Fox spotting lamp

R. Macleod & Son - The Best Hunting Companion
Longstrider

Longstrider

Well-Known Member
Trade Member
I'm looking to treat myself to a decent hand-held 'torch' for my foxing forays. I'm old school and currently use a Tracer LED Ray F900 mounted on top of the scope (No posh night vision kit for me), but my old Tracer LED 400 simply doesn't have the 'throw' to pick up and I.D. Charlie at the ranges my .204 lets me shoot him at. I can get eye-shine at a decent range, but that doesn't always help with so many badgers, munties and CWD's wandering around the place. I need a hand-held lamp because I shoot on foot, not from the truck, but I don't want to be waving the rifle about in order to use the scope mounted lamp as a searchlight.

So far my requirements list is ..

Sensible price (the further under £100 the better)
Red LED (Not a filter)
Torch like construction
Focusable beam that will reach beyond 500 yds on a clear night
Preferably running on 18650 batteries (This not essential)
Not so heavy that I might as well be carrying a second rifle.

What do you guys use that you would recommend ?
 
hi longstrider like you im old school and have used my trusty lightforce and deban litheum battery set up for years but i now use a night sabre alpha hand held torch ive spotted fox out and past 400 yds and it is so light to carry bs have a look on youtube
 
Last edited:
Longstrider said:
I'm looking to treat myself to a decent hand-held 'torch' for my foxing forays. I'm old school and currently use a Tracer LED Ray F900 mounted on top of the scope (No posh night vision kit for me), but my old Tracer LED 400 simply doesn't have the 'throw' to pick up and I.D. Charlie at the ranges my .204 lets me shoot him at. I can get eye-shine at a decent range, but that doesn't always help with so many badgers, munties and CWD's wandering around the place. I need a hand-held lamp because I shoot on foot, not from the truck, but I don't want to be waving the rifle about in order to use the scope mounted lamp as a searchlight.

So far my requirements list is ..

Sensible price (the further under £100 the better)
Red LED (Not a filter)
Torch like construction
Focusable beam that will reach beyond 500 yds on a clear night
Preferably running on 18650 batteries (This not essential)
Not so heavy that I might as well be carrying a second rifle.

What do you guys use that you would recommend ?
Click to expand...
T67 with red pill from Nightvisionstore.
 
Problem using the red pills , usually use a cree xpe led , good led ,but go past a 50mm lens the beam is really tight for scanning, a handy torch would be the wicked lights or generic ones that can switch colours, best one I've used for scanning is one I built myself using a red sst led in a 78mm lens running at 10 amps , off the vehicle, gives a really good field of view and distance...
 
leeward said:
Problem using the red pills , usually use a cree xpe led , good led ,but go past a 50mm lens the beam is really tight for scanning, a handy torch would be the wicked lights or generic ones that can switch colours, best one I've used for scanning is one I built myself using a red sst led in a 78mm lens running at 10 amps , off the vehicle, gives a really good field of view and distance...
Click to expand...

Running off the vehicle isn't an option for me.
I know a tight beam isn't the best thing for general scanning, but I'd like to be able to focus from a more diffused spread (searching) to a tight beam to positively ID at range. More than one moggy from the village is still around because of my unwillingness to shoot at a pair of eyes in the lamp when I can't properly see what they belong to, let alone the munties and brock that pass through the place every night ...
 
Ok a good compromise is instead of a red cree , use a red/orange led , bit brighter, slightly orange & a bit more throw using a 50mm lens , in the past built a couple of people, they liked them , unfortunately not got any leds left , also run them at 1.4 amp ! Sounds complicated but making torch pills is pretty simple.....
 
I will keep an eye on suggestions here as I sometimes use a rifle/scope for the odd fox that is not compatible with the old Ward 700 i use. Having a red filtered torch of some variety in my pocket would be useful to throw on board. I would use thermal to spot and then probably want a fairly tightish beam to be able to shoot fox out to 150-200yds and inside.

Have things moved on from the Evo 38 or Evo 50 type torches that came after the annoying wobbly T series? I would have thought you could get decent torches now for 50 quid or less that are light and can throw a beam a good distance and easily adjust from flood to spot. I need to do some research.
 
bluesako said:
hi longstrider like you im old school and have used my trusty lightforce and deban litheum battery set up for years but i now use a night sabre alpha hand held torch ive spotted fox out and past 400 yds and it is so light to carry bs have a look on youtube
Click to expand...

We switched to using one of these a couple of years ago for the few lamping outings we do each year over the old faithful red filtered Lightforce 170 variable....

Although I bought both the whites and the red pill, the ‘warm’ white pill has proved to be the one that has stayed in it as it’s proved to be the easiest, ie quickest, to pick up on the body of the fox over the cool white.
Not sure we’ve used the red much as most of our foxing is done with thermals so not many lamp shy ones around us....any that are lamp shy are dealt with subsequently within a day or so.

Running on a pair of 18650’s it’s easy to carry spares in your pocket...... my only gripe is that it’s an arse to get the battery cap thread started again when changing batteries...perhaps that’s just me :rofl:

cheers

fizz
 
Acebeam W10; LEP ( laser excited phosphor): the bad news is - outwith your budget, but even with a red or green filter (both supplied with it) it's the longest throwing, no spill light you'll ever need, and about half the size, weight and bulk of the others, here shown with a Solaris SRX by comparison:

IMG_0982.jpg
Rechargeable 5100maH battery with USB 'type C' charger. See what you could've had!


How it does


Quick overview


Longer overview

You'll need thermal to pick up foxy with, though...
 
Last edited:
leeward said:
Problem using the red pills , usually use a cree xpe led , good led ,but go past a 50mm lens the beam is really tight for scanning, a handy torch would be the wicked lights or generic ones that can switch colours, best one I've used for scanning is one I built myself using a red sst led in a 78mm lens running at 10 amps , off the vehicle, gives a really good field of view and distance...
Click to expand...
Any pictures please? Sounds an interesting build
 
There you go , it's a 78mm aspheric running a 10 amp driver with dimmer , sst fat light in red , on/off switch , big heatsink , the one in white really has a beam to be seen & believed ! In red it's better than a 170 in white...
 
That looks the dogs danglers, how did you make it. I fancy making one to run of my mates quad. Ain’t got a clue where to start thou.
 
Evening, a lathe is handy ! Difficult bit sourcing a 10amp 12v driver , found one off the candle power forum , rest is just bits and Bob's...
 
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