Looking for red LED light to replace old Gerber Infinity....

Hey guys, I'm looking for a light to replace my trusty old bedside, midnight-bathroom-run light, a Gerber Infinity w/ red LED. It's been a great light,for years, but I figure it's getting a little long in the tooth, and I thought i'd start looking around BEFORE it bit the bullet.
I'm hoping for something very similar, meaning something that's very simple, economical, and runs on a single AA. This won't be for deer spotting or signaling helo-evacs LOL, so it doesn't need multi-fuction, 500 lumens, or even a regular white light, just a plain, low output red LED is fine. (I'm most concerned with economy,reliability,simplicty, and run time)
I considered another Gerber, but all the red ones I found looked to be permanently out of stock, and I know these Infinities have long been considered passe' around here, so I thought I'd move into the 21st century !
Any point in the right direction is much a appreciated....

Peak occasionally has done red emitters, though they appear to be out of stock right now at Oveready and RMSK.

If you contact them direct, they can build one custom.

Saiga said:

Hey guys, I'm looking for a light to replace my trusty old bedside, midnight-bathroom-run light, a Gerber Infinity w/ red LED. It's been a great light,for years, but I figure it's getting a little long in the tooth, and I thought i'd start looking around BEFORE it bit the bullet.
I'm hoping for something very similar, meaning something that's very simple, economical, and runs on a single AA. This won't be for deer spotting or signaling helo-evacs LOL, so it doesn't need multi-fuction, 500 lumens, or even a regular white light, just a plain, low output red LED is fine. (I'm most concerned with economy,reliability,simplicty, and run time)
I considered another Gerber, but all the red ones I found looked to be permanently out of stock, and I know these Infinities have long been considered passe' around here, so I thought I'd move into the 21st century !
Any point in the right direction is much a appreciated....

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As opposed to RED, why not go with a 2200K white. At low light levels there is very little blue in a 2200K to impact circadian and it will not impact night vision/etc. any mor than the red. Just run it really low.

Semiman

While it is not the primary LED, the Nitecore EA11 would work well for you. It is a single AA light, with instant access to either the 1 lumen main LED low, or the secondary red LED. It is nice and compact in size, and would work well as a nightstand light. I carry mine as my primary EDC, and really like it. The MSRP is $55, but if you look around and are patient, you can usually find it on sale for less.

For inexpensive, I'd look into a photon with a red LED.

AA and a red LED may be tough to find. That Gerber will probably outlast most of the newer stuff anyway.

I would just keep the old GI and maybe polish the reflector. I still have one for the nightstand although mine is white. I wish it was red.

SemiMan said:

As opposed to RED, why not go with a 2200K white. At low light levels there is very little blue in a 2200K to impact circadian and it will not impact night vision/etc. any mor than the red. Just run it really low.

Semiman

Click to expand...

Second that, or even just a nice high CRI Nichia that always comes on firefly mode first.
I had the red infinity for years and loved it, but a low white works just as well or better for staying in sleep mode, and with the CRI of the Nichia there is plenty of red in there to see detail at low light level. THE L3 Illumination L10 model (4 mode variety) is really nice, about the same size as Infinity ultra and just as efficient on firefly.

BTW, if you carefully push on the Infinity led you can get the led and driver out if you should ever want to repurpose the body or the led and driver.

Somewhere I've got a red Gerber Ultra-M light I've used for the nightstand. It's a very dim light that maintains your night vision. If you're looking for another Gerber AA light with a low price, the Recon seems to still be available on Amazon. It has red, green and blue filters for the white beam.

I have SureFire L1's in red, green and blue that I've tried for night prowling while my wife is asleep. The green one seems to give me the best acuity in dim light.

My current low light favorite is a SureFire T1A Titan. The user interface is intuitive for use while half asleep and you can dial just the right amount of light for nighttime tasks. A close contender is Henry's HDS Rotary with a similar dial-a-yield user interface. Unfortunately, both of these lights will roll right off the nightstand if you don't take steps to stabilize them.

When I travel I know there is a good chance that a nightstand light will be left behind so I fall back on the inexpensive but trusty Fenix E01.

I've learned to keep a high powered light nearby during hotel stays after encountering a 'teen' on the balcony attempting to break in the sliding glass door. It seems that he was a participant at a youth empowerment awards banquet held at the upstate New York hotel. I had an early pickup time and he probably thought the room was unoccupied with the lights out at 9:30 pm. I used the E01 to discreetly locate a powerful SureFire that I use for my job. I yanked the curtain aside, pressed the SF light to the glass a few inches from his eyes and put the light on full blast. I only regret not having my cellphone camera ready to photograph the perp as he cursed and departed.

I bought some as gifts. Ended up with a couple of my own. Might look at Gerber Recon. Same AA infinty body, with a head that has a rotating lens with red/white/blue/green on it. For sub $20, not a bad little light. Not the most modern or efficient but solid little lights.

You could also take a white light LED and put a filter on it. This thread talks about doing just that for warming up cool CCT LEDs. I've used them to make green as well. http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?320811-Changing-LED-Tint-With-Filters

I second the nitecore ea11 idea. Sunwayman made a cool red/white light d20a I think, its interesting and wont roll off the bedside ! Take a look.