Need help picking a light.......

Travis P

Travis P

New member
First time poster, long time looker! I'm jumping into the predator hunting habit and want to make the move to hunting at night. I've already made the investments in a .22-250, a Foxpro Wildfire II, Foxpro Black Jack, shooting sticks, etc... Now I'm ready to get a light, but to be honest the thought of dropping $300+ on a light makes me pucker up a bit!

I do have some limited experience with night hunting, as I was the "light man" years ago while yote/fox calling in Southern Ohio. Due to the terrain, we got by with a high powered maglight with a red lens...but that won't work here in Central Indiana. The areas I hunt are small woodlots and fence rows, with large ag fields seperating the 10-30 acre woodlots. My setups at night would consist of hunkering down along the wove-wire fence rows and calling toward the woodlots that could be 300+ yards away, so needless to say I need a strong light to pick up the eyes at long distances.

With that background info in mind I've been reading everything I can get my eyes on in regards to the right spotlight. My mouth waters at a Lightforce kit, but again dropping three bills on a light freaks me out! I've gotten contacts in China that sell lights that some claim are the exact same as some of the lights sold here in the US, but under different names. I've researched HID lights, kill lights, spot lights, hand held LED lights..........and my head is about to explode! It seems that a lot of guys use gun-mounted lights to scan with, but I don't really like the idea of constantly panning my rifle back and forth and occasionally having to sweep behind my set up. My teen son will be my partner so I'd really like a handheld light that he can operate.

I've looked hard at the Lightforce 170 and then just purchasing a 12v 8aH battery like LF sells in their kits. I honestly don't see the need to spend all the extra money on the "kit" so right now I'm leaning in the direction of getting the LF 170, a red filter, hood, and battery and just putting it in a dufflebag to carry. My hang up is the fact that I've never seen any of these handheld LED lights that use 2 of the 18650 Li-ion batteries to compare how bright and how far they really throw a beam. I don't want a narrow laser beam of light like a kill light, but just a nice bright spot to cover large areas. I'm really wanting to stay around $150 or at least that's my goal.

Can you guys help me out with honest opinions for my situation? Hand held light...capable of showing eyes at 300+ yards...run time of around 2 hours would suffice as I can always get another battery down the road for long nights of hunting. Thoughts????????

Thanks for your help and safe hunting!
 
Let me start by saying that My experience is very limited. About a year ago I bought a coyote tlr. I can tell you that you absolutely can pick up eyes at 250+ yards. Later I picked up the field light for scanning. I have picked up eyes with it at a good 250. That's probably the limit for the field light. I can and have identified fox and coyote at 100 easy. With that said, I am really thinking hard about getting another tlr or trying out the kill light 250 for scanning and use the field light for a backup. Bought my tlr from sheps lights and have heard nothing but good things about boondocks with the kill light. I think you would be surprised how bright these lights really are.
 
Yeah I saw that Magnalight Pacecar..... still a little saltier than I wanted.

I was looking at the lights in the lightmalls.com site. I'm half tempted to get a red LED light plus a dual 18650 light and give it a try. FedEx shipping is only $16

I don't know.....I'm torn between going the way of the flashlights or the DIY Lightforce setup.
 
See, that's the thing I'm running into with lights like the Coyote TLR light. I just looked at the Sheps site and they are showing the exact same lights and kits that are advertised on these direct from China websites. Even the battery colors are the same! I have no doubt these are the same lights... for example on the Sheps site they show the Coyote TLR kit for $122 + shipping. I've got a pricelist that shows the EXACT same kit/light for $35.86!!! Granted, the shipping from China can cost as much as $40 for DHL or FedEx so you get it in 5 days, but heck....that's WAY better than $122 plus shipping.
 
I bought from Shep because if something went wrong I had a warranty. Same with the xlr at boondocks. I considered the china lights at first also. I was just a little scared of getting burned.
 
I was scared of getting burned as well. To me, buying a XLR 250 local was worth the money because I didn't have to worry about getting it, and I didn't have to wait a month to find out if it was coming.

I bought 3 greens today, they're charging right now
smile.gif
I'm thinking about throwing some CR123's in one just to show the wife how bright it is.

Plus, for the money ($139) I got a car charger, wall charger, picatinny mount, scope mount, clicky tail cap, wired tail cap with both a pressure switch and a click "on" switch. Not to mention it says "Kill light" on the side instead of "UniqueFire". I spent a little more than I would through a Chinese dealer, but I got my lights right NOW.
 
Here's the gun light I'm using right now: Nite Hunter

I have their original light (green module only) and it works great and lasts FOREVER on a rechargeable that comes with it. I use it on my bow for hogs too.

The new model has both a red and a green module in the kit and is 300 lumens with a 5.5hr run time and includes both a clicker and pressure switch tailcaps and gun mounts along with a charger. They're made here locally by a Christian family thats incredibly good to deal with.

I was in talking to another predator hunter at our local hunting store (that runs several contests each year) the other day and I noticed the owner of Nite Hunter lights buying a new rifle. We got to talking and he told me that he's releasing a NV illuminator (in the next couple weeks) that's just another module that'll fit on their standard light body; but that it will match or out-perform the TorchPro illuminator- at least based on specs.

Just figured I'd mention it since you're a bow hunter as well and that's how they got started. Good luck in your search for a light!
 
just got my xlr 250 and 100 from boondocks awsome lights and jeremiah ships fast! realy like the hat mount and headband.thanks boondocks!
 
Black&Decker Quartz Light BDV158

Something all together bigger, while it does come boxed it still all but needs to be destroyed to extract the unit.

It is 35x22x19cm the latter figure the width is maximum at the light beam end. It weights just over 3.2 kilos, this has a lead acid sealed battery. It is really designed to be held in one or both hands but quite able to stand on the ground or a table.

It can be charged from a car cigar lighter socket or from mains. Stated as two halogen bulbs it does have those but also two side bulbs rather like side lights, these are called LED area lights by the twelve page well illustrated manual.

There is a three setting slider, 00 for the LED lights, 1 for one halogen bulb and 2 for both. There is also trigger mechanism for when you just need a short burst of light.

The front of the unit has a 12volt DC output so in an emergency it could even give a life saving start for a near flat car battery. In use this is a serious light.
72.00 $ on amuzon good light!
 
I ended up finding a new Lightforce 170 online for $89, then I bought 2 batteries for it at $13 apiece, add an order to Boondocks Outdoors for a Silent Halo Shield plus red lighting gels that I have from work and I think I'm in good shape for a scan light. If I find the need I'll pick up one of the gun mounted lights as a kill light, but the Lightforce should be plenty to get me hunting at night.
 
Originally Posted By: Travis PI ended up finding a new Lightforce 170 online for $89, then I bought 2 batteries for it at $13 apiece, add an order to Boondocks Outdoors for a Silent Halo Shield plus red lighting gels that I have from work and I think I'm in good shape for a scan light. If I find the need I'll pick up one of the gun mounted lights as a kill light, but the Lightforce should be plenty to get me hunting at night.

sound like you got a pretty good deal for a lightforce.
now you will probly hate carring all that around,lol
i did and went with a killight predator pack,and nighteyes scanning light

eighter way good luck and put some fur down
 
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