AusVarmint

Just wondered how many of you guys have done this and your thoughts on pros and cons and whether you have used a red lense with the conversion ? ? ?

Lots of people and a few pro cullers over here have done it and gone back. HID is too intense for critters to look at it seems. Halogen was best for it. Also get a big grey roo with his back to you and its easy to miss in that colour light. Its not going to bag you any more foxes in a nights shooting.

HID with a voltage adjuster would be the go , yes they are too bright at times but they are good for finding stuff way out in the blackness! Halogen is gentler on the eyes but doesn't have the reach of HID , depends what you are seeking if that helps. Or not.

Only way is to try it I spose.
Had a mate say it was too much light for foxing so I decided that perhaps with a red lense it might work well on foxes.

As has already been said, I think they are too bright, Ive got HID driving lights and when Ive finished shooting for the night and flick them on to drive home any critters seem to get very figity in them, so could imagine how they would go in a spotlight. But then again, one of my roo shooter mates uses a small one for his roo shooting, and likes it. I find it pretty hard to see those roos with their back to you as well.

Hi Vermingone,
I've got a Lightforce Custombuilt 70w HID handheld, it is HELL BRIGHT, we used it last night on foxes and they didn't seem to be too flighty with it and we tried it both with and without the filter, but the property we were on hasn't been shot very much in the last few years, so that might be part of it, you can certainly see them for a loonnng way, we were using the 70w L/F and a 35 watt Powabeam, the L/F definitely had much greater reach but that is only to be expected with the power difference, and the L/F is heaps lighter which we all noticed over the hours of casting the light around the paddocks, unfortunately we didn't have a cable long enough to use the L/F all night and were using it off it's battery when foxes were sighted.

With regard to your question about filters, I've experimented with orange, red and green over the years on Halogen lights, so when I got the HID they were all there to be used, with the HID the red filter is still very usable, which is brilliant, you get a pretty good throw, the orange is very good too, and we seem to use that most times when we go out after foxes, it doesn't cut the light down too much so we see no reason not to use it.

One thing I do with Lightforce filters is to knock off 4 of the 6 "lugs" that hold them on the light, just leaving 2 opposite each other, and then mask the edge of the filter and paint it all in matt black paint to reduce the glare coming back at the operator, the HID really pushes out some light, and the glare coming off the back of the filter makes it uncomfortable to use for an extended period. Apparently you can buy things to wrap around the light to stop this, like leg wraps for horses, but I haven't done that.

Cheers.

tiger.

Thanks Tiger constructive is what I was chasing.
I'll post my own thoughts after using it next week.
From what you described it's sounding perfect.

G'day Vermingone,

I have converted my Lightforce 170 over to 35w HID and absolutely love it. Takes a bit to get used to and, as has been mentioned, a grey animal facing the wrong way is sometimes missed. I haven't found the animals any more flighty under HID than the halogen really. Still able to get foxes to come right into the whistle - same as before. Stubble paddocks seem to "soak up" the light a bit more than the halogen possibly, but overall I wouldn't go back. It really is brilliant for long range shots with good optics at night, something that I found very hard under the halogen.

My dad has converted his 240 over to 55w HID and it is VERY bright. Best thing about it is that it has a wider field of view when compared to my 170, bit more reach too.

No experience with filters sorry!

We got 6000K globes (slightly blue), it may be worth getting a slightly whiter colour if you were to go down that path.

All the best,

CZ550

Hey Virmongone, forgot to mention that my bulb is a 4200K colour temperature, apparently close to daylight, and noticeably better than the one that I originally did years ago for contrast.

Cheers.

Dave.

Well I gave it a run last night but I'm still undecided.
It seemed that the foxes were cautious but I'm not sure if that was just the HID but I smashed a fox with the powabeam door mount.
Another test is necessary I believe.