I am looking for a IR light for night vision there are a few companies out there that do really well but coming from the flashlight world I wonder what else there is and can I find better. Any information would be greatly appreciated.
what is your illuminated distance preference?
100 yards to be fully visible and would like farther for scanning.
You can pick easy to mod flashlight with beam you want end replace LED with IR.
Just get double junction IR LED (single junction has very low Vf, double junction has Vf pretty much like white LED).
E.g., https://download.luminus.com/datasheets/Luminus_SST-10-IRD-850_Datasheet.pdf
Make sure driver does not put out too much current.
Do you know if you want 850nm or 940nm? 850nm will illuminate better but LED is more glowing red and will be more visible in darkness.
You can also look at LedEngin LEDs (now on Osram site)
They are available on star if you don’t want to reflow.
E.g., at Mouser
For less than $20 you can buy a FandyFire zoomable 940nm IR 18650 flashlight. It will reach out to well ovr 100 yards since it is zoomable, and has a very wide spill when zoomed back in. I have run two of these for several years without any problems. I highly recommend the 940nm version, as the 850nm is fairly visible to the naked eye. You see that wavelength on most home security camera systems, and the red glow is pretty obvious. Here is a video I shot a few years back that was a demo for the IR light and the SiOnyx IR video camera.
