Spotlights - what do you use?

[bigfellascott]

I've got 3 to choose from a 170mm Power Beam Halogen, 240mm Lightforce Blitz Halogen and a Max Lume 240mm HID

I like the light output of the HID but find the animals are less inclined to look at it as much as the others (I assume cos of the brightness of it) I found the bunnies would run and keep running with it on them most of the time, I also noticed the spill from the light was greatly reduced compared to the Halogens, the been seemed narrower too.

Whilst its a good light and I enjoy using it I'm yet to be convinced its the best option out of all 3 I have, What I might try next time out is running a HID and a Halogen and see how they react.

Anyway what are you using and how do you find it? have you tried both Halogen and HID - if so what are your findings with using both?

[deye243]

170mm Power Beam Halogen

[Chronos]

240 blitz here too, fitted it to a hinge mount then onto a rail that fits to my roof racks. I can fit it over any door on my dual can so either the drivmver can spot for two shooters on the passenger side or they can run it between them while the other shoots.

Next vehicle I'll go for a roof mount with a folding power beam handle I think.

Chronos

[tom604]

a $50 buck cheapy that i put a bigger globe/fuse combo in, goes out to around 100 mtrs , more than enough for bunnys and i just move closer if the foxes wont come to the whistle, i really should get a better one but it gets the job done and most of the time i only have the 22 with me

[bigfellascott]

Sounds like the perfect light for rabbits mate, I can tell ya they don't like the HID's much, every time I put the HID on em they would run like hell and never stopped until they were in their burrows!

[FuzzyM]

Ryobi HID work/spotlight.
Or a LED Lenser P14.

[brett1868]

240 blitz and a Night Prowler 10" HID Spotlight (75w) but prefer the blitz as it's lighter, we don't have either of them mounted. The HID is very bright but takes a little time to achieve its full brightness and gets very heavy after 10 mins. Occasionally I like to turn the light off whilst spotting game then turn it back on as some animals will stop to see where the lights coming from before copping a projectile between the eyes

[bigfellascott]

240 blitz and a Night Prowler 10" HID Spotlight (75w) but prefer the blitz as it's lighter, we don't have either of them mounted. The HID is very bright but takes a little time to achieve its full brightness and gets very heavy after 10 mins. Occasionally I like to turn the light off whilst spotting game then turn it back on as some animals will stop to see where the lights coming from before copping a projectile between the eyes

You'll have to get yourself a mount for the lights mate I find the HID's a bit bright too, I'm hoping a filter will help them be a bit more user friendly (nothing wanted to stand still the other night when using mine, which is a shame as I like using the light but not much good if nothing's keen on standing still for ya!

[brett1868]

After tonight's near miss I'm thinking I don't need a spotlight. Just drove one of the wife's girlfriends home cause she had a few wines with dinner and didn't want to drive. She only lives 10 mins away so I dropped her off, driving back home I see what looks like a big cat but it was a fox so I unleashed all 8 cylinders of the retarded V8 and just missed the bastard by a few inches much to my disappointment. I'm not out in the bush, far from it and the number of dead foxes I see on the roads is astounding but this is the first live one I've seen. My son saw one at school early one morning a few months ago so the buggers are moving into the cities at a surprising rate.
Not sure how that government fella would feel about me doing a little fox shooting in built up areas with the half inch...

[bigfellascott]

shame ya didn't hit the bugger, from what I hear they are quite common around cemeteries. I've had em in my yard at times going by the scats I find.

[on_one_wheel]

240 blitz with modified heavy wiring, lightforce swivel and folding base. Very ergonomical, good beam out to 400 mtrs or so then it quickly drops off and I can only make out the eyes from 500 mtrs through the scope ( not that I'd bother trying to hunt at that distance ) The heavy duty wires gave it a little extra punch now that the globe gets the full 13.8 v

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I'm considering a hid modification for it but I'm expecting the modification to affect the beam pattern because tthe hot spot on the hid globe is in a different position, with some playing around I might be able to get it to work.

[NuZo]

Ryobi HID work/spotlight.
Or a LED Lenser P14.

Hey Mate,

Can you give me a review of the Ryobi xenon for hunting?

