Red Light for Land Navigation

Hello!

Basically I need a strong red light.

I am a contracted ROTC Cadet at my university and am looking for a red light for night time land navigation.
This past week end I went on the hardest land nav course I've been on and will soon be going to LDAC so I
want to find a good light that will make finding points easier.

The points I will be looking for are small pieces of plywood with no reflective surfaces in thick brush. The course
is also timed so it's important that I find these points as soon as I get to them.

I've done some searching on the forums and did find this post http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?248819-Red-Light-Headlamps

I looked into Zerbra H501r (which utilizes red LEDs) and the Eagle Tac T20C2 with the red filter.

It's my understanding that red LEDs are able to cast light further than a light with a red filter (I could be wrong)

I'm mainly wondering if anyone has had experience with both of these lights and how they like them, or for recommendations for better lights.

I'm a complete noob when it comes to flashlights so don't rag on me too hard D: (been using the same $15 walmart headlamp with the 2 LEDs for the past couple years)

Thank you!

I'm struggling to understand why it has to be red. If it is high powered it isn't going to preserve your night vision, nor is it going to be discrete (it will be easy for other people to see the light because it will be very bright). So a normal white led would make the task easier.

I think there are some P60 drop-ins available with red leds if you want to get a P60 host.

Zebralight don't currently list a H501r, did you mean H51r ? These don't have that much output if you want to see a long way.

Filters function by blocking light, so all else being equal a light with a native red led will be brighter than different light with a filter.

What sort of run-time do you need ?
What sort of batteries do you prefer ?
How far do you need to see (research flood vs throw) ?

I highly recommend a Streamlight Night Com LED flashlight @ $41.95.

I keep 1 @ my bedside and use it nightly, when needed (I have had it approx. 1 year). I also have a SF L1 (red) and multiple Inova X-5's (red), but the 1 that I use, is the Night Com.

It has a rotating switch that makes sure that when placed in RED mode, ONLY the Red LED's will work. It can also be placed in a safe mode, where it can not light, even when it's tail button is pushed. In white mode it has a white LED @ approx. 100 lms. I think it would be perfect for what you seek.

My .02 FWIW YMMV

Olight M20 Crimson runs a red led, that'd be my first choice, followed by the Zebralight.

Nail bender makes red led dropins for Surefire and Solarforce style lights

Thank you for all of the recommendations.

I apologize for the double post at first I was thinking I posted in the wrong forum and was trying to get the 1st one deleted.

Light Levels- Light levels on the course depends on how bright the moon is. It's fine walking on roads and trails and what not, but when I'm actually searching for the points themselves I have to cut off into thick brush where it's pitch black.

Light I'm using- I am currently using this "cheapo" Walmart headlamp http://www.walmart.com/ip/Energizer-Trailfinder-6-LED-HEadlight/10233058. My issue with it is that there's zero flood and it throws all of 5 meters in front of me.

What I want- Basically I want an all around better light than what I'm currently using, a handheld would be nice, I do still plan to use my current headlamp for plotting points, walking roads, taking azimuths, etc...

Budget- I'm willing to spend up to $100, I'm willing to pay quite a bit more if you guys think I'll need to though.

Runtime Needs- Since I'll be using the headlamp while I'm walking trails I'll realistically only need about a 2 hour run time while I'm fumbling through the brush, but more is always good.

Battery Preference- This doesn't really matter to me whatever type is easiest to deal with I suppose.

Flood vs. Throw- I'm leaning more toward flood.

--Gregozedobe--
For FTX and LDAC it needs to be red light. I asked my cadre and we aren't restricted to the intensity of the light it just needs to be red. If we were allowed to use white light I would light up the whole damn jungle! Also sorry for the typo I meant the zebra H51r.
I took a look at the P60 drop-ins and I'm liking the concept.

I'm also really liking the Olight M2 Crimson from what I've been reading/watching on Youtube, but I'm still open to more suggestions!

Thanks again for all the answers guys, I may have to add a lights to my knife collection.

One more question, are you guys totally against using red filters over red native LEDs?

Hmmm, if you really want to "light up the whole damn jungle" with RED light you could always get an Olight SR90 (or something similar) and mod it with a high powered red SST-90 LED. :devil: I wouldn't actually recommend it as if I'm correct in guessing that the reason for red lights being compulsory is to keep your exercises unobtrusive and less light polluting, your cadre (or someone else in authority) will quickly decide you red "mega-master blaster" is against the spirit and/or intention of the rules and immediately perma-ban it.

So being more realistic (and considering you will be carrying this light for more than 2 hours) your off-the-shelf choices seems to be either the Olight M20 crimson, or the Zebralight H51r (or H31r if you prefer to use CR123 batteries). Don't let the fact that the H51r is a "headlight" put you off, they are perfectly practical as a handheld flashlight as well.

Outputs on Hi seem to be similar, with the advantage for runtime to the (much bigger) M20. The H51r will have a more floody beam, which I think will be much more useful to you in thick brush. If you gat an M20 you may want to put a diffuser film on the lens to make the beam a bit less floody. You will probably be using the H51r on H2 and M1 so it should have adequate run time (and you will be carrying a couple of spare batteries anyway, won't you).

Another option is to get a P60 drop-in built with the output levels you want and a red LED and put it in a P60 host of your choice.

Here are a couple of threads that may be of interest:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?311346-whats-the-brightest-red-LED

[URL="http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?283475-Need-Red-LED-for-hunting"]http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?283475-Need-Red-LED-for-hunting

[/URL]What would be the purpose of putting a red filter over a led that is already putting out red light ?

Contact Nailbender over in the Homebuilt & modifed Forum. He can build you a RED P60 drop-in using Cree XPE w/ 3 modes for $30 or an Osram Diamon Dragon Red for $40 [choice of # modes]. Order a Solarforce L2T and Li Ion cells & charger. Plus you can use other P60 drop-ins for more typical needs.

Also be aware there's red, and there's red-orange -- and you can get a Nailbender 2-LED with one of each, if having slightly broader range of colors might help with recognizing what you're looking at. These are the recent Crees: http://www.led-professional.com/pro...lor-leds/cree_xpc_color-jpg/image_richdoc_big