Illumination, the key to success?:
In the daytime, everyone is busy scuttling about their daily routine and everything on the whole is simple. When the sun goes down, when the lights go out or you need to move a little more covertly, the darkness is your friend and your enemy.
Every one has cells in their eyes that grow after the lights go out, they take around half an hour to reach a good level for being able to ‘see’, or at least make out forms in the darkness. Any bright light after this point effectively kills the cells and leaves you night blind until the cells regrow.
Red is the ideal colour for preserving night vision, although it does interfere with colour perception. Blue is perfect for blood tracking, white is great for everything, including showing everyone around you where you are as it refracts so easily. Not much good if you dont want to be seen.
For me, its mainly red light all the way. In the top image you see a selection of lights I own and use regularly. On the far left an Inova light in red, a County Comm light which I hardly use as its too bulky, a new Inova light gifted from pcordnsuch Im still testing (Thank You Mate) and finally a Photon in IR. On the next row down a selection of APALS lights from the official importers at Karrimor. The one on the far right being a diffused version that was an original sample.
The next image shows my regular edc lights, Fenix TK11 and the LD10, also the Princeton Tec light that fits my bergan strap and rotates for map reading or close work and the red strobe for location marking.
They all have advantages, they all have a place in the kit but not one does everything I need. Inova lights now have a programmable option to them which makes them a great improvement (top left light), the light output is not overly bright but can be set brighter or dimmer according to need. Truly a versatile option so far. The Photon is a great IR light or even the white ones as sold in the store are perfect lights with an on off switch or press to illuminate. APALS have a long strobe life and once the battery runs out you throw it away. They are great markers for tracks, signalling, search teams and for keeping people together.
They all share something in common, they dont do all the things you need in one, they are cheap, cheap to replace the batteries and will last an insane amount of time. But you need one or two of them to get what you need due to colour requirements and output levels.
What prompted this post was an email asking what the best torch is for a list of roles and I was unable to offer an answer. You can buy military lights with multiple output levels, in different colours but the cost is insane, the running costs are high and its one light you need to fix to certain items to get the best out of it. You can’t slip it into a pocket or add it to a kit easily due to weight and size.
A Photon Light will give you illumination, signalling as well as being cheap to run, easy to find the batteries for and be carried in a long list of methods. Add a couple of APALS lights or the Inova light in red that is programmable and just about all of your criteria is covered.
But the gent refused to accept the answer as it was too cheap and too simple. Why make an answer complicated or difficult then add complex attachment systems to the mix.
Carpe Noctum
The simplest answer is usually the best. Its redteamsblog logic at is finest. Eliminate the highest risk, produce a solution with the simplest method and have a spare option just in case.
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