led color and a tactical triage environment.

Okay guys, here's my dilemma. I'm considering getting back into the Army once my wife comes back and I'm already thinking about what light I'm going to want to have on hand for tactical in field patient assessment.

I was thinking of getting a red Inova X1 or something similar (AA, small, with a somewhat tight beam) to suppliment my regular white lights. Anyways, it suddenly hit me that if I need to do an assessment in the field, I'm never going to see red with a red led. That means blood will be hard to spot. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thinking.gif

Okay, the other two options I'm left with are green and blue.
Green works great with NVG's because of the low "flash" when you're wearing the goggles. Since the NVG's don't see green well, you or your buddy won't get blinded by errant light. Great for tactical environments, but is it okay for assessment?
Next is Blue. I've heard it's great for blood tracking and once upon a time someone told me that it's harder to spot from a distance than red. But aren't blue led's much brighter than other colored led's?

Now, I'm not interested in the big dillema of which is the best for preserving night vision, but I don't want to kill my night eyes either. I'd like to hear what some of you have had experience with.

Thanks guys,
Jason

You just missed this reccurring discussion though I think the military may make the choice for you! You may want to look at the thread True Red-Arc AAA vs CMG Infinity as cockpit light and the major discussion here Night Vision and of course I'm going to mention one of my pages /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif Night Vision - The Red Myth again.
[Edit]
While non of this directly pertains to patient assessment I hope it helps your decision. [end edit]

George

gwbaltzell--I actually read all of those and contributed to some others in the past, but none of it actually addresses my particular problem.

Possibilites are that blue-green you described on your page. Low level white is good (a la original CMG infinity), but I'd like to hear what others say since even low level white is not always smiled upon by the military.

Each color seems to have a benifit with a drawback... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif

I don't count on the military to provide me with anyting--they made me buy my own crookneck flashlight back in the day before led lights became so available. Bought my own green filter too. Not like we were ever allowed to use them without a poncho cover anyways.... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ohgeez.gif

-Jason

Jason-

What about any of the standard AAA white led lights with a length of heat shrink tubing over the head? Leave maybe 3/8 inch of shrink tube extending beyond the head and then shrink it down so the diameter is reduced to maybe 1/8 inch or so.

This would prevent any side beam and provide a restricted opening in the front for a tiny diameter beam?

GregR

i'm gonna get me one of these.
http://www.actiongear.com/cgi-bin/tame.exe/agcatalog/level4t.tam?xax=22818&M5COPY%2Ectx=20266&M5%2Ectx=20266&M2%5FDESC%2Ectx=Flashlights%2C%20Headlamps%2C%20Lights&level3%2Ectx=level3t%2Etam&BC3%2Ectx=Flashlights%2C%20Emergency%20Lights%2C%20Lightsticks&BC4%2Ectx=Flashlights%2C%20Headlamps%2C%20Lights&backto=%2Fagcatalog%2Flevel3t%2Etam

well, my un-scientific experiment with a couple infinities and an Arc AAA has given me proof. I can't tell red apart from anyting else when using a red led--just looks washed out. Luckily my red infinity is a nice even flood that is dimmer than my ruby red Arc AAA. It's good for most everything other than what I want it to do, which is to check for injuries.

Blue worked the best of the colors for spotting red and other colors as well. Not too bad on the eyes, but it was improvised with a blue filter over white light so I can't be absolute just yet. I'll need to pick up a blue keychain light to make sure.

The green Infinity was just way too bright and it was still difficult to differentiate color. This would not be my first choice in this situation just because of the much greater amount of light given off and such a bright hot spot compared to the others.

I also used an original white Infinity that is low level. With that one I could tell what was what no matter what /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif Although the white light didn't really mess up my night-vision, the reflected white light is almost as easy to pick out from a distance as the green.

So what does this tell me? If I'm going to stick with a subdued color, blue may be the way to go with a white on stand-by in my pocket in case I need to double check. Also, now that I've worked with a flood and a hotspot between the red and the green, I feel that the green was too much in one tight area, so maybe the X1 wouldn't fit my needs either. The flood seemed like a good light, but I'd like to get rid of some of the spill, so maybe a twist on Double A's idea could tighten up some of the light...maybe I'll try it on the white as well.

That's all from me for now. I'm going to buy a few el'cheapo lights over the holidays and see what I can find out after the new year. A thought that keeps popping into my head is the Photon III with the adjustable light intesity and one of those black shrouds around the led. Other than the push-on activation, that may be just what I'm looking for...

hmmmmmmm.... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thinking.gif


-Jason

que? no ambarino?

Hello Jason,

A couple of more options:

PALight, white color and adequate light from the "always on" mode to work with and should be dim enough to preserve your night vision. Problem, it is always on.

EternaLight X Ray, also white color. If you bend the "Night Beacon" LED to shine out through the other LED's, you end up with a dim, but usable, blue light. You can then choose the amount of light should you need more.

The PALight ramps up from dim to bright where as the EternaLight ramps from bright to dim, unless you have the EliteMax which has a feature that remembers the last brightness setting and turns on to that. The EliteMax also has the "Night Beacon" mode.

I have tried a variety of colored lights and I keep coming back to white. Another thing to consider is that you should try to keep things as simple as possible to aid you while working in a sleep deprived mode. If you are trying to decide what something is because of the strange color reference, you may overlook something else.

Tom

I have a few PALight E-lites, and they allow you to turn off the "always on" mode if you want...but they cycle from always on to high, low, flashing and SOS. If you needed it, you could use it to cycle between off and the very low "always on" without accessing the other modes. And has been mentioned elsewhere on the PALights, you can swap the optic around for spot or flood beam shape.

Dave

Ryan--didn't think of amber... unfortunately, I don't have one on hand to play with. When I finally get a free evening again, I should have an arsenal of keychain leds so I can see what works best for me.

-Jason

A dimmable/variable white would seem to be the better choice - as there shouldn't be any color rendition problems and the dim feature should hopefully not impact/shock the eyes too much.

There's the continuously variable Rigel Systems SkyLite with switchable Red and White LEDs - the light is purpose built for astronomers:


http://members.cox.net/rigelsys/flashlight.html

For a non-white color I have found I see well under a yellow/amber light - I seem to see better contrast/definition under low level yellow light.

There's the Yellow/Amber CMG (original) Infinity that uses a single AA battery and claimed runtime of 41 hours

CMG's color comparison page -
http://www.cmgequipment.com/colors.html
QUOTE:
Yellow: A yellow light offers benefits of the red and white lights. While providing reasonable color distinction, it allows decent night vision. Another benefit of the yellow light is reduced bounce-back and glare when reading, leading to less eye strain.
UNQUOTE

So perhaps it's not just my personal preference/bias afterall.....

My green-LED Inova X1 washes out my night-adapted vision for a good minute or so after using it for only 5 through 10 seconds. Sure, it's got no spill, but it's pretty darned bright.

This is compared to my SureFire KL1, fitted with a F05 red filter, which almost has no impact on my night-adapted vision.

Unfortunately, this is about as much info. as I can offer for help.

Best of luck !

Allen
aka DumboRAT