Best torches for hunting

[Chriswillis696]

Guys looking at buying a new torche for shooting some rabbits and the odd fox. Whats the best one out their? EDI-T, led lenser? Most lumens give me some ideas.
Cheers

[Seagull]

great question mate... I would like to know as well

[fenring]

You should ideally match your light to your gun. A 200 metre thrower can be counterproductive on a .22 used to shoot bunnies - they can refuse to sit in the intense spot.

More lumens do not mean more throw. Throw comes down to beam intensity (measured in lux).

And then budget comes into it.

I like Solarforce lights for their value, performance and variety and have different ones depending on useage.

[MISSED]

I have tried a couple of Wolfeyes an original Sniper,defender,sealion ,sniper 11 ,defender11 and a Nighthunter as well as the old school Eveready Big Jim.
My l current go to torch is a Trustfire 1200

[BP72]

Sorry to cut in on your topic, but I'd be interested in people's thoughts on a long range thrower to put on a 22-250 for 150-300 m . Currently running a edit p15 good to 100 m only in my opinion

[fenring]

Solar force Pro-1 or Derelight Night Master.

Night Master has no spill and can also be converted to red or green emitters. Pro-1 will not throw quite as far but has a good spill.

[bimbo]

as others have said it depends abit on how far you plan on shooting. I have just bought a WF800 recoil from deal extreme and it is awesome on the 22lr. good light out to 100m or so but definatly runs out of punch past 130-150ish unless you have a good scope (picks up eyes way out furthur but can't see the animal clearly). Cost me about 15 bucks and then anoither 20 odd in batteries and charger and mount.
Had it out spotlighting off the back of a ute one night over the long weekend and shot 30 or so bunnies. We where using a big powerbeam spotty as well bit it ment that I could be shooting off to the side as well while the other shooter had one lined up in the other spotty - or just at the edges of the spotlight if you get what I mean.
Worked well only problem I had was getting used to the fact that even when not looking through the scope where the light was pointing there was also a barrel pointing, so when the driver jumped out to go and pick up bunnies you couldn't keep the torch on them and had to use another light

[BP72]

Hey fenring had a look at the derelight which pill would you recommend the 2mt-s or the 2mt-m ? I'll get an extension tube anyway so an extra battery won't be an issue

[fenring]

2mt-m is for multiple batteries. Avoid stupid strobe and flashy modes.

[The Raven]

Out of interest, what do people think of dimmers on torches?

I use LED Lenser torches (various models) and some have either a variable dimmer or a high/low setting. I've found that some other torches (without variable brightness) can often be too bright to use on animals as it scares them off (they will avoid the beam long before it's on them).

For me, who hasn't any real spot lighting experience, I find that being able to control the beam strength would be highly desirable.

[BP72]

Just ordered a derelight night master v2 , thanks fenring

[fenring]

Out of interest, what do people think of dimmers on torches?

I use LED Lenser torches (various models) and some have either a variable dimmer or a high/low setting. I've found that some other torches (without variable brightness) can often be too bright to use on animals as it scares them off (they will avoid the beam long before it's on them).

For me, who hasn't any real spot lighting experience, I find that being able to control the beam strength would be highly desirable.

On the likes of a .22 I do like a couple of modes. It can be handy. But avoid strobe and sos modes as they have a bad habit of coming on when not desired...

[makrand]

Just ordered a Fenix TK15 which they design specifically for hunting. Fully waterproof and very rugged. I have had their T1 for many years and never had any trouble with it.

It's not gonna arrive for a couple of weeks but they say a throw of 250m with spill.
It is coming with a red filter which should help with those critters that are more sensitive to light and has variable brightness, so full (400 lumens, 2 hours) for long range on the .223 or .308 and medium (165 lumens, 6 hours) for the .22lr.

http://www.fenix-store.com/fenix-tk15/

[The Raven]

Out of interest, what do people think of dimmers on torches?

I use LED Lenser torches (various models) and some have either a variable dimmer or a high/low setting. I've found that some other torches (without variable brightness) can often be too bright to use on animals as it scares them off (they will avoid the beam long before it's on them).

For me, who hasn't any real spot lighting experience, I find that being able to control the beam strength would be highly desirable.

On the likes of a .22 I do like a couple of modes. It can be handy. But avoid strobe and sos modes as they have a bad habit of coming on when not desired...

Agreed. A friend has a strobing model and no dimmer.... enough said.

[BP72]

Just got my derelight night master , what an awesome torch ! Eats the edit p15 good for 200m easy will give it a proper run tonite