red light

[Buck91]

Considering looking into a red light for camping and outdoors use. Never mind other lights and purposes, lets just say they are covered. When looking to preserve night vision, what is a reasonable lumen output for a red light? Looking at some 5mm keychain styles, particularly the Inova Micro Light (lower cost than photon microlight). Any other strong contenders? Looking for something reliable but budget friendly as it isn't a critical need. Actually, ideally it would be something like a Fenix E01 but I'm not aware of anything out there.

 

[night.hoodie]

Red light isn't just great for preserving dark adapted vision, it makes a better bug light than a yellow light, as most insects cannot see that far up the spectrum, so they won't be attracted to it (mosquitos, unfortunately, can see red and IR, but they are not necessarily attracted to red light, they're attracted to heat and CO2).

here's an older thread with many options included

Not listed there is FourSevens Atom A0 with red LED. Most of the lights in the thread I link above are discontinued, and so is the Atom A0 (and all FourSevens lights) unfortunately.

Surefire's L1 in red and incan A2 Aviator can still be found, and the A2 LED Aviator (on sale for $99), and Surefire has a new line of Aviators, but they are not cheap.

HDS had a hyper-red (660nm) LED option, and you can still order an HDS with a red LED. I would speculate this is probably the finest red light you can get that is still available new, but it isn't inexpensive.

There is also the LRI Photon Pro, dual spectrum, but I don't recommend it (kind of a toy, and driver has very distracting slow PWM). Also, Streamlight's Twin Task is dual spectrum. There are a few quality lights with multispectrum including red, Fenix TK25, Eagtac D25LC2color and NiteCore SRT7, SRT9.

Gerber had the Infinity Ultra Task light available with LED, can find sometimes on eBay, still, quality AA light, but a single 5mm LED

I found a $6 hi-low-strobe AA/14500 zoomie with red LED on eBay like this 5-mode one, I think UltraFire sells the same model in black. I just discovered you can get a red LED with the Uniquefire T20 (never heard of it, another zoomie). Ultrafire makes a red hunting light that ought to be very bright on 2xCR123A. Wicked Hunting Lights A47 is red and bright, for hunting coyote (which is cruel and ineffective, can't get them all, and with prolific breeding, they always return; hazing nuisance coyote is far more effective than killing them).

You can get a TecAccessories Pixel with a red LED, butten cell light for keychain, but it won't be bright.

Forgot about Black Cat HM01-R-R with red Osram LED, used to be easier to find and inexpensive.

Also forgot about the ZebraLight red headlamps, not sure they are still available, H502r, was also available in "photo red," (Cree's way to say "deep red" or "hyper red"), the H502pr.

colight's post below just reminded me that Fenix has the CL05 LipLight EDC Emergency Lamp that includes a few red modes.

I mentioned NiteCore above, as they have a number of lights that include red, but I just now discovered the red-only USB rechargeable NiteCore Tube for a reasonable price for 13 red lumens.

My favorite red light is a ThruNite TiS with an LED swap to Cree XRE red LED, courtesy of Vinh. It is probably my most used light, always carried. I'm going to have Vinh duplicate this light, I like it so much, maybe also in the aluminum ThruNite Ti. I would also like to have Vinh customize a Fenix E01 and Fenix E05 with red LED. I may even opt to get the new Fenix LD02 V2.0 customized, swapping the moded warm white LED for a red one, and the second single mode UV emitter with a warm white LED. Fenix drivers are wonderful, constant current and regulated for constant brightness. This takes money, hope I can save for it. Vinh's work is top shelf, increases the value of the lights, so it is worth it.

The reason I like this Vinh custom red TiS so much (beyond that the driver is constant current and very efficient) is the mode separation, sublumen firefly, 12 lumens, and 120 lumens, which addresses OP's question, "how many lumens is reasonable?" The less dark adapted your eyes are, the brighter red light you will need. I have on occassion had such dark adapted eyes that sublumen red seems too bright, but more usually, with less dark adapted eyes, the sublumen red is barely visible, so the 12 lumen red usually suffices, and at times, no dark adaptation, where 120 lumens of red is required.

What's great about red is you can work with high intensity red while your eyes slowly achieve dark adapation. I think 12 lumens of red is a happy medium, and is equivalent to about 1lm of white light, but light levels this low can be dangerous if you have zero dark adaptation. Some have speculated it may take a week to get fully dark adapted eyes, and that's hard to do... a lot of avoiding the sun and wearing shade 6 to shade 14 welders goggles if you can't, and avoiding any white light for more than a split second. One trick I learned is if I need a brighter light that will destroy dark adaptation, is to close one eye and keep it closed while using the brighter light, this way, at least one eye remains dark adapted. Do not do this while driving at night! Wearing lightly shaded polarized lenses is much safer, and adding a ball cap one can use the cap brim to block out the bright street lights or the headlights of oncoming traffic.

