Light Color Question

First, I must say thanks to all of you. I now have another hobby that i have to explain to my wife that I need another light, i've started small and slow, but i already have my eyes on my collection growing /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

My question is...I hunt, and if I'm deer hunting i'm in a blind usally. Which would be teh best color to use in the blind, or better yet, which color light would be best to use outdoors that would not travel far and be the leaste noticable. I've read all different kinds of information on teh internet about which color is the best. I currently have a photon II in white, and a camo case, but imagine that i will go back and get anotehr color. I'm looking for something fairly small and very durable.

Thanks

When traveling to and from the blind in the dark, I use a red filter. Deer can't see red as well, the wavelength doesn't carry as far and it doesn't erode my night vision.

Apparently, a blue filter on an incandescent lamp will make blood easier to see in the dark, so I'll be bringing along an E2E w/blue filter this year. Personally, I wouldn't shoot under circumstances which would result in night tracking, but sometimes things just happen.

I have an L1-RD that I use with an F04 beamshaper, flood-filter on the front, thanks to kind CPFer recommendations. This takes care of night-navigation and night-vision problems with the additional advantage that deer cannot see red light. The "Low" setting is good enough for cross-country movement and the "High" setting will flat stand you straight up and back you up step or two. Runs for 50 hrs on low and about an hour on high. The problem is, as I understand it, that the new L1s have the Lux III pencil-beam head whereas I urgently recommend the older Lux I flood-head. "Most" of the problem "should" be solved with an F04 beamshaper filter, but I have not been able to compare the two in actual trials. I use the older L1-RD and am EXTREMELY PLEASED.

Blue light will track a blood trail far more effectively than white. It makes the blood show up more brightly. The L1 comes in Blue LED heads and is the simplist solution, with the brightest and best light quality, but expensive. A blue filter on another light is cheaper, but just as with red, a filter cuts out most of the light transmission, and you lose most of the illumination potential. The light beam becomes very dark/dim. I do not know if blue-filtered incandescent is better than blue-filtered LED light, but you can bet that wavelength propagation plays a part in this somewhere. I just have not had a chance to experiment with this yet. It is not a priority for me.

A cheaper solution is the new Photon Freedom in Red/Red Covert and/or Blue/Blue Covert. I prefer the Covert versions to prevent "bounceback" lighting irritation, and you will need 2-3 of them set at spread angles to give you a broad enough beam and enough illumination, but they work well. I have recently experimented with the new ones and now use them exclusively for low-intensity lighting and as a backup to the primary lights.

Hope some of this helps.

suertetres,
Get a blue filter for your G2 for tracking, this will show blood much better than a blue LED. You are not looking for output in this setup, you need enough of the red color spectrum to make the blood show up!
If you are set on getting another light, you could get a red LED for navigation. This will save on batteries and will do the job just fine. It will also help from blinding yourself in the blind! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I think that, in addition to using a low-observable color, you would want some sort of shroud over the light's bezel. Red or not, the light source itself (bulb or LED) is highly conspicuous.

Scott

Suertetres, the boys above have made some great suggestions.
As an old hunter, I'd say your prioritized needs here are:

1. Pre-dawn navigation thru woods to your blind... without alerting all the critters.
2. Discreet lighting inside your blind (adjusting gear, scope, etc.)... without emitting game-scaring stray light.
3. Survival/emergency light (if injured) for signalling and just getting you thru the night until the cavalry arrives.
4. Wounded game blood tracking in low/no light.

Since you don't have the problem of "ambient" city light, an LED light is perfect. Even a low-powered one should be adequate. A Red LED or Red filter fills needs #1 & 2 above. The SF L1 (Red) previously mentioned is good. Alternately, consider the similar SF E2L "Outdoorsman" ($125) -- plus red and blue filters -- for more flexibility. The long 6 hour run-time is a bonus for a survival/emergency scenario (the shortcoming of your G2 -- unless you pack extra batteries).

Another even-longer run-time LED light that fits needs #1 & 2 is the Inova X5 (10/20 hr. run-time) -- in Red LEDs. The X5 is only about $37 and, like the Surefires, is rugged and waterproof. Since the SF E2 is only .125 larger diam. than the X5, I suspect the SF's filter add-ons might be easily rigged to fit a std. White LED X5. (Others' thoughts here?)

To minimize the Tracking problem, just use "enough gun!" Nevertheless, I recall my dad once nailed (frontal chest quartering shot) a whitetail with his .30-'06... and still had to track it for an hour after sunset. They didn't have blue LEDs 50 yrs. ago... and the pilots I survival-trained during the Vietnam affair would have given their left nut to have an E2L, X5 (or Red LED A2) in their jungle-fun kit!