Reading John "Lofty" Wiseman's SAS Survival Guide, he recommends inclusion of a "beta light." Beta lights haven't been available in the US and I don't know if they're currently available anywhere for that matter.

Recently, I've seen several pics of several forum member's PSKs which have included fishing bobber lights as a replacement for the "beta light.". This got me very curious as to whether or not such a diminutive light would have merit in a PSK. I purchased two Lindy Thill Nite Brite lights yesterday morning for testing. You be the judge...



The Nite Brite bobber lights are 1 5/8" OAL by approximately 1/8" diameter. Weight is negligible - I couldn't weigh it on my current scale it's so LIGHT. Bad pun intended. They're advertised as providing 20+ hours of continuous light.

My test began at 1415 hours on 07/26/2005. I went into a completely darkened closet with the light and a copy of Greg Davenport's "Wilderness Survival." I found that the Nite Brite provided sufficient light for me to read by and sufficient light to easily identify objects within 3 - 4' from the light - easily sufficient to search a tent or pack.

By 2117 hours, same date and seven hours later, the light still provided ample light to read by and identify objects at close range with.



I could not use the light for safely traversing a trail with at that point (2117 hours) and I doubt that I could when the test first began. The light doesn't have enough throw to be able to identify a hazard such as a snake within a safe distance to be able to avoid it.

At 0300 hours on 07/27/2005, twelve hours forty five minutes after the test began, the Nite Brite was still providing enough light to read by and search distance had diminished drastically. I could ID objects in my pack at 2' from the light or less. As a side test, I used the light successfully to let me see to tie a fish hook with a palomar knot.

By 0530 hours, fifteen hours fifteen minutes after the test began, the light was severely diminished. I could read by the light at near contact distance, but trying to ID objects at 1' from the light was challenging. Trying to tie another hook wasn't possible at this point.

By 0730 hours, seventeen hours fifteen minutes after the test began, I could only read by the Nite Brite at contact distance.

It's now 0815 hours and the Nite Bright sits before me, a full 18 hours since the test began, burning dimly, but still burning. I can still read a few words at a time at contact distance. Pretty amazing performance, in my humble opinion.

Kit worthy? I think so. How about you?

M

Good Morning Sargeant:

Here is a source for the Beta Lights that Wisemann makes reference to:
http://www.betalight.com/

They cannot be imported into this country because of bizarre and outmoded regs of the NRC.

Most of you guys already know my opinion of these things. I love them. I keep one in my belt kit as a backup to my Photon II and I keep two in my pocket kit a my only source of artificial light. I find the red to be brighter (perceived brightness perhaps) than the green. I haven't tried any other colors yet.

Thanks for the post SGT !

I have been wonder about those also. I also bought one a few days ago and have done the dark closet test, but have not tried to see how long it would last. While I would not want to read a book using it, it did give enough light to read and at least gave enough light to be able to find things in a dark room.

Anyone have any idea about storage life on these?

You could fit several of these in an altoids psk. I think I need to go get some. Wall-mart right? <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Size/shape of replacement battery reminds me of the pin lithium that powers this red LED micro-flashlight.

No offense, man, but it is no different than tritium sight inserts. Lots of us have those on pistols. I have them in my watch! It is less radioactive material than you find in an old smoke detector.

I dare say that if the regulations are the reason why, it isn't becuase the Dept of Energy said no, but becuase SBR didn't want to fill out paper work. More likely, there is a percieved lack of a market. People see that radioactive trefoil, and they run. Silly humans.

I purchased one.

For 5$ (canadian funds), it's not a bad buy. It's so small, it can be added to pretty much any existing kit, of any size. I added one to my camera bag PSK. Since my kit is a wilderness kit though, I would have a tendency to use a mini-Bic/matches before readying the bobber light. It might find it's place in an Altoids kit someday.


Bee

Were do you find the lights in California or on the internet for cheap? Please <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

I saw them on the Bass Pro website and on Lindy's website - but both were more expensive than what I'd paid...