Any color light of low intensity will serve to help preserve dark adaptation, such as an original incan MagLite Solitaire (with krypton lamp rather than xenon), or an incan Surefire E1e after you take the edge off a fresh CR123A cell (using the battery's "moon mode"). Generally, I believe most would want a white light for this purpose closer to 1lm or sublumen intensities. And the warmer the color temperature, the better it is for dark adapation, so forget cool white, you're better served with 1lm of 3000K than 1lm of 6500K.

I sure wish there were more red LED lights to choose from.

 

[archimedes]

There actually is a Night Vision subforum here, although it gets hardly any traffic.

Link to a "sticky" thread there, with discussion relevant to your questions above ...

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?18915-Human-Night-Vision-Preservation

 

[night.hoodie]

There actually is a Night Vision subforum here, although it gets hardly any traffic.

I used to call it "night vision," but that term is ambiguous, could mean something entirely different, usual does these days, I think. "Dark adapted vision" is less ambiguous (but also doesn't necessarily mean "red light.") Perhaps that's why that subforum is ignored? Thx for suggesting, I was unaware of it --now I know I'll surf there some.

edit: you weren't kidding, there's 4 threads there including the sticky LOL

 

[spaceminions]

I do think red light has its place, in that from looking at a relative sensitivity chart, I saw that of all wavelengths, it was a shade of red where the sensitivity of the rods when dark adapted versus that of the best suited cone were closest; the rods are much more sensitive at the blue-green end.

However, when outdoors, it's important to have better vision than monochromatic red light can give you. There's all sorts of objects to identify, such as separating sticks from snakes. You need color vision quite often, which means you need dim white light. You can definitely get dim enough white light to preserve most of your night vision. Plus, monochromatic light really messes with your vision... a light green bottle of mouthwashlooks pitch black under red light, for instance. Half the text on the labels of medicine bottles becomes invisible; i can't separate aspirin from anti-allergy from laxative in the red light. I sure don't want to struggle to read a label in a tent at night, trying not to wake someone.

 

[colight]

My personal recommendation will be the CL20R from Fenix. Not a dedicated red light to be fair, but at least you don't have to run through ALL of the modes to get to red. It always switches on in white Low mode (fortunately only 1 lumen), and from there a double click takes you directly to red constant-on, so you don't wake up the whole camp trying to get to red.

 

[TechGuru]

You mentioned keychain light, just thought I'd throw these out there. Cheap enough to give kids their own.

https://www.batteryjunction.com/titanium-keylight.html

I don't know how bright the red one is as I only have the white LED model.

Also ran across this: http://www.maglite.com/shop/flashli...solitaire-led-1-cell-aaa-flashlight-1160.html

 

[Sos24]

Have you considered getting a red lens cap that can be added to your normal flashlight rather than purchasing a separate flashlight with a red light? That option gives you all the brightness options of your regular flashlight while being cheaper and more compact.

Onboard Navy ships, red light was a requirement if using a flashlight outside after darken ship. I used a Maglite rubber lens cap with a red lens attached to the end of my flashlight and it worked perfectly. I just carried in my pocket, then put on when needed.
https://www.maglite.com/shop/parts-and-accessories/maglite-2-cell-d-test-accessory-1820.html

I also had a red silicone diffuser cap for smaller head flashlights, but did not like it as much.
https://countycomm.com/collections/...ed-silicone-diffuser-for-3-4-flashlight-heads

I do have a Nitecore SRT3 in my emergency bag which does have a red light as one of its modes and is a nice light overall.

 

[bigburly912]

Red cellophane and a rubber band.

 

[TIP AND RING]

The NiteCore Tube RL is another affordable option. Was somewhat surprised to discove these sell in a pilot supply store near me.

https://flashlight.nitecore.com/product/tuberl

 

[Timothybil]

Yes, the Nitecore Tube is a nice keychain light. Its best feature is the ramping UI that allows you to select just the right amount of light. Nitecore has many other lights that offer red light as an option in their outputs. As an example, the EA11/EC11 have a secondary red led that should work very well for you, and you would still have the regular white modes available whenever needed. I, too, would hate to pick up a snake when gathering firewood! The CR6 is a dual output light, but at $70 might be more than you want to pay. Coming at it from a different angle, the Nitecore LA30 is a dual fuel lantern that offers a red output at 40 lumens, if you are looking at using red light for area illumination. It is also a more reasonable $40 MSRP, and some judicious shopping around could save you 10% or so.

 

[night.hoodie]

As an example, the EA11/EC11 have a secondary red led that should work very well for you, and you would still have the regular white modes available whenever needed.

I respectfully disagree about the little red secondary light in any NiteCore model besides the SRT7 & SRT9. That little red light is fine for map reading, close up stuff within a couple feet of the eyes, checking around close personal space, but unless the eyes are very very well dark adapted, they seem to me to be simply inadequate for camping. Honestly, I do not know how bright NiteCore's single small secondary red emitter's are, but if they are less than about 12lm - 15lm, and I suspect they are closer to between sublumen to about 4lm, they just do not provide enough light. I am not much of a camper, but I would want a red light that can throw at least 6-20 ft, and I think those single red LED's can't really do that.