I've been considering it cause i have ryobi tools but the $70 price tag has been off putting cause i don't know if it will do the job.

How's the spot beam on it?
How far would it actually go?
Run time?
Weight?

Anything else you think is important.

Cheers mate!

Nuzo

[bigfellascott]

240 blitz with modified heavy wiring, lightforce swivel and folding base. Very ergonomical, good beam out to 400 mtrs or so then it quickly drops off and I can only make out the eyes from 500 mtrs through the scope ( not that I'd bother trying to hunt at that distance ) The heavy duty wires gave it a little extra punch now that the globe gets the full 13.8 v

file.jpeg

I'm considering a hid modification for it but I'm expecting the modification to affect the beam pattern because tthe hot spot on the hid globe is in a different position, with some playing around I might be able to get it to work.

I honestly wouldn't bother with the HID upgrade, I find nothing really wants to stand still or look at the light for long (I've got a HID and Halogen) and whilst I like the HID light, sadly the animals don't from my experience with using both, the Halogen seems to keep em looking for longer and more willing to stand still too.

If you do want to go HID have a look on Ebay they have heaps there and they look identical to the better known brands (as to whether they are as good or not I couldn't say).

This one comes with a 5yr Warranty so not a huge risk for $89

http://www.ebay.com.au/bhp/hid-handheld-spotlight

[Strikey]

I see no one has commented on LED lights, I am looking to buy a spotlight so have found this thread interesting. I have played around with LED torches of various output just for shooting rabbits but they will not sit in the light so maybe the good old halogen spotlights may be the way to go? The Powa Beams of many years ago did a fine job when fox skins were worth a few bucks.

[on_one_wheel]

Cheers Bigfellascott, I'll take your word for it.

I already have some hid kits and alloy sockets for lightforce, I might just convert some driving lights with them instead.

[bigfellascott]

Cheers Bigfellascott, I'll take your word for it.

I already have some hid kits and alloy sockets for lightforce, I might just convert some driving lights with them instead.

Sorry mate I didn't want to put you off doing it as such, maybe convert the Driving lights to HID but I would definitely keep the Blitz as a Halogen and as I said maybe look at buying a cheapy HID and see what you reckon, all I can say is plenty of others have found the same/similar results to me re animals not wanting to stop and look or stay still for very long.

Every rabbit bar none as soon as the light hit em they took off like a scalded cat (maybe they were getting cooked by the light) roos well they refused to look at the light and would generally turn away from it and hop off, foxes well they tended to do the same too (maybe its that time of year for them) but even using the HID about 3 or 4mths ago they did pretty much the same thing (the'd look then look away and tended to want to find shelter type thing)

It's a bloody shame as I really like the HID light, I'm going to test a few diff filter colours to see if they make it more useable on em (I hope they work) only one way to find out I guess hey.

The other thing I was thinking of trying and not sure if its worth all the hassles was to run both HID and Halogen, use the HID to find em then switch over to the Halogen (probably more dicking around than its worth but it's another option I guess.

[FuzzyM]

Ryobi HID work/spotlight.
Or a LED Lenser P14.

Hey Mate,

Can you give me a review of the Ryobi xenon for hunting?

I've been considering it cause i have ryobi tools but the $70 price tag has been off putting cause i don't know if it will do the job.

How's the spot beam on it?
How far would it actually go?
Run time?
Weight?

Anything else you think is important.

Cheers mate!

Nuzo

Pretty good for the price, the light is a little blue/green.
Have only used it for spotlight hunting once and it worked ok.
Being a worklight, it has an intense point which spotlights pretty well, works ok out to 150-200m.
Also has a fair bit of spill to light up the immediate area. (good and bad)

Takes about 5 seconds to properly warm up, I just turn it on and hold it into my jacket to warm up the ballast. ( don't do that for too long!)

It sucks a bit of juice, but I usually use it on the 4A batteries so no drama there.

[bigfellascott]

Fen of AHN fame uses LED Torches to good affect (walkabout outfit) he uses different coloured lenses from memory (Red/Green) - I think the problem with all these LED and HID setups is the glare you get from them (go for a walk in the paddock and get someone to shine the light on you and you'll see its real hard on your eyes and unpleasant to look at for too long, I reckon the ferals see it that way too - hopefully filters will help this situation out.

