Looking to get a C8 plus with red emitter for use at night. I have no experience with color LEDs. Are there options for flood versus throw? Do you recommend red or deep red?
I much prefer deep red 660nm over other red offerings, which means SST-20-DR for me. It just feels better, and I can’t explain why. Someone else with more experience can chime in. It’s why I don’t carry my Sofirn HS21 as much as the D25LR, even if the HS21 is more efficient and easier to use.
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You need to decide whether you want flood or throw: if you want flood, C8 is the wrong light to get, and you should consider a compact multi-emitter offering instead.
Which emitter you get depends on your purpose for getting red. If you want to minimize night vision disruption and attracting bugs, then SST-20 DR is the right one to get, it’s monochrome at 660nm. If you just the color red with a lot of throw and visibility, Osram red (KR CULPM1.23) is a better choice, being throwier and more bright to the human eye, though the color appears less true red and slightly orange-ish.
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C8-anything is throw, not flood, unless you use diffusion film.
Goggle “hs-802 red” and you’ll find a bunch of already-red semi-throwers.
Nice lights, colored ones (red/green) usually are 1-mode only, so a nice simple on/off. Deep reflector, so pushes the spill out a bit, but keeps a nice tight hotspot.
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Deep red all the way, and I find reasonably floody is best. Coming/going from observing spot, a bright-enough neutral or even warm hi-cri light works well. At site, dim, deep red with maybe a couple brightness steps works well.
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Actually, I should’ve asked right from the gecko, “Whaddya gonna do wittit?”.
The Gecko really wants to know, too.
SST-20 Deep Red for night time use. I find it best for camping use as it doesn’t attract bugs in generally like even warm white emitters.
For a large area light, the Convoy S-12 SST-20DR is the one to get at ~$40. Something like the C8 is a thrower with a narrow beam overall and a good hot spot.
For looking into a backpack at night while doing astronomy and similar stuff, the Convoy T5 with its wide dead even beam is a good option at ~$20. Hank’s D3 AA is a good option as well.
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Or
You could try out a red filter on C8+.
~usd$4.41? On convoy site.
Get emitter you want + filter- add diffusion film if too throwy.
As several have said, depends on use case in the end…
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I should mention my newest toys, the HS21 and HS42 headlights. The '42 makes a great right-angle light, and I “palm” the '21 lots of times, too.
High-CRI white flood, low-CRI white spot, combo spot+flood, and red.
Both of them have really nice floody red beams that have a nice low-low moonlight mode as well.