Traditional Lamp or new LED for solo foxing?

[Oly]

I was just wondering if anyone who has/had both lamps & leds can give me an honest opinion on the above question. Most of my foxing is done solo, and at present I hump a scope mounted lightforce for night shooting foxes and rabbits. I know that the new LED scope mounted torches (presently thinking Cluson Masterlite) would save me wires and weight, but does the reduction in beam width, and minor distance, compromise the weight/wires gains?

 

And finally...or do I just go for an ND3, or would I be compromised in other aspects then too?

 

Edit: Just read that the ND3 has problems in the cold...not great for lamping! Do any of the LED based lamps also suffer from this?

[whoowhoop]

I have a Cluson Masterlight. It is great for high seat work. You can spot eyes well out past 200 yards, but that is what you see. You cannot make out what the eyes belong to at any distance. Also the field of view is very limited, and the scope mount is easliy knocked. Or am i just plain clumsy?

We have a roof mounted Lightforce on the kubota, and I still fit the Masterlight on my rifle, just in case I need it.

Tonight for example, there was a pair of eyes on some bales by my pen. With the nightforce, through my scope I could clearly see ( and miss, I'm afraid) that it was a fox. With the Cluson, I could only see eyes, and not clearly either. No shot with that set up.

20 mins later, next field and the Cluson came into its own on a vixen 100 yards away on a headland. But still only saw the eyes. Fortunately I had swept the field with the roof light first, so I knew what it was.

One thing I have noticed, is that with the Masterlight, the eyes always seem to be slightly out of focus?

A good bit of kit, but with limitations.

[Oly]

That's a really good honest comparison, many thanks mate! Think I will stick to the lightforce lamp and keep the pennies in the bank for the next kit purchase!

 

Thanks again, much appreciated, great write up!

Oly

[whoowhoop]

What I forgot to mention, Oly, was that the Cluson has a couple of features.

Firstly, you have a strobe option by clicking the pressure switch twice. It takes a bit of getting used to, but can be very effective, especially when you have charlie running into to you.

The other option is a dimmer/fade. But unfortunately you have to turn the light on and dim it down each time, which is really arse about face for the job. Nor can you set it the brightness and keep the setting.

I hope cluson sort this out, it is a tad annoying.

I don't regret buying it, it is handy for solo lamping, particularly on small plots, allotments gardens etc.

The way kit is developing nowadays, it may well be worth hanging on.

 

Mark

[Oly]

I think your right, particularly with the ND3 type technology...watch this space!

[Mash67]

hi

i use a tiablo a10g.i dont use the supplier inovatechs mounts but use tactical 1 inch mounts and as long as the picatinny mount is inline with the rifle its pretty solid and on target.good for 150yrs+.read up on candlepower forum for more info. my tiablo is rated at about 275 lumens the new led torches are 700-1000 and with a aspherical lens the beam should be very tight and have a long throw.on my own i use another led torch to pick up eyes and then when in position turn on the led gunlight.my lights are not as bright as traditional lights but i except the compromise when alone.with a mate we use a normal spotlight but the lamper cannot always follow the target if its not looking whereas the rifleman usually can when looking through a scope.thats where a gun lamp wins out abit

atb

matt