Red light for domestic night operations

[jon_slider]

The Manker Lad has a pair of Red LEDs that turn on in a 1 Lumen mode. It works Great! and costs only $25, PLUS it is available with a High CRI Nichia LED. Imo it is a fantastic option, with a simple, single button interface, that includes the OPTION to use mode memory.

here is a review thread, the latest Lad uses a very nice wide beam Red LED (bottom two pics, the top one is the first run Red LED, that benefits from some sandpaper to eliminate the artifacts). click pic for a link to the original post by Etex


The Manker Lad weighs less than 1 ounce, battery included, and is USB rechargeable, cable included also. I gave one to my college daughter about 3 months ago. It has been living on her keychain, and it is still working reliably. Highly recommended!

 

[rioimmagina]

Thanks for the heads up!
Ok I have to admit that key chains lights are not really my thing. I see them as plasticky and oddly shaped. No offense intended, just not my thing.
However, I took the occasion to browse that manker website. lights look cool. But the prices are so low that I wonder about the quality. I am highly intrigued by that e14 but I've read of quality issue...

 

[jon_slider]

key chains lights are not really my thing. I see them as plasticky and oddly shaped.
...
the prices are so low that I wonder about the quality.

the Lad is not plastic, and if it survives on a college students keychain, Im pretty sure it will work reliably as a nightstand light for those times when you want Red light at low lumens. You do not Have to put it on your keys..

but then, for someone into Tana, I can see the price of a Lad would make you wonder why you are paying the big bucks if you just want a nightstand light with a Red beam.. :devil:

of course, its not really an Either Or choice, its more of a Both And choice

enjoy whatever makes you happy,
post pics of what you end up with, and how you like it

 

[stephenk]

I use a ledlenser P7QC for my red (or green, or blue) light requirements. They also have a smaller T2QC RGBW model too.

 

[rioimmagina]

I see your point and it's true that, being used to pay relevant bucks for quality lights, a cheap offer from a new maker makes me unsure.
I have this thing that reliability is paramount. And so far I had not a single failure in any of my light (I wish I could say the same for my car).
As nightstand light, I would see something like an Olight Smini. Nice, heavy, smart and though. Not available in red, unfortunately 😢

Btw, I see that high power red led are not really available. Are monochromatic led not as advanced as the broad spectrum ones?

 

[jon_slider]

I see that high power red led are not really available. Are monochromatic led not as advanced as the broad spectrum ones?

Im not an expert in any way, so this is just a guess.. I try to look at questions about light features in terms of their application.

imo, for the most part, Red light is used at LOW brightness.. there is no reason to build a 1000 lumen red beam flashlight

people who want 1000 lumens tend to settle for low CRI, to get high brightness

there are several different lumen intensities that flashlights cater to, and their use varies

lights that produce hundreds of lumens are in a different design and feature goals, than lights intended to be used in total darkness indoors, when others are sleeping

a red 1 lumen, or 10 lumen, might be the majority of practical need.. it is not really a matter of the LEDs being less advanced. I for example do not consider a Cool White Olight, more advanced than a High CRI AAA Tool, Worm, or Maratac

different uses, call for different feature sets

we try to buy lights that fill multiple need scenarios, the Thrunites with <.1 lumen lows is an example of this. Zebralight does a really good job of spanning a very wide range of lumen levels

but, Imo, lower lumen levels benefit from higher CRI and warmer color temperatures while higher lumen levels favor higher CCT and lower CRI.. that is why Ive developed a group of light options with different color temps.. I have some 3000k, 4000k, and 5000k lights to choose from, depending on where I plan to use them, and what the ambient color temp will be

candle brightness, goes well with candle color
sunlight brightness, goes well with cool white CCT
and in-between, neutral CCT goes well with <200 lumens (as HDS has implemented in their High CRI offerings)

I look forward to some photos of your lights and beams

here are a couple of mine left to right
Manker Lad N219c 4000k, Lumintop Worm N219b 4500k (on a Maratac body), Astrolux M03 N210b 5000k

 

[Dingle1911]

I like both low lumen lights and red lights. I think red preserves your night adapted vision much better. But red isn't useful for tasks where you need to see colors.

For example checking that a sleeping baby is still swaddled or getting a glass of water red works fine.

Low lumen white light is needed to pick out clothes without disturbing your spouse in the morning.

My favorite lights to use for these cases are a SF backup with red filter and Oveready V5.

 

[Boko]

I still say the Maglite Solitaire Incan is the best night light. I certainly wouldn't want anything with multiple modes when getting up half asleep for the call of nature.

 

[NjDevildog0401]

Look up the Nitecore CR6. Also have a Jetbeam RRT26 but the nitecore is better.