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What colour emergency strobe light?

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F

Falstaff

Nomad
Feb 12, 2023
381
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Berkshire
I noticed on the same youtube of the unfortunate lady, that to help SAR find her, she had a strobe light, which appeared to be flashing blue.

I've just seen that you can buy tiny almost wristwatch sized strobes, good for 250 hours flashing and visible at night for 2km, and cost only £ 15.54. The price is a shock, I expected them to cost a lot more. At that price they might be worth considering.
They come in different flashing colours, but what colour light are we supposed to use? Red, Green, Blue, Orange, White ?

Guardian Emergency Personal Flashing Rescue Strobe Beacon - White

The guardian LED flashing light is currently used by law enforcement, emergency services and search and rescue units throughout the world.
evaq8.co.uk evaq8.co.uk

Given how busy some popular places are at the weekend, it would help SAR to pick you out from other campers, assuming you were not mobile, and in more remote places could be a lifesaver.
 
Daylight adapted eye is most sensitive to slightly yellowish green and night time to blueish green.
 
the trouble with blue is that many people would just assume it was the emergency services dealing with something :(

White and they'd just assume it was a cyclist, orange an indicator, so I'm erring on the side of red or green :)
 
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I have an Orbiloc.

Orbiloc | High-quality LED safety lights | Made in Denmark

Orbiloc produces high-quality LED safety lights for dogs, runners and outdoor adventurers. 3-year warranty ✔ Made in Denmark ✔ Learn more.
orbiloc.com orbiloc.com

It's made in Denmark, and nicely made bit of kit. 100% waterproof, and uses a tiny magnet in the rotating ring to select either constant on, or blinking.

Bought one intended for attaching to dog collars as the runner version is impossible to find, and the clip accessory.


Currently lives on the back of my headlight strap.
 
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Red flashing light is normally the signal for help...I carry a head torch in my car that has red flashing light
 
I was in ALDI the other day and they had a couple of the USB charged bike lights on clearance. White and Red lights with a triple mode switch. While not a strobe on the red flash they are visible for quite a way and I now clip the red one to the back of my headlamp harness when road walking Might be an option for cash strapped persons. I also have something similar that uses two AAA batteries but those are three times the weight
 
Some colours cut through water better than others. Blue, green and yellow, in that order. IF you plan on having an emergency when its not raining.. no need to pick any of those. If you don't plan on having an emergency at all... but it might be raining or foggy when you do...
 
I think that anybody having an emergency under more that 5 metres of water won't be helped by a strobe or flashing light.
Under "Normal" circumstances I'll stick with red as it's the nominal "danger/help" signal we are all used to.
The caveat being all of these signals are wattage dependent so isn't that why strobes are so effective?
We can help out here by using cats-eyes and SOLAS or other retro reflective tapes.
S&R do use image intensifier vision so anything brighter than the background stands out after dark
 
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Most of the Marine emergency strobes tend to be white. As are most torch SOS modes. Strobes get used as underwater markers at depth for divers to find the ascent line or staged gas but are not usually visible from the surface. Double duty as distress marker on the surface.

I'd avoid blue strobes as being mistake for emergency services, certainly on land. I have some green fixed or strobe marker lights (they were freebies) so use them as night lights on kids packs. I used to have a blue light in the first aid kit for checking for blood. I think it have have done U/V for Scorpions too?

Red tail end Charlie marker for the road march at night, although you will still get run over by a speeding Range Rover. I admit I don't like the plethora of flashing lights people seem to use at night when running/walking/cycling. I sometimes feel it's harder to see how far they are away/actual position when driving.

I noticed a curious phenomenon on a bus ride down a sunken lane one summer afternoon. I looked up and saw a cyclist on the passenger CCTV monitor. We were just about to hit him from behind and I shouted to the driver. The cyclist was invisible to the naked eye when you looked forward through the windscreen. He had a strobe running (day time) and was out of phase with the low sun coming between the trees.

I'm now fascinated by animals that use bioluminescence to hide as well as hunt.
 
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