IR Illuminator LED 850nm Infrared Flashlight, Adjustable Focus Night Vision Torch Light for Hunting Varmint Coyote Hog Fox

I bought this for use in conjunction with a night vision gen 1 monocular.I have used both higher end thermal and gen3 night vision as a cop (I also have experience in tactical operations and training, however, to ensure amazon doesn’t flag this as inappropriate, or an upset “sensitive” person flag it for violence, I am going to refer to its use in an “airsoft” or “paintball” or “simunition” situation, which are completely lawful “toys” and a “game”, as this shuts down anyone’s ability to complain and have this review removed.I wanted to see how performance on a gen 1 with this flashlight would work in comparison to higher end units I have tactical experience with. Obviously, different units will get different results.The Gen 1 unit I tried this with was a 20+ year old used gen 1 device (Famous Trails with “Zenit-IR” 8 to infinity symbol marked detachable objective lens) with a built in “IR Illuminator”.First, it’s NO comparison between this flashlight and the built in illuminator. This flashlight is a monster by comparison and absolutely dominates. I did my testing indoors and in a field.Indoors, the IR illuminator and flashlight did comparably well, illuminating close contact ranges, stairwells, closets, etc., very effectively. The key difference is the the built in illuminator shines directly in line with the monocular, so if you accidentally pan across a reflective surface, like window or mirror, it blooms the viewfinder out with direct reflected light. YouBlind yourself, and shut down your scope (note, this scope did not shut down, it just became exceedingly bright to the point I felt I was hit by a quiet flashbang). Whereas with the IRbflashlight, you can do the wide angle focus instead of spot focus, and move by ambient light cast, so if you pan across a window or mirror, it does NOT blind you and shut down the unit because the light does NOT shine in line with the monocular unless you intentionally do so. Very effective.And for those people who are concerned about tactical use of gen 1 gear with illuminators on, yes, a built in illuminator creates a target to shoot at (if it doesn’t just auto-gate your opponents headgear or scope by direct bright light shining into it). Using a separate IR flashlight allows you to do the FBI flashlight thing, where you hold it off to the side and away from your body. A tactical situation involving this technique with opponents using night vision may give your “general” position away, but it would likewise blind your actual position with the bright IR flashlight against their night vision gear and would only give them the light source as a target, drawing any initial exchange of fire to a position your body doesn’t actually occupy. Which is an advantage, especially for surviving the critical first shots which reveal your ambushers position and allow you to effectively return fire and direct blinding light on their position (or drop your IR illuminator shining toward them while you quickly move to a new position, leaving them blinded to your movement and thinking you are where the light is, while simultaneously leaving your targets position highlighted for your return fire). This flashlight has ALOT of effective tactical use and confusion use.Many people try to say use of an illuminator a is a tactical mistake in a SHTF situation, but this is inaccurate. Yes it CAN be true, especially in the hands of the untrained and unaware. You can easily get yourself capped. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Just like a standard flashlight can be used to draw fire or blind an adversary in a typical eyes-only firefight. So too can a separate IR illuminator. No one ever expects the units to be separate from each other. Even flashlights, which people KNOW can be held at distance, still psychologically draw fire to the bulb itself. Be smart, and these can give you an edge over an adversary using similar to even more advanced night vision gear. And if you’re going up against someone without an any night vision gear at all, it’s a massive force multiplier. So there truly is no actual downside to this. Almost all “negatives” often cited by so-called experts can actually be utilized to your advantage. What these experts are displaying is their bias and expectation on how the gear will be used/deployed, and they are showing you how they will react to it. So do it differently, and you gain yourself an advantage as even the most experienced people will be expecting something else. Be smart about it’s use.To note, the “red glow” visible to the naked eye produced by this flashlight is extremely faint and negligible at any distance or in an outdoors scenario. At 20 feet you have to know it’s there to see it, whereas the built in IR illuminator was bright enough that it looked like a Surefire flashlight with a piece of red cellophane taped over it. Lol. The built in was obvious out to great distances. The flashlight was darn difficult to spot.The flashlight absolutely wins outdoors hands down.In the field, 150 yards across, the flashlight changed the gen 1 tube from being only somewhat useful while still difficult to ascertain details and easy to overlook things holding still, to it being similar to standing in a field basically using a giant vehicle mounted spotlight to scan the field. It was THAT much difference. It VERY CLEARLY illuminated objects well past 150 yards. On the other side of the field were trees, dumpsters and industrial buildings. With the unit alone, there could have been 20 people dressed in dark or camo clothing on the far side of the field or in the treeline and I would have never seen them. With the tube and built in illuminator, I could only reliably make out objects to about 40 to 50 feet, anything past that was negligible gain. I couldn’t even see a difference at all on the tree leaves. Turning on the IR flashlight was like flicking on stadium lights. Absolute and total clarity spanning the entire field and into the tree line, the grass, weeds, branches, fencing, rose bushes, etc. even the dumpsters 150 yards out had their shadows lit up so brightly that what was an impossible indistinguishable black blob underneath before, was clear to see anything hiding underneath down to a piece of crumpled up paper.I won’t say this IR flashlight turned it into the equivalent of passive effectiveness of a gen 3 tube, because it was just where the flashlight effected the field that such amazing results occurred. For distance illumination, you needed to focus the flashlight intensity, which cost you some field of view. Luckily, the natural field of view on a gen 1 scope is relatively narrow anyway so it didn’t really impact much. However, you DO have to juggle an additional item, whereas gen 3 most certainly does not. Also, the use of an illuminator of any kind DOES flag the location as occupied and occupied by people with vision enhancing gear, but only to people who also have vision enhancing gear. And let’s face it, most of the roving threats we face on average DO NOT have any vision enhancing gear. So the reality is that yes, there are CERTAINLY trade offs in using gen 1 with an illuminator. You can also turn one on in one position to illuminate a field or an access approach, like, leaving it in a window focused on this danger area, and then you actively scan in full passive mode from the next window over, or even from a different floor. You can even wire remote activation end caps. You DONT have to be where the illuminator is, which can give you a decisive advantage in an engagement. Something even Gen 3 alone cant do.So yes, this simple and inexpensive light turned my test Gen 1 tube into the rough equivalent of a Gen 2/Gen 3 on passive. And it has both tactical disadvantages and advantages over these other pieces of gear, depending on how you deploy it.I highly recommend this very unexpectedly high performing unit as an adjunct to Gen 1 devices based on this test case.The only “downvote” I would consider giving this is from being a natural bulb preference person. At any focus range other than full on maximized precise spot, I love this thing. At its absolute maximal focus and tightest field of view for furthest distance reach, it becomes clear this is LED powered. Meaning, the light pattern becomes cube shaped. I know this is standard nowadays and is essentially the way all LED focusable flashlights are these days, and this is probably a normal thing to everyone reading this. I guess I’m just still stuck in the 90’s with a real bulb surefire thinking everything should be round. Lol. Get past this (if it’s even an issue for you) and you’ll love this thing. I just don’t do maximum focus on it. I pull it back just a touch to create the diffuse light effect I like. It’s still amazingly effective at 150 yards dialed back a bit. I recommend it. ;)

