Night Caches

[+jeffrae]

I recently did my second night cache with help from a cacher I had just met that night. His headlamp's light seemed to be incandesent instead of LED like mine. I was also using a handheld LED flashlight held about eye level. He still seemed to find every dot when I had a hard time seeing them. I did realize that my light was lighting up actual trees along with the dots creating a distraction maybe?

 

I got to wondering if your flashlight can actually be too bright or the wrong color. I believe the dots were the kind you buy at the hardware store and I am not really familiar with other kinds that may act differently to different kinds of light.

 

Are there any more experienced night cachers out there who might have an opinion on this?

[+pppingme]

LED lights just don't seem to reflect the same off the firetacks. I can usually spot them, but it takes more looking and effort.

[+Cardinal Red]

My favorite night caching flashlights are not anything special. Regular bulb and two "D" Batteries. Bought a pair during a past extended power outage and realized they have a fairly tight light beam. By that I mean they project a tight "spot light" type light beam instead of a wider "flood light" type beam. I can pick out tacks from a pretty good distance.

 

I also like the Push Button switch option (think something that could flash Morse Code dots and dashes). Allows quick easy periodic checks with minimum power consumption. I just keep one of the batteries inserted backward to eliminate unwanted power drain by push button during storage.

[+doxietrekkers4]

We have done 6 night caches and placed one ourselves. We found that the tacticle LED flashlights work well with the firetacks and you can spot them far off, plus they're light to carry and small to keep in a pack. It was about $24 at Lowe's.

 

We have a harder time spotting the older orange/brown firetacks and the regular incandescent flashlights barely picked them up.

 

A friend had a 1200 candle emergency spot light that he would light as we went along (one night cache was called lost fireflies and the tacks were all over the place). He was quick to spot the tacks, but it was too bright for me to see until he turned his off and I focused my light on it.

 

I think it comes down to what your eyes adjust to best. For me too much light washes everything out and yellow light doesn't light anything up. With the newer firetacks, they seem to be much brighter and you can see them from further away. That's what we used for our night cache placement and no one has complained about not seeing them regardless of the type of light they use.

 

I would just suggest doing night caches with a good size group. It makes it a lot more fun and it's always an adventure. Plus, there are a variety of light choices in the group and you can see what works best with each particular night cache. Have fun!

[knowschad]

In my rather limited experience of 3 night caches, LED flashlights are amazing at short distances, but they lack the long-distance illumination of something like a xenon Magliight. I own both. Use the right tool for the job, as always.

[+narcissa]

I find night caches during the day. That helps a lot.

[+slowdownracer]

I don't geocache at night either, but us amateur astronomers know that red flashlights are best at night because your eyes are not as sensitive to it as white light, and won't cause your pupil's to constrict. But then we're looking at stars and planets, not geocaches.

 

FYI

[+jackrock]

I've heard several people say that LEDs work best for night caches but my experience has been that they work poorly (tried a few different ones). A regular flashlight works best for me, really lighting up the fire tacks.

[+Highland Horde]

There is a night cache near me that I got about half way too when I had to turn back...this first time i was using a BIG maglite...when i went back I just grabbed my small LED light...it has 3 settings, one for red, one for blue and one white. The white LED is considerably brighter than the coloured ones and it worked great on firetacks etc. I used the red on the way back out (to let my eyes adjust to the dark better) and I could still see the tacks but i just had to be a lot closer. I have used several LED lights and a lot of them just suck but there are good ones out there but it seems to depend on the LED and if it had a lens to focus it more than the brand name. just my opinion...

[+searchjaunt]

I'm very satisfied abouut muy Fenix LED torch. See also http://searchjaunt.idizaai.be/nighthawks/

[+cerberus1]

We've become fans of Surefire and have a few models.

CJ uses a G2 at night and I use a G2 LED. BOTH seem to be perfect for night caching, even on the brown "stealth" tacks.

Tried Petzl headlamps and they didn't seem to cover ground like we needed for night caches (deep woods), though they seemed fine on open trail.

Got her a Surefire minimus headlamp and now she again has both hands free. Adjustable beam, she can dial in/out as needed.

 

She DID have one of those "lug 'em over your shoulder gazillion power harnessing the Sun" rechargeable lights once and as bright as it was, it wouldn't show tacks well . It seemed to illuminate everything TOO well, similar to daylight. And the battery would crap out WAY too soon.

We noted on the cache page that others attending could find each stage easily, by following the scorched earth.

Edited January 12, 2010 by cerberus1

[+DocDiTTo]

I've set up and maintained my one night cache using nothing but LED flashlights and headlamps. They work fine. They trick is to get a good one that uses a Luxeon or CREE LED, not one of those cheap things that has 5 or 8 or 25 dim LEDs. A good LED flashlight only has one LED, and it's a strong one.

 

Now my cache doesn't use "stealth" tacks, just the white reflective ones that you can buy in any hunting store. That could make a difference. One key to getting the best reflectivity is holding your light at eye level. Light is reflected back to its source, the closer that source is to your eyes the better you will see the reflections.

[Skippermark]

I like to keep things "dim" when I do night caches. I've gone with people who bring those million candlepower lights, but I don't like them because they "wash out" the area. I have better luck if I let my eyes adjust naturally then use as little artificial light as possible.

 

I have an older Petzl Tikka that I use for walking. I set it to its lowest setting and then aim it a couple feet in front of where I'm walking. It provides just enough light to see any obstacles in the trail but doesn't blow out the area by being over bright.

 

Then I use a 3 Watt LED AA 3 cell Mag Lite to look for reflectors down the trail. I used to use a 3 Watt LED D 3 cell Maglite, but I found the AA unit is almost as bright and is much smaller. I only turn on the Maglite when I'm looking for a reflector. Once it's found, the Maglite goes off until I need to look for another one.

Edited January 11, 2010 by Skippermark

[+DragonsWest]

My fave night lite is a tiny one with a little crank to recharge the batteries. Works great.

[+DanOCan]

I'll agree with others -- I brought my 1,000,000 candle power spot light on a group hunt for a night cache once and it lit things up too well. So, yes, your light can be too bright for a night cache.