Can a LEP be used as a search light, like for example Acebeam k70 ?
From videos posted on youtube with people testing LEPs it seems to be they are too bright to see anything
Without any chance, LEPs are just for fun. No way it can be a search light, it’s just a pointer.
A LEP creates a tiny spot far away. You can track someone, but it’s very hard to find someone if you don’t know where they are.
The Acebeam K70 is not a LEP.
Actually LEPs are not bright at all. Often they range from 200 to 400 lm. But they are very focused and have a very high intensity.
LEPs are better for being found than finding others…. They make good signaling tools and can help direct someone to a location a good distance away, but scanning/searching with such a tight spot is challenging. They’re also useful to spotlight areas when noise has already narrowed your area of focus. In that way, they’re great for dissuading disturbances without getting too close.
You can search for keys under the sofa with a keychain light. Depending on the terrain, topography, vegetation, weather, and other factors a lep could be very useful to have along with other lights.
This…sums it up very nicely.
Every single time I have heard “search light” since I was old enough to understand the terminology, I always without fail pictured a tight long-range beam.
To me flood isn’t a search light nor is your “average” range torch.
I will have to go against the grain here and say that yes they can be.
Having volunteered in search and rescue in my early 20s (some 20 years ago) I would have lept at an extremely long range light, over anything I was supplied back then. The further you can see the less time it takes to look over an area.
I can not picture any situation where a long-range torch would be a deficit in a search and rescue scenario. In fact when looking over areas that are inaccessible from where you are looking from or you can’t get any closer without air support - it’s a bonus to be able to see that far.
Nah they are only toys, I have no idea why you would want to look for something 5km away. Go go gadget eyes or binoculars help. But you can still see 4-5km.
Helps if you are high er than the target.
That’s what a search light is for, reaching out in the distance.
Yes 4 or 5km is a long way, but if you have the ability to see that far, why not utilise it? If they are only for “fun”, but can literally be used at long range I don’t see why you couldn’t or shouldn’t use one for a search light. There is nothing to say the object being looked for is human size, it could be a downed chopper or small plane.
LEP’s are a useless toys just to impress your friends. Nothing else.
So a search light must have a maximum range? I find that a strange philosophy. Does a BLF GT have too much range to be considered a search light? A C8?
What’s your definition of search light?
Remember soldiers are told the enemy can see their cigarette glow from far distances. And the lights on lifejackets are extreme flood. So perhaps a flood light is better for being seen if the atmosphere is not conducive to showing a beam. You do not have to know where the search party or aircraft is located, everyone can spot you.
Agree. Novelty item. Cool to show off but at the end of the day, I will take my S2+ for most situations.
S2+ for a search light?
They are long distance searchlights, nothing will go close to them and they arc getting into short arc territory.