Looking to find a good deal on some chem lights. What's the best color to go with for inside a house? White/Green? Not really wanting to really totally on flashlights for back up.
I would do white for general indoor lighting and green or blue for light that won't effect your night vision. For covert outdoor use red. Yellow orange and green works good for marking and signaling also.
You got me interested, I had always heard that red was the best to preserve night vision. In this scenario however, you'd need to light a house and not necessarily preserve vision.
I found this little article from 2003 that breaks down the science behind the different colors, and which ones allow you to see better detail over plain white, etc.
I cannot find the ones that I have, but I have 5 led powered ones that take one AA battery that I use when camping and around the house for power outages. One AA lasted almost 4 days straight in one of the bathrooms when we lost power during hurricane. I highly recommend a couple of these if you can find them. I also keep an assortment of Orange, Green, Red and White chemical glow sticks. The ones I use last 8-10 hours before they start to lose their output. I keep 25-30 of them in my camping box.
I have never actually played with any of the glowsticks that I put in my truck bag. How well do they actually light up a room? Is it enough to see around? I might have to go grab one now to test it out :P
Mine say 05/2022 on them. Enough to light up a tent enough to drunkenly fumble around for a change of clothes, or a small room such as a bathroom enough to comfortably drop a deuce.
Mine say 05/2022 on them. Enough to light up a tent enough to drunkenly fumble around for a change of clothes, or a small room such as a bathroom enough to comfortably drop a deuce.
tested one, and hanging one to the pull-cord on my ceiling fan, it lit a small bedroom well enough to navigate safely. Lost 50% of its power in ~6hrs though. Awesome bright right off the bat, I was impressed.
What got me thinking about them was I saw some for $1 each at target but they didn't have any green only white and yellow. I'm going to have to try the white one out in the house. What's the average shelf life on chem lights?
In a hunker down type situation, it depends on your location.
If you don't live in the best of neighborhoods... use a color that will not attract attention from onlookers... (Red). It will preserve your night vision in the event you need to head outside or in another room in a hurry that may be pitch black.
If you're okay with broadcasting you're home in those situations and don't care about your night vision, use White, Yellow or Amber. One in a decent sized room will allow you to navigate through the room safely... if it's your house, you should know where all the obstacles are anyway. These colors will cause momentary simulated blindness when transitioning from an illuminated environment to a dark one. This is also one additional benefit of Flash Hiders, Suppressors, muzzle devices. That bright flash is like a breaching device lighting up the entire room for a split second and then going out. It causes your eyes to adjust rapidly and renders you unable to see until your eyes set or the next flash.
If you're not too sure and want to not draw a whole lot of attention, use blue... it will allow for some night vision correction, but can attract "what is that?" viewers.
Green in my opinion is a no no. Green is the one color that the human eye sees more prolifically than any other. That's why night vision was the color green, That's why heads up displays and digital screens on electronics are green, etc. It will preserve night vision capability, but is a beacon (outside of a bright white, yellow or amber light that is). Unless again, you live in an area where it doesn't matter. Then I would recommend Green over white, yellow, or amber even.
Believe it or not... my sisters kid had a pair of "night vision Goggles" that she bought him at Toys R Us... They were simply a small TV screen over one eye and a surveillance camera with Infra-Red LEDs... and I gotta say, the thing was AMAZING!!! I was shocked at how well it allowed me to see in total darkness. Now, unfortunately, they are not true night vision that amplifies existing light, they require the infra-red illumination to show you the way... but they would definitely work with Infra-Red Glow Sticks as well. Not bad at all for $50 and Six AA batteries.
It looked like this...
Here's another that I have seen on the shelf that appear to be the same type of product.
Now of course I wouldn't recommend them for tactical or battle situations... but in a pinch, they would definitely help you evade or get the drop on someone in a "lights out" environment.
Then again, Academy has a great Night Vision Monocular for just about $150. The Firefield Nightfall™ 4 x 50 Night Vision Monocular...
Could even be mounted using a camera style rail mount... closer in of course.
Or the SightMark ghost hunter that you can actually purchase a rail mount for.
Sorry. Didn't mean to get off track... just throwing some survival options out there.
If you want light for when the power goes out then grab one of the garden lights from outside. They recharge quickly and last a long time. One for each room and you're set.
I picked up some from a gun show that was basically a bunch of crystals in a vacuum sealed bag that you set out in the sun for a few mins and they would flow pretty well all night. Was cheap and seems to work great
Ive been using the LED sticks for a few years now. I think you can get them at Academy and even Walmart now, just a couple bucks each. They are pretty durable and the batteries last for numerous camping trips.