JohnN,

You're probably right, I was just questioning the appearance, visibility as "seen" through NVG's.

Given the choice I'd take both, have a strobe as a visible and comforting indicator that I'm trying to save myself and possibly others. And a IR marker to assist those trying to find me. Assuming that a IR marker has a "better", ie more visible signature to night vision equipment. OK possibly not a Glo-toob, but there must be others, I don't know, like I said I've no experience of either NVG's or IR markers.

Re: Task use with the Glo Toob. Agreed. People don't realize how little light they need to do many close at hand tasks.

This is part of the reason I really like the HDS lights. They set the default 'low' for .3 lumens where most mfgs set theirs for 3 lumens or more. It provides enough light to do what you need and the runtime is basically forever given the high efficiency LEDs.

-john

A little light can often get you through a tough spot. On a dark night most of what your going to do is at arms length. You don't need a a huge spotlight. Also, as the story shows, even a small light can be seen a long way off at night.

This hints that it pays to have a small light, appropriate to your situation, with you pretty much all the time.

It also points out that you can do a lot with a little and that in survival, as with anything else, there is a point of diminishing returns. Imagine if this guy had decided that yes, he wanted a flashlight but that he wanted a real man's light. He walk past the inexpensive compact model and gets a six D-cell Maglight. Figures he can spotlight frogs with it back home. It is a great manly device impressive in size and output. Once he pays for batteries he is out better than $30.

So he goes on this trip schlepping a huge flashlight. It is too big to keep in a pocket and too heavy to hold all the time. He stuffs it in a duffel bag and figures when he needs it he can dig it out. Problem is that things went south pretty quick. There wasn't a whole lot of time to grab anything. His $30 flashlight is sitting on the bottom and it took the duffel bag with it.

Man oh man it would have been a great flashlight for signaling. He could attract attention from miles away. But because it was bulky and heavy he didn't have it on him. And because it cost so much he didn't buy both the Maglight and the smaller unit. So now he is bobbing in the Gulf without a light. Unhappy camper.

The lessons are that more is not always better. That money, space and your ability to carry weight is always limited. That a little something on your person can be better than a much more capable model where you can't get to it when you need it.

I like large Maglights. I keep a six D-cell model in my truck. It is impressive in its heft and size, quite phallic really (I get odd sidelong looks from the ladies when they see it) and very useful. On a rainy night I can spot a house number at nearly a quarter mile. Changing a tire I just set it back twenty feet and it illuminates the the entire area. Helping me see what I'm doing and letting people know I'm there.

Held by the head over the shoulder it makes addressing intruders on job sites at night a lot easier. Looking into the light is like talking to God. And, even though I have never had cause to use it that way, it is clearly a capable bludgeon. My big Maglight is useful. But when I step out I generally don't carry it. Instead I have a small AAA led light that is a lot handier.

Because sometimes less is more.

On another thread we were talking about boys and their toys. However, I too like my D cell Mag-Lite . . . which I only carry in my bigger bag.

Jeanette Isabelle

Hi Art_in_FL

I generally keep a Fenix LOD-CE with a rechargeable Lithium ion 10440 cell beside a Leatherman Charge Ti EDC



The tiny AAA Fenix will gives a light output equivalent to Fenix P1D-CE which on high is around 130 Lumen which is brighter than a Maglite 5D flashlight and just short of a Maglite 6D. It blows away a 3-D Mag.

Your eye is much more sensitive to green than red. Any green light will appear brighter than a red light of equal optical power, even though the red light is actually emitting more photons.

But this might not be the same with "night-vision" goggles such as those used to find these people: those sensors might be equally sensitive to red and green, or might even do better in red, especially when the higher photon flux is considered.

This might be an interesting test for Doug at some point: are red or green LEDs easier to spot with the usual night-vision search gear? Green is better for the naked eye but for a boat it might be better to assume searches at sea are only conducted with night-vision goggles.

Hi Joy. I have noticed that the Coast Guard crews in NYC use a strobe that looks exactly like the Firefly, though I can't swear they are the same manufacturer. I like it because it has a big, easy to operate switch, which could be a factor if a survivor was injured. I am not that familiar with the other two.

A waterproof headlight might be a good thing to have, but I would be concerned that it might come off if you were thrown overboard, or tossed around while below decks. Whatever it is, it should be attached to you somehow. The few close calls I have had happened very fast. If you aren't wearing it, you aren't going to have it when you hit the water.

As far as I'm concerned, the most important part of the OPs article is that the safety officer had the little flashlight on his person when the keel failed.

The Fenix lights I have seem to have a "dazzle" effect rather than a "strobe": the duty cycle is not far from 1:1. A true strobe would be more like 100:1 or more, especially if battery run-time is important.

It's worth noting that these people had fish nibbling on their clothes as well as who-knows-what other distractions. It seems like anything that floats by itself it pretty important: survivors might remember to turn the light off during the daytime but otherwise I wouldn't plan on this piece of gear getting much more attention than that - it falls in the category of gear that needs to do the right thing without any help from an operator.

Thanks for the vote of confidence Wildman. Guess I don't have to tell you that on the water, common sense isn't all that common.

Here's a bit of trivia that my interest you as a tug captain, and Blast as a kayaker.

When I take guests on the sailboat and I'm the only one aboard that knows how to sail, I put a submersible handheld in my pocket on the theory that if I go overboard they are going to keep going to New Jersey and I will be able to call for help myself. Sometimes, strictly for the entertainment value, I will scan the channels used by the commercial vessels. Know what the tug captains call kayaks in New York Harbor?



Speedbumps.

My *guess* is that IR would be much better since there is a much higher photon flux at IR than visible light.

Another thought: diode lasers at 1064nm (invisible IR) are very efficient at turning battery power into optical power, even at high output levels. Even if 1064nm LEDs don't exist or aren't efficient, taking a 1064nm diode laser and putting a diffuser on it should be visible to NVG at least 50% further away than a green LED at the same power.

Edit: Silicon sensors are usually very sensitive well into IR, and I assume that SAR NVG's don't filter out the IR since they want to notice hot engine parts etc. So I'm assuming at 1032nm light source is at least as easy to see in NVG as visible light.