Lamps

[jonone]

Hi as any one got any advice on witch lamp to get, under £100, i think 100m range will do. Thanks Jon.

[Steyr]

Hand Held

Gun Mounted

Tactical torch stylie

Dimmer or no dimmer

What is Quarry

Hand Held - safer as the rifle isnt the search tool but very difficult to do solo and two man have to spend time getting to understand wha tthe other wants and when

Gun Mounted - allows you to point where you want when you want & solo too but means the rifle is pointing at whatever it is you're trying to ID or find. Trailing wires can be a major PITA. A 12 volt 7amp battery is no skinny Latte either on the hip or on the shoulder

Tactical styles - compact, no wires (unless you go for a tape switch but that isnt the same as the umbilical cord with the bag o sugar Sealed Lead Acid battery option. Some very good kit now available. Can be quickly detached for walking to/from/searching for shot quarry. Very easy to carry spares. Rechargables pay for themselves quickly.

Dimmer - for me essential. Debens remote dimmer is pretty damned good. So long as voltage and amps are compatible, I would use this device on other makes if necessary. No dimmer makes close stuff feirce and ratting etc very difficult. Also chews through battery quicker than if you can pull back on the solar flare output.

Quarry - some dont respond to high output. Most do. Most definitely do when they become "educated". Again dimmer is helpful here as well as the use of filters. Variable range can be accomodated by dimmer. A million candle power is nasty close up

I use a Deben Tracer Max Pro so it is decent size reasonable range and light. Against it are its a bit plasticy (hence the weight benefit) and the lens benefits from a couple of dabs of hot melt. Wiring is indifferent and the connectors they use are simply rubbish and will drive you mental. Dimmer is brilliant but do they want their Lb of flesh for it.

I also use tactical LED - see seperate threads for this - search for posts from the likes of ateallthepies for this topic.

Bottom line - Over - Engineer output but use a dimmer so you can reign it in. Nothing worse than not having enough grunt on the occassions you need it

[Wyatt_Earp]

deben mini pro, very light, comes with dimmer and red filter, need less than 25% power at 40m,battery lasts all night on the power i use.

[jonone]

Thanks alot lads i think i will have a look at the mini and max pro. Thanks once again Jon.

[jonone]

Just fownd one called tracer atom looks more like a speeker than a light, has any one tryed one of them if so what are they like any good ? Thanks Jon.

[warbucks]

Hi Jonone
Accoring to the Deben catalog the Atom comes in either 6v or 12v but either way its only a 100 m beam, there's no way i would buy this when the Deben mini pro (variable powered) gun lamp is around the same ish price, as this gun lamp is supposed to do 250 m, ive had one of these's lamps for five years now, i use my mini pro with red filter and with i/r filter for n/v add on for short distance ratting, and this is probably the best lamp for this, but if your wanting a gun lamp for rabbits, I M O you want a lamp with more range, because a red filter cuts the range down a lot, and although its possible to do rabbits at 40 yds with the mini pro with red filter its struggaling, ok you could use a amber filter and that would give you the range, but ive not found the amber filter to be as good as the red one, a better lamp for rabbits would be the max pro, or the lightforce 140 v/p, the l/f is a better lamp than the max pro, more power under the red filter and a beam thats adjustable from spot to flood, its not as easyly moved from gun to gun without additional mount brackets at £19 a time, the max pro one is a push fit from one gun to the other. What ever you get variable power is a massive help. Hope this helps.

Dave (warbucks)

[lee h oswald]

I use a LED LENSER P7 with a scope mount.....fantastic range, no messy cables and runs for ages on AAA Batteries

[Steyr]

This is pricey for a torch that has no regulation in it whatsoever.

For the OP's spend, he can get better than a P7.

Spot to flood is good but most gun mounted taccy lights suffer from no dimmer and have max output limitations at the moment.

[Steyr]

I feel it is worth repeating - over engineer your light output capability but use a dimmer so you can have a very flexible lighting solution.

You can have the dimmer so low that it is barely visible to your eye with a red filter on but sweep it past a rat or rabbit and especially a fox and you are looking at the terminator on steroids. You dont spook it and you can then compose yourself for the shot and then increase beam when you are ready.

Real life it doesnt go 100% to plan but if they have not been shot before then make hay whilst the light shines.

The mini lamps are usually considered as under-performers especially if you intend to expand you shooting horizons or your venues change etc.

[MrGreengrass]

Lightforce are good.

[Whitester]

For £100 the deben tracer mini pro or atom pro will do all you need.

The dimmer switch is a must, the only difference between the two is that the atom is lighter becuase of the stock mounted battery but the mini pro is more versatile as it's more powerful.

The ideal would be to use the atom's stock mounted battery with the mini pro.


alternatively you could go tactical with one of the ledray or similar but as has been said they don't have the dimmer and although they will still be affective, a dimmer switch will ultimately make you more successful.

[bigdavew31]

I own a Ledray GL2 and have to say its pretty impressive for range about (80-100m without filter and about 50m with red filter). Fair point about the dimmer though, that would be pretty handy.

[tiamaria]

for around 100 quid you can get a cluson lazerlite hand held with gun mount and it will knock spots of whats been talked about already

[zula]

me and my son use a lightforce lamp with a mount on the scope good lights ,but i think is just over the 100 pound mark with the mount