[Wes]

Red is supposed to be the solution for that they say.

[bigfellascott]

Red is supposed to be the solution for that they say.

Yeah so they reckon hey, I'll give one a go and hopefully that will make them more willing to stay put and look!

[NuZo]

I use a wolf eyes Night Hunter 2 mounted on my rifle. works well out to 100-150m but recently the LED had burnt out so I'm in the market for a new setup.

It sucks when good gear breaks, you don't know whether to buy it again or try something different.

Cheers,

Nuzo

[Rakk]

Nothing's perfect of course, even a good one will go occasionally.

It can be hard not to get put off by it though

[FuzzyM]

I use a wolf eyes Night Hunter 2 mounted on my rifle. works well out to 100-150m but recently the LED had burnt out so I'm in the market for a new setup.

It sucks when good gear breaks, you don't know whether to buy it again or try something different.

Cheers,

Nuzo

Warranty?

[summit1966]

Buffalo river 100w 170mm $50 on special.

[KWhorenet]

The latest one I now use as a hand held spot light. Another Vinh Nguyen (CPF V54) light.

EAGTAC M25C2vn
Driver VN (custom programmable) boosted to ~ 4.5 - 5A
LED: XML2 U3 CW (cool white) Dedomed
Extra impact resistance (recoil and drops)
Driver Heatsink - Epoxy and padded key areas in light engine
+ $20 for OS

runs on one 18650 cell

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Got some video calling this one in to my back yard tonight.

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Will suss out a movie editor programme I can use simply to chop a small clip out. The Madonna whistle in action. Teeth n tongue tsst tssst tss tss tss just like that. Get it?

[NuZo]

I use a wolf eyes Night Hunter 2 mounted on my rifle. works well out to 100-150m but recently the LED had burnt out so I'm in the market for a new setup.

It sucks when good gear breaks, you don't know whether to buy it again or try something different.

Cheers,

Nuzo

Warranty?

They only cover the electronics for 1 year and a replacement top(basically a whole new head+body minus the tail switch) was $75+pp. It's cheaper than buying a new NightHunter2 but i wouldn't mind trying something else a bit cheaper and seeing if it stacks up. I've seen some great cheap LED torches i just never have them handy when outside to check the beam distance.

I have purchased a cheap 5w LED Rechargeable spotlight from Rays Outdoors, we'll see how it holds up.

Cheers,

Nuzo

[North East]

Unfortunately we can't use anything resembling a spotlight around my place....deer....only legal on private property.

[bigfellascott]

I use a wolf eyes Night Hunter 2 mounted on my rifle. works well out to 100-150m but recently the LED had burnt out so I'm in the market for a new setup.

It sucks when good gear breaks, you don't know whether to buy it again or try something different.

Cheers,

Nuzo

Warranty?

They only cover the electronics for 1 year and a replacement top(basically a whole new head+body minus the tail switch) was $75+pp. It's cheaper than buying a new NightHunter2 but i wouldn't mind trying something else a bit cheaper and seeing if it stacks up. I've seen some great cheap LED torches i just never have them handy when outside to check the beam distance.

I have purchased a cheap 5w LED Rechargeable spotlight from Rays Outdoors, we'll see how it holds up.

Cheers,

Nuzo

Nuzo get onto Fen on AHN, he's got a very good understanding of LED torches etc, he should be able to give you the heads up on what a good LED torch is, he had a few made to his specs a while back which were popular with the boys over there

[wayward]

Unfortunately we can't use anything resembling a spotlight around my place....deer....only legal on private property.

Even a little torch for finding your way back and the end of the day in the dark is out hey

[KWhorenet]

Unfortunately we can't use anything resembling a spotlight around my place....deer....only legal on private property.

Even a little torch for finding your way back and the end of the day in the dark is out hey

Of course you can have lights to help you navigate. No loaded firearm with lights in known deer habitat after sun down - sun up (specifics timings are in the GMA website for Vic).

I'm allowed to spotlight vermin surrounding my boundary on crown land out to a specified distance, being the bordering land owner. Not just anyone. Have to be the land owner next to it.