with nightvision goggles. Don't want folks to think you are jackin deer!