M

Update on the review -

The light died at 1911 hours on 7/27. That's nearly 25 hours of light from that incredible little package. Up until about an hour before it died completely, I could still use it to read one word at a time in my completely darkened office. I could not read anything by the light of my three year old tritium filled GlowRing...

M

Talk to Evan over at TAD about what they have gone through to try to get NRC approval for tritium folding knife studs.

I am not sure that this is true. From what I have read (take with a grain of salt) tritium glow items can be imported for "non-trivial" uses. So a keychain would be a trivial use. Firearm sights are a ligitimate use.

I cannot confirm or deny this, but this sort of rule sounds like something a guy in Washington would make up. And if you go under the assumption that radioactive material is bad (true in many, but not all cases), then this rule makes sense.

Why take these over a photon? Wouldn't they need to be cheaper than the replacement battery of the photon to be any good? I guess they are lighter by a few grams and the shape may make them pack better into a micro kit.

Do you know if these lights are waterproof? Since they are bobber lights I thought they could be waterproof.

Frankie

Do you think it's less radioactive than depleted uranium? I've read things about this while looking into nuclear reactors and nuclear bombs information. I know it's a controversial issue but what I've read doesn't look good...

Frankie

I think you're mistaken about it just being a matter of filling out paperwork. I have a friend who actually attempted to set up a ligit. import business for the glow rings. DOE and NRC regulations prevented this. The glow ring emits more radiation than US standards for "novelty" items. US regulatory agencies, not the manufacturer, killed my friend's deal.

"Why take these over a photon? "

I would not take one of these over a photon if there was enough room for the photon. I see these as either a backup light in addition to a photon (or other good light) or to use in a micro-kit where space is very, very limited. Since they are very small and not very expensive, I think they would be fine for that use.

I have a Photon II on my key chain all of the time. The Photon is much brighter.

Just my opinion.

Yup, they're waterproof...



M

OK, I'm wrong. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> I was expecting that tritum regs weren't super impressive just from the amount of it I own.

Actually, on second thought, I'm not terribly suprised. I seem to remember that a primitive H-bomb injects tritum between the fission core and the compression shell in the second or so before detonation. Although it would take a couple million watches and pistols to get enough to do anything with.

Stupid, silly guvment people.

Crypto's still regulated, even though you can easily get high quality encryption stuff outside the US.
Or write your own with a copy of "Applied Cryptography", or...

Crap like this comes from some congress person saying "Well, we certainly can't be seen as endorsing this sort of thing. Harumph. Sends the wrong message. Harumph.". Or maybe anything "radioactive" is dangerous to the average congress person. One thing I'm sure of is that it's not because it's dangerous. Or maybe it is, and Europeans routinely build nuclear bombs in science class. Frenchy? <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

So... hypothetically speaking, of course, what's the best way to go about getting a tritium glow ring thingy? I'd love to have a slot cut into the side of my HDS 60 to accomodate a little tritium vial. Ever tried taking apart a gun sight? Can it be done without damaging the tritium capsules?

Yeap, we do.
I already told you about preparing nitroglycerine : that was during chemistry classes.
During physics classes, I once had to build a small nuclear engine. Then I again did a mistake and it did work : no BOOOOMM, just a FZZZLE...
Since that time, curiously, I no longer need a light to read a book in the dark. I sort of glimmer in the night ... a nice bluish light... <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

These lights a A LOT smaller than a photon.

I had lunch with a LEO (Captain, SAPD) friend today, and I mentioned this subject. He laughed really hard, and told me that we wil not see ANY more radiation based lighting devices for the foreseeable future because the Department of 'Homeland' Security has put a freeze on them. Current tritiuim is OK because they have calibrated their detection gizmos to ignore it (on a good day) rather tha just miss it (which is usually). He's been to conferences pretty much all over setting up bike patrols for other departments, and he's pretty cynical about the DHS. (which, in a wonderful peice of irony, in Texas also means Department of Human Services)\

That is who I work for(DHS)...
Maybe that is why we just changed our name to HHSC(Health and Human Services Commision)...

IMO. those bobber lights are a worthy addition to even the smallest kit.