Let me know if I am mistaken, and those models with a single secondary red emitter are indeed far brighter than the advertisements and reviews lead me to believe. I would not want to walk around with just that amount of light that I think they provide, but would only use to see something within grabbing distance.

 

[Sos24]

I respectfully disagree about the little red secondary light in any NiteCore model besides the SRT7 & SRT9. That little red light is fine for map reading, close up stuff within a couple feet of the eyes, checking around close personal space, but unless the eyes are very very well dark adapted, they seem to me to be simply inadequate for camping. Honestly, I do not know how bright NiteCore's single small secondary red emitter's are, but if they are less than about 12lm - 15lm, and I suspect they are closer to between sublumen to about 4lm, they just do not provide enough light. I am not much of a camper, but I would want a red light that can throw at least 6-20 ft, and I think those single red LED's can't really do that.

Let me know if I am mistaken, and those models with a single secondary red emitter are indeed far brighter than the advertisements and reviews lead me to believe. I would not want to walk around with just that amount of light that I think they provide, but would only use to see something within grabbing distance.

The red on the Nitecore SRT3 is sufficiently bright imho.

The thing to be aware of with red light is it was not designed to be bright or enable seeing for long distances. Red light designed to see just enough to do what needs to be done without ruining night vision while simultaneously making it difficult for others to see it from a distance. It isn't designed to be able to see everything around in good detail. It is a trade off.

 

[NoNotAgain]

I know you specifically asked about red, however in my experience green works better.

Before the picture purge, I had pics up of the Fenix LD75 light with both the red and green light.

The green allowed for depth perception while the red muted defined edges.

 

[gurdygurds]

Red led Photon Freedom or/and. Fenix E01 with red chapstick cap. E01 is more versatile because you can pop off the cap and have a regular flashlight.

 

[night.hoodie]

The red on the Nitecore SRT3 is sufficiently bright imho.

The thing to be aware of with red light is it was not designed to be bright or enable seeing for long distances. Red light designed to see just enough to do what needs to be done without ruining night vision while simultaneously making it difficult for others to see it from a distance. It isn't designed to be able to see everything around in good detail. It is a trade off.

Then it sounds like SRT3 is a perfect fit for EDC, for example, perhaps for use in a dark vehicle as a shotgun passenger so as not to disturb or distract the driver, or maybe on a pier at night and not be at risk of disturbing the fisherman fishing 10 feet from you. But when you are camping, I imagine you want to be able to see everything around you in good detail... and if SRT3 wasn't designed for that, it was not designed for camping, i.e. not a good fit, not sufficiently bright, and perhaps dangerous for use walking in darkness to the natural facilities. I suggest for camping you want 12 to 15 lumens of red minumum for moving around in unfamiliar territory... and three to five times that in another brighter mode for lighting up the campsite without sacrificing dark adapted vision. SRT3 is a sweet light, a marvel of technology, fits in the pocket, good runtime, etc. But a brighter red for camping I think is necessary.

I know you specifically asked about red, however in my experience green works better.

Before the picture purge, I had pics up of the Fenix LD75 light with both the red and green light.

The green allowed for depth perception while the red muted defined edges.

This is a fair point, and any color, even white at reduced levels, will preserve dark adapted vision. When outdoors, green may even be superior, especially for observing wildlife without disrupting their activity, as green is the color of the forest, and I can only guess... animals are used to that color, the color of moonlight filtered through a green forest canopy.

 

[TIP AND RING]

The NiteCore Tube RL is only one level, a simple on-off UI. The Fenix E01 and Chapstick mod sounds like a practical winner. There is a nifty mod option for the Photon Freedom, that allows multiple colors.

 

[Timothybil]

I still don't think I would want to use red light for finding my way around unless there was a well defined path or trail to follow. There are just too many things that look totally different or like something else under red light. If you really want to do that, get one of the 1" white lights and a red lens cap. That would give you your brighter red light, and also make available a regular white light for everything else. For lighting up the local area with red, I still think a lantern like the Nitecore LA30 would do a much better job.

PS: I checked around, and I think you are right about the output of the secondary red on the EA11/EC11.

 

[night.hoodie]

The NiteCore Tube RL is only one level, a simple on-off UI. The Fenix E01 and Chapstick mod sounds like a practical winner. There is a nifty mod option for the Photon Freedom, that allows multiple colors

I had no idea the Photon lights were so advanced. That video is great!

Video in your post briefly references an excellent essay, many here are already familiar with it, Night Vision: The Red Myth

 

[TIP AND RING]

The Freedoms have a very noticeable PWM, especially in rain, heavy mist,etc. I carry one almost 24/7 on a breakaway, S.S. bead chain around my neck. Great back-up light, despite some flaws. Thanks to fellow CPF members enlightening me, my favorite red, amber, yellow and green low light source is probably the long discontinued JetBeam RRT-01 with a Olight filter holder using Nitecore glass filters and/or Lee color gels. The RRT-01 has a incredible ultra low range, and the color filters really add to it's utility (fun).