I find that the larger chartplotters / MFD even when dimmed affect my night vision.
While approaching a harbor at night I made out the shape of three buoys, was expecting one. Result is I wanted to confirm I was entering the correct harbor, and then which of the buoys was the fairway. So I looked at the plotter, in night mode and dimmed, for about a minute or so as I zoomed in and lined the boat up on the correct mark. When I looked back up I could not make out any of the buoys even though I was a bit closer and lined up with one of them. My night vision returned after 3 - 4 minutes in the dark. When racing solo at night looking at my Garmin 76CSX to pick up VMG usually means I cannot read the ticklers for a few minutes. I have asked a couple of people that have 10 - 14" plotters mounted at the helm how they find using them in night mode, and how much does it affect their night vision. I am amazed when the response is they do not use night mode because it is too hard to read and no problem with night vision. For flashlights I like the 5 - 8 watt LED units that use the 18650 style Li-on battery. If you can find one with a good reflector / lens they are hard to beat for the money. Usually the smaller the light source the tighter the beam can be made. A LED is smaller than a bulb and more directional, and a HID / Xenon is likely the smallest. For shear brute force a few companies are using automotive H4 series bulbs paired with a small AGM battery. http://www.amazon.com/Cyclops-C18MIL-Colossus-Rechargable-Spotlight/dp/B0018F1CJ4/ref=pd_sim_auto_7?ie=UTF8&refRID=05FJNMD6VVWW20S9TSW2#productDetails I had one similar to that. The bulb was an H4 130 / 90 like this: http://www.amazon.com/HELLA-H83140011-Series-Watt-Halogen/dp/B000VUB4CW The "low" beam was more of a flood, the high beam was a pretty good spotlight. Would light up the 3M style reflective tape brightly at over two miles. Battery lasted about 15 minutes, which was good since the whole light was getting warm. Obviously using that affected my night vision ... Michael Brown Windburn C&C 30-1 Date: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 07:41:53 -0400 From: "Della Barba, Joe" <[email protected]> To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Subject: Re: Stus-List Handheld spotlights + binocs Message-ID: <1073606396712942aee54d9a960e45a71e1c292...@hq-mb-07.ba.ad.ssa.gov> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" I'll have to look. They were a birthday present and were whatever the top line West Marine binoculars were at the time. Any high quality 7x50 set with good coated lenses will make something you can just maybe barely see stand out plain as day. Obviously rain, fog, pitch dark, and looking into moonlight will defeat them. Some people think "moonlight = good", but only if it is from behind you! What I need to do is train my dogs to point and bark at unlit markers. I asked our vet why they can run full speed in the woods in the dark and he said dogs and cats see about as well as a human with night vision goggles on. Speaking off night vision, I rarely use any kind of spotlight. I do much better with making sure my night vision stays sharp. I have red LED lights for everything - there is NO white light allowed after dark. Something I learned when I was flying out of an unlit grass field is to look "off center" and kind of scan besides what you are looking for. Human vision is mu ch more light sensitive off-center than straight ahead. PS - Another night vision killer is the various plotter-computer video displays. Make sure you can turn it down! I have seen powerboats go by at night with the helmsman's face lit up bright as day by all the screens that he was looking at. I doubt he could see the bow! Joe Della Barba Coquina C&C 35 MK I
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