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What shooting lamp to get? Help!


Westy1987
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Hi everyone,

 

I was wondering if you could point me in the right direction, in regards to shooting lamps for foxes.

 

I want a lamp that is hand held and plugs into a 12 v (cig lighter) socket in a truck,

 

What are the advantages of LED ones verses the ones with bulbs?

 

What to look for when buying one, good brands etc?

 

Price wise.... I am looking for a decent lamp and willing to pay for it!

 

Of course I have had a look online and read many product reviews but would like to know from people that actually use them and can give impartial advice and views on what different lamps ACTUALLY are like to use, rather than just details of them.

 

Any recommendations?

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

Tom

Edited by Westy1987
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If it's hand held then I guess you are more likely to be looking for the fox as opposed to knowing it's there and shooting it. In the latter case, the less batteries, cables, etc, there are the better and the new-ish LED torches take a lot of beating. However, there's nothing better to scare a fox into the next county than a tight narrow beam flashing all over the place - proverbial needle in a haystack. Consequently something that gives a clear picture with one steady sweep has many advantages for the former application,. So, just get a Lightforce 140/170 and have done with it. My personal preference is with the amber filter.

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I would recommend the Lightforce range, orange or green lens covers, Red will limit to about 120 yards, fine for rabbit but not for a fox. However when mine fail then I will look at LEDs.

 

One other point, a cigarette lighter socket is designed to carry a current for only a short period, I think ( bit might be wrong) that the usual amperage is 3 or 4.

 

I would recommend for vechicle use a DIN plug and socket, single pin, smaller than a ciggy socket and designed to carry 17 amps continuous. a 100w bulb on a 12v system will draw 8 amps of current. ( watts divided by volts = amps) The smaller models are fitted with a 55w bulb, these draw about 4.5 amps.

 

I know that most lamps come equipped with cigar lighter plugs, Lightforce certianly do but presumably they are uprated, I have had vehicle sockets melt but never a plug. After a nasty surprise one night, ( a lamp was plugger into a cigar socket in the boot) I switched to `DIN. Just wired straight to the battery with a fuse in the positive cable.

 

A

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I've stopped using my light force lamps and started using the Nightmaster LED lights which are less bulky but have excellent beams and you can buy the different coloured LEDs, i have recently been using a coyote light which are made in the USA scope mounted or with handle attached can be used for scanning they are rechargeable and so far got me through a complete nights lamping rather than me type all the details out here is the webpage not cheap but very well made.

 

http://www.coyotelight.com/

 

http://www.nightmaster.co.uk/

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just watch you don't melt their eyes out and then wonder why it didn't come in to your call. Get a dimmer if possible if you go for a real powerful lamp. Sometimes I find myself wanting something with more power when just searching at long rage in poor conditions but for actually shooting you really can have too much light.

Make / brand is unimportant some are way over priced. For what its worth I like Cluson and they are good on spares direct to end user being UK based and sensible in their approach. (so many companies wont do spares direct today)

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The white led can be a bit spooky, but are available in different colours. These colours are pure single colour, so a lot better than filtered broad spectrum.

the low current drain , for me, outweighs any dissadvantage the led might have.

the led does need a greater degree of skill from the person holding it

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