During the night to preserve night vision I prefer to use a pluggable red filter on my C8 but is using a red LED better?
I’m looking for a very cheap low power light or a normal light with optional 5mm red LEDs.
Jaxman E2L Color in the red XP-E option may be a possible cheap option.
Using a direct emissions red emitter is much more efficient then trying to get red by filtering out light. Most phospher converted white LED are weak in the red/deep red end of the spectrum. Using the typical subtractive methods, filtering out what we don’t want, of trying to get red is not energy efficient in this case.
I bought two XML-T6 red 18650 powered flashlights on eBay over the past couple of years for $10 or less. My intended use was for a bike tail light because of the approximately 800 lumen output for the T6 red bin. The first one does not have a flashing mode so I ended up buying a second one with the normal 3 modes. They also work great as a camper’s light when you want to preserve yours and others night vision. They are a bit hard to find among the thousands of white XML-T6 flashlights offered on eBay. Ignore the inflated lumen counts.
Right out of the tin, you can get an HS-802 with red (or green) LEDs. Nice deep reflector, throws like a C8, pretty cheap, and available at Amazon ’though from a variety of sellers (so that might be hit or miss).
Here’s a red/green set, but you can goggle around if you just want green.
FastTech usually knows what they’re selling, but not always. Sometimes they’re wrong about what’s what. Sometimes they will admit making a mistake if they ship something that doesn’t match the web page description.
Use the pulldown “Model” menu at the page to look through their offerings.
“Good, cheap” is always a gamble with Chinese sources, so aim to buy something you can afford to give away if you don’t like it.
Look at the details specified. “No reverse polarity protection” means you’ll fry the ddriver if you put the battery in backward. “No mode memory” could mean they always start on low or high or could mean the dreaded “next mode memory” starting at a setting other than what you last used, which could be strobe or blinky mode. “Battery included” could mean anything cheap.
The zoomie lights are an interesting optical subset. But as I understand are not the most optically efficient. A quality Carclo TIR optic in the E2L should provide more efficient use of the emitter’s output in a compact form factor while nearly eliminating beam artifacts and chromacity shift. You can also swap optics with the TIR route for a beam as tight or as floody as you want. I use the Jaxman host with the Carclo optics myself, but I use the host. I don’t know if the manufacturer built lights have glued optics, so keep that in mind.