Light for wildlife watching at night

Hi all,

I am looking for a light mostly for spotting mammals at night, this will be used both for scanning wide open spaces where the longer reach is important, and looking closer at the tops of trees. I currently have a Thrunite TN4A-Hi NW, which is great but the hotspot is too small for what I want. I would like a light with similar throw, ideally also a Neutral white tint, but with a wider hotspot. A reasonable amount of spill for use when walking paths etc would be good. I think I'm probably looking for a 2 or 3x18650 torch. A light with recharging built in would be great but not essential. Red filter (either built in or available to buy as an add on) would be great too.
- Price ~£100 ($150) and available in the UK/online
- Throw of at least 400m
- Preferably neutral tint
- Runtime of at least 2 hours on a mode with reach of >300m
- At least 3 modes, preferably with a low light long-lasting mode

Torches I have been considering so far are: Thrunite TN32, TN35, Olight M3XS-UT, Olight SR95 & Olight SR52.

Thanks,
louisfh

Have you seen the BLF GT?

FRITZHID said:

Have you seen the BLF GT?

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Wow! No I haven't, that's quite some torch!

Unfortunately I'm looking to get a torch this month as I'm going away in December and would like to use it. I should also probably add that though size doesn't matter too much, I think the BLF GT might be a bit too big!

Although not 3x18650, the Acebeam K60/K70 combo makes for a very formidable wildlife spotting duo.

I have the Acebeam red filter, it is very high quality and fits both lights.

seery said:

Although not 3x18650, the Acebeam K60/K70 combo makes for a very formidable wildlife spotting duo.

I have the Acebeam red filter, it is very high quality and fits both lights.

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Thanks very much for the suggestion, I think looking at beamshots and youtube videos the Acebeam K60 looks very close to what I want! I am not that bothered about extremely long throw (the TN4A-Hi is ~400m on turbo and that's enough for me most of the time), and would prefer a wider hotspot.

The Acebeam K60 does however seem very expensive (~$200 including batteries and charger, as I don't have any 18650s or a charger). From doing a bit more research it seems the SR52 is probably the best compromise. Though I am tempted by a Convoy L6 given the very good value.

There's not many places in the UK that sell decent/pro level torches, however two which I have come across are 'Knives and Tools' and 'Torch Direct'.

Just wanted to update on this - I ended up buying the Convoy L6 which I used on a recent holiday and was very happy with. Ideally it would have a slightly smaller hotspot and a bit more throw - but for the price I am very happy with the torch. With my current TN4A-Hi its a good combination.

I am considering getting a smooth reflector to try and make the hotspot smaller and increase the throw but am not a big fan of the artefacts caused by the SMO reflector.

I use strobe and disco balls when I watch the wildlife. Oh wait. That's the night life