GREEN Streamlight??

Bruce in MD

Bruce in MD

Joined
Apr 14, 2002
Messages
13
Streamlight is advertising a green LED light that they claim doesn't spook game - helps you get in and out of your tree stand in the dark, etc. I'm ignorant about a lot of stuff, in this case it's game eyesight in the green part of the visible spectrum that I don't know about - this is the first I've heard of this.
Can any of you advise if this is true? If so, is it true of big game only, or does it extend to my birds, too (thinking of getting to my duck blind in the dark)?
Thanks,
Bruce
 
Originally posted by Bruce in MD
Streamlight is advertising a green LED light that they claim doesn't spook game -
Click to expand...
They certainly can see green, but because they have only two kinds of colour receptors they don't see it like we do.

About dogs, but deer are probably similar:
http://www.katiesbumpers.com/K9colorvision.htm
Goes into detail how you determine colour vision in animals.

About horses (with illustrations), but again, deer are probably similiar:
http://www.journalofvision.org/1/2/2/article.pdf
Quite informative.

"How Whitetail Deer view their world!":
http://home.adelphia.net/~geffert/deervis.htm
Interesting, but doesn't address the issue of non-spooking light.

Conclusion: They may not be able to tell green light from some other colours, so why green is supposed to be the most non-spooking colour I can't understand. Perhaps it's one of the suitable colours, as in better than blue or UV. But it remains to be explained why they either are bothered by light at all, nor why they aren't by some colours.
 
When I went to the internal reference lists there was a lot of detailed information supporting this discussion. A key quote is:
"The three classes of cone photoreceptors in humans are each sensitive to a different region of the visible spectrum. Together these confer sensitivity to a wide band of wavelengths. The three classes of human cone photoreceptors can be termed red, green and blue cones. One of the two cone photoreceptors detected in deer is similar to the human blue cones; the other is similar to human green cones. Thus, compared to humans, deer effectively lack red cone photoreceptors. This suggests that deer should be relatively less sensitive to long-wavelength light (orange and especially red) than humans."
It appears that this fails to support the claims of the Streamlight folks, and that we should stay with RED as our light source for working in the dark.
Maybe they will chime in here with their research...
 
Apparently the military like ligths over 675 nm (red) because it preserves night vision in humans, I once found some ducuments explaining it on the net.

TLM
 
If you are talking about the Streamlight Clip*something* with 3 LEDs and 3 AAA batteries, I saw one yesterday and it was BRIGHT!! I don't see how they could help but be spooked....it sure spooked me!!
 
I don't know whether or not green will spook game because I've read a couple of different accounts on what deer do and don't see. However, I do know that if you use it to get through the woods at night, it doesn't ruin your night vision if you have to turn it off. I use red for the same reason.
 
We in the military are turning to blue-green light filters because of their compatibility with NVGs (most of our enemies/not quite friends are able to obtain Gen I or IIs). Specifically, red light does not shine as bright in the visible spectrum, but it is unbelievably bright in the IR and near IR spectrum. Blue-green lights work opposite of this.

Someone with a little more knowledge on animals can probably add to the other side of this, but I believe some animals can see in the IR or near IR spectrum (just like ANVS 4/6/7 NVGs do). If this is the case, red/white lights show up like a lighthouse beacon to them, while the green is much more subdued.

Someone touched on this already, but just because it has a green lense, doesn't mean it's compatible...I have a green CMG task light that is too bright to use in our UH-60 cockpit. Other pilot can see the reflection in the windscreen while under goggles--expect this sensitivity would also be experienced by animals that can see near IR.

for what it's worth (not much:D,
Glenmore
 
Some LEDs have a fairly narrow spectrum so the effect on NVGs would be a lot less than filtered incandecent. I also seem to recollect that some animals see farther into IR than humans. The other problem with red is that green foliage absorbs it readily so when little reflects back you see little.

The argument for greens and blue greens is that humans eys are most sensitive there, some difference between rods and cones though. Also they reflect back from green well so their effective power is better.

My own experience is that green seems to be much more effective outdoors and red is relatively better indoors.

As to what spooks deer I still think noice to be more important than low level light, with greens you get by with lowest intensities. To be certain you either test it or ask the game for their preference ;>)

TLM
 
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