Bullet proof night light?

[shewhorn]

I had an Adventure Lights "VIP" which had a single amber LED.

http://www.adventurelights.com/outdoors/pr...amp;S=0&O=5

Nice for night paddling as it didn't kill your night vision. Anyhow... waterproof to 100 meters my $%#. It's a little over a year old (just out of warranty) and it's dead. I'm kinda pissed considering how much those damned thing cost. Anyone have any recommendations for an alternative? I'm not after bright, I'm after "read my compass and read my chart without totally killing my night vision".

Cheers, Joe

[rick stoehrer]

I had an Adventure Lights "VIP" which had a single amber LED.

http://www.adventurelights.com/outdoors/pr...amp;S=0&O=5

Nice for night paddling as it didn't kill your night vision. Anyhow... waterproof to 100 meters my $%#. It's a little over a year old (just out of warranty) and it's dead. I'm kinda pissed considering how much those damned thing cost. Anyone have any recommendations for an alternative? I'm not after bright, I'm after "read my compass and read my chart without totally killing my night vision".

Cheers, Joe

to read a compass at night what some of us have done is to forgo trying to read the recessed compass in the deck as it's a bit far away at night for these old eyes...get a compass you can lash onto the deck there (a la suunto orca) and place that in front of the foredeck bungies (being sure it's really tight across so the lubber line is lined up and won't "easilly" be bashed off line with the keel) BUT BEFORE you lash that bad boy down, you get a bunch of those little glow sticks like the ravers put in their mouths (thanks tv for keeping me sociologically relevant) or the fishermen tie to their lines at night (and have attached a link below if you want to follow up)

and put them into the recess under the card on the compass - i think i jammed about a dozen or so in there (yellow and green work best) and then duct tape them in there (so the compass does move on deck, maybe you've a better chance of still having some light under there).

anyways, that'll illuminate the compass well enough to see without a light on and not so much that it interferes in any way with your night vision.

as far as reading the chart, we've used any # of a number of headlamps (petzl, princeton tec) and have found that the low setting are adequate. the most important thing i've found is to be sure to NOT look at anyone as that's shining the light in their eyes and just blasting their vision (as well as pissing them off well enough!) maybe turn it on looking away from the deck and everyone else and then swing your head down to the chart....get your heading, shut off the light (close your eyes for a moment) and then paddle away.

and in the day hatch, right on top? spare headlamp.

have fun.

ordered about a zillion of the little 1.5 inch jobbers for short $..link below.

(http://extremeglow.com/Merchant4/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=112

[shewhorn]

Thanks Rick. I have a couple of head lamps already but I still find them to be a bit too bright, even on the low setting. The amber color of the light produced by the VIP was nice as it wasn't as... abrasive.

Cheers, Joe

[hoppy09]

Joe I got an inexpensive head lamp at homedepot that has awhite light and red light for night vision although not bullet proof an inexpensive alternative cost was around $12.

[great_blue]

Mr. Shewhorn,

I purchased a "white" one of these a couple of years ago:

http://www.essentialgear.com/Safety-&-...oduct_info.html

Still works (always attached to my pfd), and has a blinking mode as well. I seems fairly robust and provides a couple of attachment options. I believe I saw them at NESC the las time I was by.

BTW, thanks again for the pintail demo....

Jon