Photon Lights

Well, I must confess that I have never stomped on or dropped a Photon or any other light. So, I will take you guys' word for what happens.

I do have some pertinent information about Photons and ASP's, however, having gone through about 300 or 400 Photons in the past year, and four ASP's.

First of all, Photons will leak water. The problem is usually that the batteries start to corrode. This happened to the Photon my friend's golden retriever wears on his collar, when he went swimming.

This is a treatable condition (although I will welcome the waterproof Photon version due out next year). Get some silicon grease with Teflon (available at pool / spa places), and smear it on the batteries and leads (wires) of the LED. This will make the Photon handle water with more aplomb, although eventual premature replacement of the battery will probably be necessary. Tuf-Cloth works also, but not as well as the grease.

I cannot comment on water resistance of ASP's.

There is a big problem with the ASP or any other turquoise / blue light, however. It is called chromatic aberration. This simply means that your eye focuses blue light in front of the retina. This blurs the image.
This is not a problem for close up work, such as map reading, as your eyes can compensate.

However, you will not be able to see detail beyond 5 or 6 feet with any blue or turquoise or Photon's 'white' light (which is supposed to be full spectrum, but is heavily weighted towards the blue end of the spectrum). You will NOT be able to read letters (type), or see details of objects. Things will be REALLY blurred. This could present obvious complications.

While a red or orange light doesn't appear as bright as most blue or turquoise or white lights, the red illumination provides much better definition and resolution of detail, thus eliminating the 'advantage' of the shorter wavelength (bluish) lights.

Short wavelength lights are best for marking things. Blue light is unusual at night, so it really stands out. I suspect that under the wrong conditions, it would be a bullet magnet.

Best colors are: red / orange / yellow. You can see best with these.

Green is good also. Long enough wavelength to minimize chromatic aberration. Is the wavelength to which the retina is most sensitive under mesopic (low light) and scotopic (REALLY low light) conditions, and thus will appear brighter than other wavelengths. Also longest lasting (about 7 days and nights). Leads gold plated also.

Want to preserve your night vision? Forget it with any of these lights. All colors are much too bright to preserve your night vision. If you look at a light, and you are dazzled ('spots' in front of your eyes, especially with eyes open), your night vision just went bye-bye, as the spots are bleached rhodopsin (visual purple). Your body will of course regenerate the rhodopsin, but just hope you don't have to lign up sights on something nasty until your body has a chance to do so. It can take 10 to 15 min. for regeneration.

I hope this helps. Comments, questions or criticisms, as always, welcomed. Walt
 
Tim,

Most of the time I say one thing when I mean another. I meant I was interested in your test of the ASP since they have expanded their choices to two colors.

Walt,

That was very informing, I've changed my color choice from turquoise to orange. I'll have to mail order, REI can't seem to keep any color choice in stock. They seem popular with the 'non-weapon' outdoor types also.
 
Walt,
Excellent information as always. You and Frank Norman, (of Little River Trading And Knife Co. and an outstanding source for Protons), were the first ones to agree with me that the white Proton II's are as BLUE as they are white.

Walt also supplied me with Xenon bulbs to "Carleyize", (as Sid Post stated), my Mag- Lites and it made a world of difference. Thanks Walt.
 
Walt,

Don't you mean siliconE? Photons don't need any computer chips
biggrin.gif
All kidding aside, I believe dielectric grease available from Radio Shack could waterproof without shorting the batteries.

[This message has been edited by David Williams (edited 03 July 1999).]
 
Just a couple of quick points of reference for Photon color selection. Walt's comments were right on about color selection but, you need to keep in mind what your intended use is.

Pilots typically favor the green Photons. They can turn these things on, put them in their lips and still have both hands free to fly the airplane, fill out log books, etc. They could do this with any of the Photons since the distances they use them are confined. The thing is, according to them, they don't flood the cockpit with light, blinding (with back light, not shining it in their eyes directly) other people while providing the right amount of light to see what they need to see. They also like the long run times which is a side issue. At arms length, most people can see what they need to see with adequate definition with any color Photon.

I personally find the turqoise light is the one I use most. It puts out a lot of light in a good wide pattern. I find the Photons that spread the light more are the ones I favor because I generally use them for area light, not pin-point spot light. I can shine this light in the bed of my pickup or backyard and find things I either want to find (spare tires, jack, lug wrench at the side of the road) or avoid things I want to avoid (Its amazing what you can hide in grass about 6 inches high at night). I find this combination of high output and good spread to be a very handy combination for non-specific general use. On the other hand, I haven't sold one Turqoise to a pilot yet, but their wives seem to prefer them.

In the end, proper color selection depends on your intended use. They make the different colors for a reason, a real functional reason, not because of hype'd up marketing or because someone wants to make a fashion statement or something with the color of Photon they carry. Consider what you want, total light output, area of coverage, distances of normal use, need for precise detail and, run times between battery swaps.

Sid
 
You folks probably already know this or
don't care but these little LED lights are
easy to make for under $5.00 from parts available from Radio Shack.I have converted
several old mini-flashlights useing superbright LED's and have been pleased with
the results.Lots of light and lasts a very
long time.The little photon thingys are real easy because button batteries are sold in
a variety of voltages making it eaiser to match with LED's without having to add extra
components.
 
