whats a good red led light?

i have a gerber 1 X AA light with a red led thats great for indoors, but if i wanted to navigate at night outdoors by a red led i imagine id need more output.

whats a good higher / variable output led light with a red beam?

$100 or less.

Fenix had inexpensive red filters for their LD/PD series and the smaller lights of the TK series (TK11 TK12, TA21) which work great.

The Quark RGB is also very useful outdoors.

I use those all the time.

Good luck finding you one.
Question: what's the purpose of using a red one at night? :thinking:

A Proton Pro has a variable red, but it's probably not much brighter than what you have. You might try putting a red filter on one of your stronger lights and see if that's not enough.

Geoff

Peak makes its El Capitan with a red XPC. Imagine it would serve well for such use, although it is a single level light.

http://www.oveready.com/peak-led-flashlights/aa-peak-el-capitan-red-aluminum/prod_154.html

incans work great with red filters, because they have so much light in that wavelength. If you red filter an LED it noticeably dims the output.

Malkoff M60 & SF-A2-Red. The Malkoff measured 220 Lumens and this A2 is only 80 Lumens... the M60 smokes it.


Malkoff M60 & SF-A2-Red. This time through red filter lenses... and the difference is not as much


Malkoff M60 & Xenon drop in. Once again the Malkoff at 220L edges out the incan which is only about 170 Lumens.


Malkoff M60 & Xenon drop in. Through red filters, the WC tint Malkoff gets smoked.


Not sure just how much red light you really are looking for, if you only need moderate amounts then certainly a filtered LED light will suffice. I am partial to the red version SF-A2. Its just enough floody red light for me to navigate around, even outdoors in complete darkness with dilated vision I find it to be plenty. If you need a lot then a filtered incan is the way to go.

The Quark warm tint lights have a TON of red/orange/amber in their output. I have never tried one, but a red filter on one of those should be a great setup.
Speaking of quark, the RGB is a really nice light too. I played around with another members at a CPF night hike. Its blue LED has a ton of light in the UV spectrum, so as an added bonus you can go around glowing things up.

Might take a look at the new 2-mode Brinyte BR01 (item 42665) from DealExtreme.

peak makes red led lights

A filter really kills the floody part of the beam, unless you have a really powerful flashlight. But in that case it would probably do no good in preserving night vision.

If a dim red light is not stong enough, you need your eyes to adapt more to the darkness around you in order to take advantage of it

You would be surprised how little light you would need even outdoors once your eyes adjust. I have used the red light on my proton pro many times and had no issues seeing. I also have a red filter for my e series lights from surefire and it works great also.

How about this?

http://www.zebralight.com/H501R-Red-Headlamp-AA-Flood_p_14.html

Photon Freedom it goes for 12 but don't pay more than 17. If you need anything brighter than this you might as well get a white light since you will get no benefit from red. Unless you need it for not scaring game at a distance...

red02 said:

Photon Freedom If you need anything brighter than this you might as well get a white light since you will get no benefit from red.

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exactly!

Go to the CPFMP and put up a WTB for a red CMG Infinity. Not sold new anymore, but still owned by CPF'ers. Just turned mine on in the house with ambient lighting from outside, and it is bright, so would be perfect for your uses. Uses one Alkaline AA.

Bill

kramer5150 said:

The Quark warm tint lights have a TON of red/orange/amber in their output. I have never tried one, but a red filter on one of those should be a great setup.

Click to expand...

I tried this very thing last night with my QMini AA warm tint. Used a red filter designed for the old PT Attitude and it worked quite well, especially on high.

Geoff

waddup said:

i have a gerber 1 X AA light with a red led thats great for indoors, but if i wanted to navigate at night outdoors by a red led i imagine id need more output.

whats a good higher / variable output led light with a red beam?

$100 or less.

Click to expand...

I have the Fenix LD10+ with red filter adapter and works great. The filter can also be used on many other Fenix digital series lights. :thumbsup:

I'd like to mention that I've had terrible experience actually seeing with red LEDs. The single-wavelength output or something makes the light just barely more useful than none - I much prefer extremely dim whites. If you're really going for stealthy light use, you'll want to compare filtered red light to LED red light...they are very different to my eyes.

If you have a host that can handle P60 dropins, why not get Nailbender to make you a 3 or 5 speed SST in Red, it might have to be the SST-90, but on low, it would be a great floody light, with a ton of power behind it on high.

In case you need a little more info on the Quark RGB:
http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?t=204065

A decent gun shop in your locality should have in stock telescopic lens covers with red lens,they are available in many sizes and simply push on to your nominated light,stay away from the expensive makes and they cost really next to nothing,that way you can buy your choice of a white led light and convert when needed.

red02 said:

Photon Freedom it goes for 12 but don't pay more than 17. If you need anything brighter than this you might as well get a white light since you will get no benefit from red. Unless you need it for not scaring game at a distance...

Click to expand...

This isn't true at all in my experience.

If you can find one used, surefire used to make a red LED version of the L1. These are great! (Sadly, they don't make them anymore.)

The other two red LED choices people have suggested, the Zebralight H501r and the Quark RGB are both reasonable. I have both of these, and use them. (I also have a SF Kroma with red LEDs, an L1, and for that matter an Inova X5 with red LEDs).

Both lights are quite floody. The Quark is larger, and likely has much better runtime. It can output white, red, green, and blue, and depending on what you are doing that can either be an advantage or a disadvantage. (If you are seriously trying to preserve your dark adaptation, accidently turning on the high-level white light is completely unacceptable. If that isn't as important, the white light is really handy, and the blue and green are fun.)

The H501r is an angle light / headlamp. It's really tiny and pocketable. It works great as a headlamp, and the output levels are useful. (I use one in my astronomical observatory all the time.)

The Proton Pro that was mentioned (I have one as well) is OK, but the red light isn't that bright. (This is actually an advantage for the most part, as it's variable). But I find it's WAY too easy to accidently turn on full power white with this light, destroying your dark adapatation for 30-45 minutes. So I find I don't reach for it as often.