Has there ever been a torch... ?

I know this is going to sound stupid to some of you, but I have to ask.

My light is only about 350 lumens, so not the most powerful - but it still illuminates a long way away. In fact, it easily illuminates things which I cannot see in any detail with my own eyes, because they are so far away. Imagine a sign some 30 to 40 meters away, in the dark. My torch can illuminate the sign very well - I can see it's there - but I can't actually read what the sign says because it's too far away.

IF I had a pair of binoculars, I'd be able to read it - but let's say that carrying a full set of binoculars around would be too cumbersome to be worthwhile.

Has there ever been a torch to incorporate a binocular, so that you can raise the torch to your eyeline and look through a lens to magnify what you're pointing the torch at? Or perhaps an accessory to fit a torch that does similar? I could see a real use for it - if it worked, I'd buy it. It's one thing to be able to light up a few hundred meters ahead of you, but it would be great to then be able to raise the torch to your eye and see clearly what's so far up ahead.

Anyone heard of anything like this?

No, never heard or read about such a thing. Would not be too difficult DIY a make-shift one. Take a monocular and somehow (with zip tie or duct tape?) attach a flashlight on top of it.

My kids used to have a pair of binoculars with a flip up light.
But that was only a toy and absolutely useless.
Google Night Spy Scope Binoculars to get the idea.

Very cool and interesting idea! (But I don't have any information to share)

I have monoculars with flashlights. I hold them together with a rifle .

One problem - Backscatter. If your flashlight beam is visible out in the air, then a flashlight right between your binocular lenses will fill the air between you and your object of interest with a milky haze. I've tried it with telephoto lenses and got pretty poor visibility.

AnAppleSnail said:

One problem - Backscatter. If your flashlight beam is visible out in the air, then a flashlight right between your binocular lenses will fill the air between you and your object of interest with a milky haze. I've tried it with telephoto lenses and got pretty poor visibility.

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Yes, not much good in hazy or humid conditions. But in those conditions, a light won't throw very far anyway, due to its beam getting scattered.

It could still be a cool thing to use in places where the air is clean and dry.

One thing to keep in mind is that your light will need to be very focused, and project a fair amount of lux on your target. Because, when you magnify that target in your binoculars, the light on it "stretches out" and it appears dimmer. IOW, you get more resolution from the magnification, but it appears equally dimmer. So you need it to be lit up bright to be able to see it well in binoculars.

Ive used laser illuminators on scope rails before but that specifically for hunting. Its essentially a floody lens on a laser ( more floody than the normal laser dot lens ) they work pretty good but the backscatter is really bad if theres even a bit of fog.

What you may be looking for is a night vision monocular or night vision scope. They can see a pretty long ways and because they dont make their own light you dont have to worry about backscatter ruining your image.

Fleetwood said:

I know this is going to sound stupid to some of you, but I have to ask.

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Stupid? Heck no! This is a flashlight forum. Game on!

Scoped flashlight, you say?

I have such a build. You can buy them pre-made or assemble yourself. There's nothing to it.

Adjustable magnification rifle scope + Flashlight = Fun. You can even go as far as a tripod if you like.

I figured this out playing with my Nitecore Smilodon, mentioning this light because stock it has two picatinny rails... a standard method for gun accessories. All you need to play Smilodon Lego is the flashlight and a stack of picatinny rail parts... gender changers, 1 to 2 rail expanders, single or double-rail picatinny scope rings, and pretty much any gun accessory these days. There are wrap-around sleeves that you tighten into place that give you 3 to 4 extra rails wherever along the shaft of the light you'd like it. Sky's the limit, scopes, laser sights, add lights to your light, etc. A pass-through rail device has another rail when you put it on a rail so you can keep stacking. I've even seen a picatinny rail hatchet blade.

Check the gun catalogs for these flashlight parts.

The two rails on the Smilodon are just milled into the head of the otherwise typical flashlight. Someone handy with a mill could add them to most lights, I'd say. Alternatively, you can buy just the rail and mount by drilling and tapping a couple of screws.

You can make an over-the-top monstrosity because it's fun, but usually I have a Kabar pistol bayonet and a big honkin' Barska 5mw red laser on mine and it fits in a back pocket. I remove the bayonet to attach to scope. I've got a x3-x9 adjustable. I call it "the most tactical flashlight in the world." I have more fun with the accessories than the light. People's eyes widen and gleam a bit when they see it. Yes, I've scoped and bayonetted my laser-sighted flashlight. It's got about 2 and a half inches left to hold usually. Aimpoint with the laser is about dead-on in the center of the beam so I can pre-place my light blasts.

Backscatter, as mentioned above, can definitely be an issue. Fortunately, though, the typical setup involves at least a couple of inches separating the light and the 'scope. This helps a bit.

"Yo dawg, heard you like flashlights so I put a flashlight on your flashlight so you can shine while you shine..."

My tac light has a tac light... I have cut vegetables in the kitchen with my flashlight bayonet. ...laser sighted!

Fleetwood said:

I know this is going to sound stupid to some of you, but I have to ask.

My light is only about 350 lumens, so not the most powerful - but it still illuminates a long way away. In fact, it easily illuminates things which I cannot see in any detail with my own eyes, because they are so far away. Imagine a sign some 30 to 40 meters away, in the dark. My torch can illuminate the sign very well - I can see it's there - but I can't actually read what the sign says because it's too far away.

IF I had a pair of binoculars, I'd be able to read it - but let's say that carrying a full set of binoculars around would be too cumbersome to be worthwhile.

Has there ever been a torch to incorporate a binocular, so that you can raise the torch to your eyeline and look through a lens to magnify what you're pointing the torch at? Or perhaps an accessory to fit a torch that does similar? I could see a real use for it - if it worked, I'd buy it. It's one thing to be able to light up a few hundred meters ahead of you, but it would be great to then be able to raise the torch to your eye and see clearly what's so far up ahead.

Anyone heard of anything like this?

Click to expand...

Sounds like you may have a kickstarter idea....