Went to a Dodger baseball game last night (they Lost as usual) and the car ran out of water on the way out of the lot. We pulled in a side street and flaged some people down for water and they were nice enough to help .. but it was dark as heck out there and my tiny PHOTON red unit was on me and it saved the day ... boy o boy when you need it, it's there.

I'll be getting a couple or orange ones for my carry pack and I'll switch the red with orange for a little more exta light in an emergency, although the red unit worked great in a close environnment(under the hood).

These little light are sensational..they are SMALL, BRIGHT and because of that, the most important thing ...ALWAYS ON YOU ....


wll

[This message has been edited by wll (edited 04 July 1999).]
 
David; the grease I suggested IS a dielectric. Good tip on Radio Shack. I looked all over the USA for this stuff. Finally wandered into a spa store for some spa chemicals, and there was a huge rack of silicone (right?) grease, with and without Teflon (r).

Also, the grease lubes the switch as an added bonus.

Happy greasing. Walt
 
I just found these the other night and will be calling about them come Tuesday morning. Pity about the AAAA batteries, however. I expect I'll be getting some in- I'm such a gadget wh0re ;-) Will report if/when they arrive.

------------------
--
Regards,
Tim
Nor'east Knives

There are two rules for ultimate success in life.
Never tell everything you know.
 
Guys,

I'm not at the cutting edge of flashlight technology so please bear with me. Where can I find this Carley Lamps? I went to their website, but I'm still confused. How do I improve (convert?) my Mag Lites?

Reynaert
 
For those considering the orange photons - I find them great. You still have the same problems with determining color as with a red light, but they provide enough light to light up a room, and be able to see detail relatively well.

Walt - thanks for the more scientific explanation for what's going on.

BTW, Walt is right about the white photon being heavily toward the blue side. You can see a ring of blue/purple on the outside of the outermost bright circle. And definitely don't look at the light itself if you hope to have any night vision - these things can easily leave spots even in daytime.

I'm really not sure about the green photons - I haven't seen them. But I have heard that they're slightly dimmer with a wider beam than the other long-lasting varieties like the orange. This might be part of the reason for pilots liking them. On the other hand, considering that your eye is so sensitive to this light, they may have had to keep the intensity low.


------------------
JP Bullivant
 
Frantium; if you just want a couple of Xenon lamps, e-mail me, and give me your snail mail addy, and number of cells of Mag-Lite. No charge. Walt
 
Mr. Flanagan,
I'll drop you an email about the Streamlight Stylus. I'm interested in that little toy also.
smile.gif


JP,
I have a green Photon, and it isn't as bright as the others, but the 7 day burn time makes up for it. I've been very happy with it, and it has come in handy a few times.


Blades

[This message has been edited by Blades (edited 04 July 1999).]
 
The nice thing about those photons is that they're inexpensive enough that you can buy a few, see which works best for you, and give the rest away.

For myself, my typical uses included trying to flood a dark room or hallway with as much light as possible, or lighting up a dark area such as under a computer room raised floor, inside the computer cabinet, under the bed, behind the wash machine, under the car seat, etc.

In all those cases, what I needed was just to flood the area with as much light as possible. I never found myself needing to identify details especially from a distance, which would have favored the red end of the spectrum. I never found myself needing to see in actual color, which would have favored the "white" light. I did want as bright a light as possible, and when in doubt I tip the scales towards whiter light.

Of the ones I tried at the table, I got rid of orange, blue, and yellow. I brought home red, green, turquoise, and white. Turqoise was the easy winner for me, it's brighter than the rest. The white is latched to my briefcase, just in case. The green, my second fave due to battery life and relative brightness, is on my wife's keychain. The red sits on my shelf.

Anyway, pick up a few, you might be surprised which you end up finding most useful. Previously I had thought that I simply had to have as accurate color as possible, and figured I'd end up liking the white the best.

Joe
 
I have heard of quadruple A's but have never seen one. They must be hard to come by. Tim, what's the price range on these batteries compared to the common triple or double A's?

I too am a gadget "freak". These look interesting. Thanks for the "heads up" Blades and let us know about these when you or Tim find out.
 
Got a red photon today. The only Photon IIs avaiable were white and blue. Went to another store and they were closed for an extended holiday.

I'm still not impressed but I'll reserve full judgement until I get a Photon II. Nice small size though.
 
Bought a couple of green 360-Extreme Krills a few months ago and they work great as a lantern or area-light. -Krumbs
 
Hey David, you wouldn't happen to be shopping at REI by chance? they only seem to stock the 2 battery versions of photonII

When trying out R,Y,O,& G with my g/f and her brother, they definitely preferred the yellow mainly because of the ability to see colors. I'd bet white would be their photon of choice, but I'm to cheap to give the 2 cells as gifts
smile.gif


I like orange and green

JE
 
Gene-
I've seen the prices range from $2.99 for one to $4 for 2- they're not widely available- at least not around here. I'll post something later today once I find out about the Stylus.
********
David-
The Photon2 does have a brighter bulb than the Photon1, as well as the on/off switch. You need to see them side-by-side to get the full picture.
------------------
--
Regards,
Tim
Nor'east Knives

There are two rules for ultimate success in life.
Never tell everything you know.

[This message has been edited by Tim Flanagan (edited 06 July 1999).]
 
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