I want a photon III, which is the "best" color?

Originally posted by Mundele
This may be a stupid question, but I guess the UV one is visible to the human eye? I thought it was for use with nightvision goggles and stuff. Is this the same type of light emitted from "blacklight" bulbs?

--Matt
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The UV is for night vision gear. You can't see it, but it will damage your vision just the same.
 
i like the red to avoid night blindnest. the green and red have the longest wavelenth so the for signaling they have the farthest beam. if i remenber the stats correctly.
 
UltraViolet for providing illumination for those using Night Vision Devices?!

I must be going mad, but isn't IR (InfraRed) what they use? And there is just a little bit of difference between IR and UV (Like the whole visible light spectrum!)

You get IR Illuminators for your NVGs and SureFire have IR Filters for their lights, and the M1 IR LED.

UltraViolet & BlackLight light is what makes dayglow colours and white really bright in lowlight environments. Used in clubs etc. Used to check money and IDs such as Driving Licence and Passports etc.
I thought the difference between UV and BlackLight is that BlackLight is just UV-A that you can't see. That's why BlackLights are so dangerous because you often are drawn to stare at them thinking they're not too bright (in the visible spectrum). After a while your eyes start to itch - that's a bad thing.


UV for use with nightvision... [please correct me if I'm wrong, but]
That's rubbish!
IR for nightvision.

Back on topic though, I have a number of PhotonIIs - the Turq is the one I use most.

Al
 
I am definitely a Photon Micro Light fan and own several.

I have a regular Photon I white
A Photon I Covert White
A Photon I Convert Red
A Photon II White
A Photon III White

I plan on getting a Photon III White Covert

I prefer the white lights for most applications. To preserve night vision I use red. I am not into the other colors and find no advantage in them. For alternates to red I would suggest the green or tourquoise as there are some studies that show that a green or bluish green light is good to preserve night vision as well.


Originally posted by shootist16
Which is the best color to get. Preferably one that is bright and lasts for quite awhile.
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Hi,

Put 2 CR2016 batteries in a RED Photon II or III and really make it bright.
This was first suggested to me by Walt Welch and I must say it makes the Red LED really throw a bright beam.

Best Scouting wishes from Holland,

Bagheera
 
I just replaced the blue Photon II on one of my keyrings with a white one. I got the blue because it was bright and wouldn't screw up my nightvision but I found that I when I need a light, I just prefer white. On my other keyring I have an Arc LED light. It's more expensive ($20-25)but it seems to be brighter than the Photons and gets 5 hours of runtime from a AAA battery. I've only had it for 2 weeks and only needed it once but I'm very happy with it. One thing about the Arcs: the knurling scratches keys and SAKs.
 
I would caution you to avoid getting the red, orange or yellow colors in the photon 3. Those relatively dim colors are rendered almost useless by the dimming funtions on the P3 -- go with the green, white, turquoise or blue in the P3.

As for longevity, I remember reading on the net that the P3 battery life is extended anywhere from 50-100x if it is kept on continuosly in the dimmest mode.

I use a yellow P2 for 'close-up' work (eg reading maps in the car) and a turquoise P3 for 'outside' duties (walking in darkened areas, signalling etc.)
 
Hi Barber,

Just lift the lid of the Red Photon 3 remove the CR2032 battery and replace it by 2 CR2016's you've then gotten yourself a turbo red raygun ;) that produces an very bright red beam at full power but even at half or one qaurter power it is still brighter then with just the one CR 2032.

You then have a very usable Red Photon 3 with a very strong beam and still a lot of red light at power saving modes.

Best Scouting wishes from Holland,

Bagheera
 
Thanks Bagheera, I'll try the two 2016's as soon as I can get my hands on a red P3.

Do you or anyone else know if replacing the batteries in this manner causes any type of damage to the light itself?

Also, what are the burn times for the batteries when you use 2016's in the red light; are they comparable to the white, blue and turquoise or something in between?
 
Thanks Bagheera, I'll try the two 2016's as soon as I can get my hands on a red P3.

Do you or anyone else know if replacing the batteries in this manner causes any type of damage to the light itself?

Also, what are the burn times for the batteries when you use 2016's in the red light; are they comparable to the white, blue and turquoise or something in between?
 
Hey, Bagheera! How is my Dutch friend??

You shouldn't put two 2016 batteries in the 3V Photons (red, yellow, orange). When I was doing that, and talked to you about it, it seemed like a good idea. The problem is that the maker of the LEDs for those colors is not the same as for the other colors, and the LED burn time will be drastically shortened. Bryan Avery addressed this issue some time ago on the Photon Discussion Board. http://www.photonlight.com/forums/photon/

You guys who have been 'preserving your night vision' by using a red Photon have been deluding yourself. It turns out that the retina is most sensitive to light at about 510 nm. under scotopic (very low light) conditions. This wavelength is almost exactly that of the Photon Turquoise (500 nm.).

This is why the turquoise Photon appears so bright. This color would work best to preserve night vision, but would have to be so dim that no color is visible, only shades of gray. This is the condition when only your rods are working in your retina. Here is a discussion of night vision and the response of the retina to different wavelengths:
http://www.corvus.com/kniffen.htm

Hope this helps. Walt
 
Hi Walt,

I've send you emails in the past year but never heard anything back, I didn't see you on the forums that much anymore.
Nice to know that you're still online.

Walt, I still have the red Photon II Turbo (2 CR2016 batteries) that you send to me about 2 years ago and it's already gone through 2 sets of batteries and is still as bright as it was when I got it.

The normal life of a LED is ?, I think about 100000 hours perhaps 50000 to be on the shure side, even if the 6V conversion of the RED Led will shorten it's life by a factor 100 I still will have 500 to 1000 hours of burntime which will be more then I'll ever use in my lifetime.

I couldn't find the post where Brian addresses the shortened life expectancy when using 2 CR2016's, could you post it?

Walt, the biggest worry is the varying quality off the Photon III's.

I got in a trade 8 Photon III's and of them one white and one red (no not the "converted one" are not cycling through the 7 modes anymore. They did first then started to lose control.

I didn't try the other 5 white Photon III's which were supposed to be a present for the Scout/Cub and Explorer leaders.
I can't give them the Photon III's or I'll have to tell them if these "mode" problems start that they have to take the batteries out for some time, replace them again and hope for the best.
And after a day or so do the same thing again and again and a......
, just like I'm now doing. The question remains how long will the tiny tab on the closing lid last.

The concept of the Photon III is still very nice but the excecution of it seems to be rather spotty.

Walt, drop me an email, how's the Porche doing? my son and daughter still talk about that drive to and from the restaurant ;).

Best Scouting wishes from Holland,

Bagheera
 
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