The best head torch (for country life)
- Thread starter British Red
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Not heard of the brand. Have you used one?Sofirn's SP40 18650/18350 head lamp is on sale. £16 without battery, £18 with. Sofirn ships good batteries (usually Samsung 30Q) so get the battery.
Sofirn are well known in the flashlight circles. They manufacture some lights designed by the flashlight community (mainly on BudgetLightForum) including the LT1 lantern.
The SP40 is kind of a default recommendation for a non flashlight person wanting a budget headlight, particularly over on reddit's r/flashlight.
They are available on Amazon UK, but not at the sale price, 4.5 stars with 200+ reviews.
The SP40 is kind of a default recommendation for a non flashlight person wanting a budget headlight, particularly over on reddit's r/flashlight.
They are available on Amazon UK, but not at the sale price, 4.5 stars with 200+ reviews.
I have been looking at this torch for a while now, sofirn are really good.Sofirn's SP40 18650/18350 head lamp is on sale. £16 without battery, £18 with. Sofirn ships good batteries (usually Samsung 30Q) so get the battery.
Human night vision rods are most sensitive at about 498 nm (blue greenish) so there you need the least light to use your night vision, the other option is to go to about 650 nm (deep red) where you use your day vision cones and the rods are barely active.
Another nod to Sofirn, I’ve got a couple, and the BudgetLightForums LT1 lantern, all are good. I haven’t tried the headlight, but it’ll be good I’m sure.
Red, if you’re buying, try and get a neutral led version, it’ll suit your needs better for country use in that it renders greens and browns more realistically.
Red, if you’re buying, try and get a neutral led version, it’ll suit your needs better for country use in that it renders greens and browns more realistically.
I've only ever known of red light to be used (in vehicles, buildings, OPs etc), never heard of or seen Green being recommended for use. Apart from anything else it wouldn't work (at least on the UK issued maps) - all of the wood blocks would vanish, and on the 1:25k mapping, so would the public rights of way. I think you would be stuffed! UK military maps are almost identical to the normal OS maps, just issued unfolded without covers, with slightly different info in the margins, and with an overlay of military specific information (generally in red, blue, and brown) providing rules and regulations around training areas (e.g. out of bounds, no dig areas, range boundaries etc), and picking out pylons and power lines for navigational use (mainly for aircraft). Possibly some overseas maps might lend themselves better to the use of coloured light, but most of the military ones that i have come across variously use red and green in them whatever, so white light is the way to go. In many theaters aerial photography is issued as the mapping, with certain features picked out, and a grid overlaid. Used sufficiently dimly, white doesn't have an appreciable impact on night vision in my experience.
Sorry OP - this post is taking things a little away from the thread!
For some physiological quirk two coloured lights are necessary for seeing the full range of colours.
For walking in the forest the blue-green is a lot better than red, green foliage takes in all of the red so nothing reflects back.
For walking in the forest the blue-green is a lot better than red, green foliage takes in all of the red so nothing reflects back.
I have recently bought the Sofirn sp40, in 3000k. Thinking about night prolonged use, and the disruption to sleep that the higher temperatures at 4000k and 5000k, when going to sleep shortly after torch use.
I know they are not as bright, but I was thinking about the trade off, in relation to getting to sleep after use.
Open to advice here
I know they are not as bright, but I was thinking about the trade off, in relation to getting to sleep after use.
Open to advice here
Tritium powered Betalight torches are green.
Betalight Torch | BETA Light
The self-luminous Torch is a compact, lightweight light source with reliable and secure illumination that does not affect night vision.
www.betalight.nl
In Finnish defence forces troup transport vehicles (PASI) there were two inside lights: red and blue. But they did not teach us about which to use and when. I did my conscript time in 1986, donn´t know about current equipment.
Sofirn's SP40 18650/18350 head lamp is on sale. £16 without battery, £18 with. Sofirn ships good batteries (usually Samsung 30Q) so get the battery.
Do you have a view on best colour temp to go for?
Nice65 is the one to ask, he recommends 4000k. I went for 3000k as was thinking about sleep disruption
Like Gra says, 4000-5000k. Anything less is too yellow, anything more is getting crisp and cool white. Purely subjective obviously, and prone to misrepresentation.
The Sofirns featured on Amazon U.K. claim to be cool white 6500k, but one of my torches is quite obviously not the same colour as the other due to the LED being different. I think I’d rather buy direct from the China store and pick the LED I want rather than the claimed figures.
As others have said 4000K.
Sofirn producing more than one colour temperature is recent thing, so don't know if they'll eventually find their way onto Amazon.
Costco sell a Coast set of Headlights which are great. They have 2 switches so you can turn on the red leds or turn on the white light.
EdS
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
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