The Hank-light D4V2 with Deep Red SST-20's, boost, etc. is $73. What other options do I have a for a good limited range SST-20 Deep Red flashlight for use in camping and hiking that fits comfortably in the pocket of my Blue Jeans? I have a Convoy S-2 which works well for me and a Convoy C8 which is way to throwy. I want something similar to the S-2 with more flood in a wider beam profile.
Perhaps a light mod of something like a Convoy S12 would be better but, I don't know much about my options with SST-20 Deep Reds so, I'm open to various thoughts and options. Basically, it needs to be 18650 or 21700 powered and not a big thrower with a head and body size that is pocketable with low modes in addition to strong flood capabilities with a modest throw of 50~100yds or so. I really need to stay under $100 as well.
Or maybe a floody TIR to replace the S2 reflector, or a lightly frosted lens/diffusion sheet?
Also, an S2+ is a bit less throwy than an S2, not by much though.
I lightly sanded the front of the optic in a Sofirn C01R to make it a less pointy/more balanced beam. It’s a non-reversible mod and probably loses a few more lumens than if i’d used diffusion film behind the lens but it works and was free.
And by regularly checking the result of the sanding i could dial the beam in to how i wanted it.
Why deep red? I don’t think most bugs will tell the difference. The wurkkos HD15R in videos looks pretty good with a wide beam pattern and multiple levels to see farther than most red headlights. The armytek C2 WR has a wide pattern, multiple levels and I think will reach out a little further than the wurkkos. And the white is available in warm 4000k or cool.
What does everybody use these high powered red lights for? Only purpose I know of for red light is to preserve night vision (I know some argue this) and as such I’ve never wanted more than a dim 1-10 lumen light.
i've build several lights with deep red leds, but not sst20, they were not around then, i used rebel, and ledengin. deep red looks cool, but it is harder to see things vs 625nm red. as far as bugs, i did not notice any difference. as a beacon or a light that needs to be seen, 660nm are ok, but if you need to use it to illuminate, 625 will be better.
Fewer bugs and less disturbing to other campers and myself for outhouse runs at night.
I have heard all the arguments about low level 4,000K emitters being the same but, where I have camped, Deep Red didn't attract bugs while my other LED emitter options did. Deep Red also is less obnoxious to me in a Porta Potty at night too so, I get to sleep much faster after answering mother natures call at ~2AM.
Maybe the reason there were less bugs is that with 660nm you did not see that many bugs, cuz in my experience things are harder to see in deep red, with either red i had the same buzzing around me. I also noticed amount of bugs is dependant on time. there are more bigs late night than early morning, also depends on location. Also not all bugs attracted by light, they see IR of your body, and co2 you exhale. I wish someone actually did a study or two, on that in different regions, times and species of bugs
Armytek Wizard C2 WR. Insect reaction to White & Red light - YouTube The wizard C2 WR has red and 4000k on the warm model. I was just pointing out that it’s not a deep red. I’ve had it
for one year and only really needed the red a half dozen times when the bugs were really bad over the summer. The 4000k is a low cri but the tint is nice. It has four modes of red and white. There are times when you just need red but I don’t really like walking around with it when it’s the only light.
Mosquitos were not my primary problem. Buzzing my face and ears are what I noticed. Whatever insects that were in my environment didn't notice my Deep Red light but, any white light (4000K and up) I was around had them buzzing.
In terms of time of day, this was always in the evening after Sunset and during the night at various points. I'm not using this as a porch light so, 15 to 45 minutes probably covers 95% of my use.
In terms of visibility, dark adapted eyes, at least mine, have pretty good resolution for insects but, if they are around and I never notice them, problem solved!
Regarding IR sensitivity, CO2, UV sensitivity, etc., as long as they aren't buzzing me, biting me, or crawling on me, I don't generally care about them. The goal is to not disturb me with buzzing my face and ears or getting bug bites which generally means things like Deep Woods Off! Biting flies or flies in general around campsites and porta-potties really bother me so, lighting and repellants matter!
WHen spring/summer comes i will try to experiment myself, will put out 2 red lights 660 and 625nm, uv, and few whites , 20 or so feet apart from each other, and observe which attracts more bugs. not exactly scientifically clean experiment, but better than nothing.
I have made a few attempts at testing this mostly to test between cool, neutral and warm lights. My backyard has no other lights around. The problem is how far apart do you space the lights? As soon as you turn on one you could be drawing bugs in from hundreds of feet, or more, away. If you place two lights 20 ft apart at the same height off the ground, any bugs that come from either side may just stop at the first light they come to. They would need to be at roughly the same lumen level with roughly the same beam pattern. You would need to get them up three to five feet off the ground pointing forwards or downwards similar to how you might actually use a light. It’s not as easy as you might initially think. There is no question when you’ve got the C2 WR on the white LEDs and the bugs are drawn to you and you switch to red and they stop for the most part that red helps a lot. Most of my experience was not necessarily with mosquitoes but with moths and other flying things just hitting you in the face not necessarily stinging you.
What part of the USA are you in and what sort of insects are present? Pollinators tend to be attracted to UV sources so, not really a concern for me at night.
"parasites" and "scavengers" tend be active at night as they are sensitive to daylight when you get past flies which are present all the time generally, though they are attracted to the sunshine. "Biting" insects tend to be attracted to CO2 and heat as well so, some aren't going to be super sensitive to the visible light spectrum.
Wow, ok. None of those are multi-emitter flashlights and as far as i know don’t come in deep red.
Which on it’s own doesn’t mean much but when combined with the (unquoted) advert and product link for something completely non-flashlight related, and the fact that yours was a first post from a brand new member, made the post look like spam.
If you were genuinely trying to help then i apologise.
Have you got more info on the lights you suggest? They sounds like cool versions of the lights.
I'm not sure what this new contributor from Pakistan is trying to suggest. None of those suggestions are multi-emitter flashlights and none of them are offered in Deep Red (660nm) SST-20 or similar emitters.
With their username, I am assuming their comprehension of English is good so, I doubt there was a fundamental misunderstanding of my original post. I still don't get how those suggestions are relevant to my search.
