Why blue flashlight beams?

fulloflead

fulloflead

Joined
May 3, 2002
Messages
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I'm looking at Inova X5s with blue beams. The red ones always say something about not ruining your night vision in the descriptions but the blue ones say nothing...

...which makes me think the blue beams must be for something else. What?
 
I have an X5 in blue, and a Photon III in blue. I like them because they give off the same relative "brightness" as white ones, but the batteries tend to last longer. What I mean is, you can't distinguish colors as well with blue leds, but you can still see just as well as a white one. Overall I still prefer white leds, but I carry the photon in blue over the ones I have in white.
 
Blue is an advantage for hunters. Its easier to track blood with the blue light.
 
The eyes are more sensitive to light in the blue range so you'll preceive it as brighter than another color even though the output is the same.

Blue makes drops of liquids (like blood) stand out against a plain background. Drops on the leaves on the forest floor look like little black pearls, making it easier to find them. The disadvantage is that water and blood appear identical. If you are following a blood trail after a rain or anywhere it is damp you might as well stick with white light.
 
Originally posted by BOK
Blue is an advantage for hunters. Its easier to track blood with the blue light.
Click to expand...

A ha! That makes sense. I won't be doing any of that.
 
If I´m not totally off here, the blu light is also better for reading maps. The height curves can be seen with blue but not with red.

/Colinz
 
The Rod cells (the night vision cells of the retina that give greyscale information) work best with blue light.

Also in general the retina is most sensitive to blue light.

Night adapted vision is best preserved by red light as it is the lowest wavelengths and least energy.
Too much incoming light energy will "turn off" night vision and constrict the pupils.

http://www.astro.virginia.edu/class/majewski/astr313/lectures/humaneye/humaneye.html
 
I read a long time ago that blue is the most noticeable color. Even in the city blue is pretty noticeable, and very noticeable in the field. One of my thoughts, which I'd never really acted on but enjoy mumbling about anyway, is that aside from the fact that blue LEDs are brighter than white ones, blue is better to BE SEEN. I use a light to cross the street with my kids at night, but I'd been thinking that blue would still let us see but also help us be seen.
 
White light consist of:

59% green
30% red
11% blue

Blue is the least however with a blue light it may be that the light is not noticed as much as what it is illuminating. Not sure, just speculation.

Anyone know for sure???

Craig
 
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