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Various Hunting Lights


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Lights, Lamps, Torches, Spot Lights - we all have different names for them, so I will just refer to them as hunting lights.

Here is my current collection. From left to right, UltraFire in white beam, Convoy C8+ in Red beam, Convoy C8+ in Green beam, Convoy L21B in Red beam and a Sofirn D25LR head lamp with a White beam and a Red beam.

Torches1.jpg.d053a59993f77c1a5ac3c0eb8e36e0ff.jpg

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The UltraFire I picked up on Aliexpress a year or so ago, the Convoy have all come from a local light retailer here in New Zealand - Piercing the Darkness - and the Sofirn from Amazon.

What do I use them all for? Well the UltraFire in white beam just for locating shot animals, the three Convoys, mounted over my scope and used mainly for shooting animals. The Red C8+ is used mostly for animals within 150 meters though I have used it on occasion to shoot deer beyond that. The Green C8+ also out to 150 meters though have had the occasion to take black pigs out as far as 280 meters with it; the green light really shows up black well. The L21B I use mainly for anything beyond 150 meters and the furthest shot I have taken with it was on as Red yearling at 305 meters. The Sofirn headlamp I bought purely for its ability to throw a low intensity red beam to allow me to move around farms in the dark without disturbing animals both domestic and wild. It comes with a bonus in that it has a reasonable white light as well which can come in handy searching for downed game and gutting them out in the field. The cost of these lights has varied from approximately $NZ30 to $NZ90. That equates approximately to between 15 and 45 GBP on today's exchange rate.

What follows is a series of pictures that I have taken of all the lights on the high setting, lighting up the small country road that I live on. Of note here there are reflectors on either side of a culvert at 203 meters, again at 508 meters and for the very observant there is a final reflector on a gate across the road at 770 meters. These might be hard to see in the images as they were taken with my phone at 1x magnification so as to try and show what is seen without using any optics. In all instances the pictures are of the beams just being pointed to the area in and around the first reflectors at 203 meters. I was trying to show how well they do or don’t light up the area out to 200 meters generally. When I am looking through the binoculars I have the beams pointed to the far reflectors at 770 meters, but unfortunately I am unable to show pictures of that result.


First the UltraFire.

UltraFireWhite.jpg.c7d34351cf199b634517f501a42738af.jpg

As stated above, I only use this one for finding downed animals. If I was to use it for shooting animals, with optics I would be able to see game at 200 meters and probably beyond. Using 8x32 Vortex Diamond HD binoculars I was able to just make out the gate at 770 meters.


Next the Convoy C8+ in Red beam.

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This I use usually out to 150 meters for shooting but as can be seen here animals would be clearly seen out to the first reflectors at 203 meters, especially looking through a scope. Looking through the binoculars I was able to see the reflectors easily enough on the gate but could not make out the gate itself.

And then the Convoy C8+ in Green beam.

273534989_C8Green.jpg.52a24064f3a0394df12c09e8100cf1d5.jpg

Again very good out to 203 meters and as I have stated, I have used it to shoot ot to 280 meters. That said, it was in perfect conditions and I would warn against buying this particular light with the expectation of reliably shooting out beyond 250 meters with it. With the binoculars I was able to make out the definition of the gate at 770 meters.

And then the Convoy L21B Red light that I use most when not using the thermal or night vision scope.

L21BRed.jpg.e85c4c46a61a1164b16ed35226c556f3.jpg

Now this picture on first sight looks pretty much the same as the as the Conoy C8+. The big difference is more intense corona. This is quite intense and can spook animals, hence why the C8+ is best under 150 meters. With this light, when looking through the binoculars, I could clearly make out the definition of the gate at 770 meters. I have used this, before the time that I had a thermal, to pick out eye reflection of deer on the hillside out to 800 meters. I add though, that was with using binoculars, which can be a bit of a balancing act moving them around in synchronisation, to focus on the same area, but with a bit of practice they make a good spotter when thermal isn’t available. The upside of the red beam, at that distance the deer don’t appear to even notice it.

Then the Sofirn D25LR.

D25LRWhite.jpg.d204f25bfe070ac4376a546acd943064.jpg

D25LRRed.jpg.9b2fe471b5db4e93d9921e990a3e8557.jpg

Now as stated, this was purchased solely for navigation around paddocks at night. The bonus is that it throws a beam on high sufficient to look for downed animals. Now as can be clearly seen it only has a beam throw effective out to a little less than 100 meters, but that said, it is small compact and and usually only needs a charge once a month with my hunting use and keeping it mostly on low power Red.
 

Hope this may have been of interest to anyone here and if further clarification is wanted, please ask. 

Cheers

Phil

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