I only use headlights for a few things these days and have really learned to hate them since I started doing SAR work. There's only so many times a person can handle having his night vision ruined by a dude with a headlamp.
If you're patient, and the moon is out, you can usually go pretty far into the night without needing any light. Once you use it though, night vision can take up to 40 minutes to come back.
I have red lenses on my headlight and flashlight to preserve my night vision, and that of those around me.
Ever been flashed in the eyes with a red light at night? It's every bit annoying as a regular light, it just hurts slightly less and your night vision doesn't take quite so long to return. If the light is brighter than what's needed to read at about 6 inches, then it's too bright for your night vision. Most headlamps with red LEDs seem way too bright for me...they're just for reading maps and such. I carry a Gerber DIAL recon (basically the Infinity Ultra with a rotating blue, red, green, and clear lense) for reading in the dark without killing my eyes...it's very dim and works perfectly for that task.
Previous Topic
Index