I ordered 4 of these hoping they would make nice stocking stuffers. I received them in 2 days after ordering and the quality of the relatively inexpensive (for tactical flashlights) is unbelievable. The housing is very high grade anodized aluminum with a heafty "O" ring which ensures the electonics are kept water resistant. The rear mounted switch although not silent has a very good high quality feel. The XML T6 LED array is rated at 800 lumens and is exceptionally bright on high and floods the lite area with a very consistent intensity beam. The zoom is smooth feeling and effective. The light powers up in high and partial switch depressions cycle thru the 5 modes. The 2 included 3000 mah (3Ah) Ultra Fire 18650 Litium Ion batterys are slightly higher capacity than the specified 2600 mah and appear solid and well built. The dual battery charger, although completely functional with a bi-color red/green LED, looks and feels inferior to the other package components. Overall this is a 5 Star rating at even double the price. I will defiantly be ordering several more of this very well built high intensity inexpesive tactical Light package. JJH

There are reviews that describe the glow of the IR source as unnoticeable. Compared to other 850nm offerings, this is one reason why I purchased the unit. From a distance of roughly 50 meters the light in the least focused position looks like the light from a cheap laser pointer. When focused, If the beam is seen from the front it looks like a red signal light, extremely noticeable. However, in the full focused position from the sides the light is not visible. This is a metal housing, well built IR illumination device and it takes 3 AAA size batteries, it seems to work great on rechargeable AAA batteries also. Tested with a night vision camcorder. The flashlight far exceeds the power of most any built in IR lighting. For night vision you will likely be seen with this by any passing observer with or without night vision. This is a good IR light, and it is less noticeable than built in IR on digital night vision binoculars, but only when least focused. When focused it magnifies the diode and it looks like a red flashlight from our property line, ~120 meters. If you are alright with a visible light source albeit less noticeable than a regular flashlight, this is for you. If you want tactical, check out the 940nm wavelength which is less visible to the naked eye at source.

For noodle bois/boietts, this is an inexpensive off-hand way to increase your night vision capabilities in zero ambient light environments, like my moms basement or the after hours in the empty horse stables at the Renaissance fair! Great for high output IR for reconnaissance missions for when ya boi drops his nods on a beer run on the ATV, because he cheaped out and got and got a Chineseum bump helmet with a plastic mount and has zero retention for his noodles, smacks a branch and now you’re searching for them for 2 hours when the Liquor store closes in 20 minutes. No more! You can spot them almost instantly with the IR version of the sun in a telescoping package!

I bought this product for use in viewing nesting turtles on the beach in Costa Rica. Unfortunately, I did not understand from the description that these are not infra-red flashlights to carry in your hand but are to be used in a rifle scope. They are useless for that purpose I needed them for.