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Red light headlamps

Mr Fish

Mr Fish

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Joined
Oct 4, 2020
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Location
North Devon
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People reading my bass surf beach reports will know I’m pretty anal about an absolute minimum of light on the beach while fishing.

Last time out I used my old cheap backup with a red light setting, but the plastic catch that holds it together is pretty much gone, so hunted around on Amazon for something else.

I found these…


Two for £18, I had a 10% discount offer available.

What I wanted was a DIM red light setting that would just about pick out my tip tape and these seem to fit the bill.
They’ve just arrived and yes, made in China and a bit cheap and plasticy, but the white beam seems reasonably bright, should you need it to land a fish, and the red setting seems nicely dim.

Bear in mind this is NOT intended as a proper back up when on rocks or more difficult marks (I have something else for that), and certainly not my main light, it’s literally there to put on once I’m set up on a surf beach to watch rod tips and bait up.

All the more expensive lamps with red settings are far too bright for what I want, so I think this will fit the bill.

E45D5BE1-EDA8-4EEE-933A-893F16D5C323.jpeg
 
Mr Fish said:
People reading my bass surf beach reports will know I’m pretty anal about an absolute minimum of light on the beach while fishing.

Last time out I used my old cheap backup with a red light setting, but the plastic catch that holds it together is pretty much gone, so hunted around on Amazon for something else.

I found these…


Two for £18, I had a 10% discount offer available.

What I wanted was a DIM red light setting that would just about pick out my tip tape and these seem to fit the bill.
They’ve just arrived and yes, made in China and a bit cheap and plasticy, but the white beam seems reasonably bright, should you need it to land a fish, and the red setting seems nicely dim.

Bear in mind this is NOT intended as a proper back up when on rocks or more difficult marks (I have something else for that), and certainly not my main light, it’s literally there to put on once I’m set up on a surf beach to watch rod tips and bait up.

All the more expensive lamps with red settings are far too bright for what I want, so I think this will fit the bill.

View attachment 35284
Click to expand...
If it does the job and you're happy Tony,you're sorted.
 
tdxs133pm said:
If it does the job and you're happy Tony,you're sorted.
Click to expand...
Cheers! Obviously need to actually fish with it but it looks about right.

As I say, it will serve a very specific niche and I saw no point at all spending £80 or more on a top brand that would probably be far too bright anyway.

If each one lasted only a year I’d consider that money well spent, though I’m sure I’ll get more than that out of it.
 
Mr Fish said:
People reading my bass surf beach reports will know I’m pretty anal about an absolute minimum of light on the beach while fishing.

Last time out I used my old cheap backup with a red light setting, but the plastic catch that holds it together is pretty much gone, so hunted around on Amazon for something else.

I found these…


Two for £18, I had a 10% discount offer available.

What I wanted was a DIM red light setting that would just about pick out my tip tape and these seem to fit the bill.
They’ve just arrived and yes, made in China and a bit cheap and plasticy, but the white beam seems reasonably bright, should you need it to land a fish, and the red setting seems nicely dim.

Bear in mind this is NOT intended as a proper back up when on rocks or more difficult marks (I have something else for that), and certainly not my main light, it’s literally there to put on once I’m set up on a surf beach to watch rod tips and bait up.

All the more expensive lamps with red settings are far too bright for what I want, so I think this will fit the bill.

View attachment 35284
Click to expand...
Might do the job , be interested in your thoughts on these mr fish , the price is right , boom boom , come on down
 
John Mitchell said:
Might do the job , be interested in your thoughts on these mr fish , the price is right , boom boom , come on down
Click to expand...
Yes will post an update when I use them John! Would have been tonight but just had to call an ambulance for a neighbour and missed my tide window 🙄

Otherwise the tide times are all wrong this weekend for my surf beaches ☹️
I was going to cut myself off in a rocky cove for a short sesh but too late to get to it now.

As I say, these cheapies are very much just for watching rod tips on a surf beach with minimum light, not for any other purpose.

Otherwise I’d stand in the dark and use tip lights but I just can’t get on with them - a nodding point of light irritates me and I like to be able to see the movement of the length of the tip and also if the line goes slack etc.
 
Mr Fish said:
Yes will post an update when I use them John! Would have been tonight but just had to call an ambulance for a neighbour and missed my tide window 🙄

Otherwise the tide times are all wrong this weekend for my surf beaches ☹️
I was going to cut myself off in a rocky cove for a short sesh but too late to get to it now.

As I say, these cheapies are very much just for watching rod tips on a surf beach with minimum light, not for any other purpose.

Otherwise I’d stand in the dark and use tip lights but I just can’t get on with them - a nodding point of light irritates me and I like to be able to see the movement of the length of the tip and also if the line goes slack etc.
Click to expand...
I got a cheapie I use which has 2 settings for white light and then a red setting then a flashing red , I use this lamp just for bass lure fishing . But a spare cheap red one would be handy
 
John Mitchell said:
I got a cheapie I use which has 2 settings for white light and then a red setting then a flashing red , I use this lamp just for bass lure fishing . But a spare cheap red one would be handy
Click to expand...
And you get two for less than £20! 🤩

Two usb leads to charge too!
 
John Mitchell said:
I got a cheapie I use which has 2 settings for white light and then a red setting then a flashing red , I use this lamp just for bass lure fishing . But a spare cheap red one would be handy
Click to expand...
As soon as I can actually get to use it, I shall report back!
 
Mr Fish said:
As soon as I can actually get to use it, I shall report back!
Click to expand...
Be interesting to see how it fares in 6 months or so. Always annoys me when Online reviewers (not you!) buy something, and leave a review as soon as it's out of the box! I usually like to use something for a few months before thinking about leaving any reviews.

I appreciate that you bought it for a low power Red light, not your main light, but the item title on Amazon is a little deceptive.
I saw "1000L" and wrongly thought it was 1000 Lumens - if you read the small print, it's 150 Lumens!
I also noticed that for £1 more, there is a newer model, the 2000L, but it doesn't give the power of that one at all.
 
Why red? Could it be a low power green for example?
 
Trampster said:
Be interesting to see how it fares in 6 months or so. Always annoys me when Online reviewers (not you!) buy something, and leave a review as soon as it's out of the box! I usually like to use something for a few months before thinking about leaving any reviews.

I appreciate that you bought it for a low power Red light, not your main light, but the item title on Amazon is a little deceptive.
I saw "1000L" and wrongly thought it was 1000 Lumens - if you read the small print, it's 150 Lumens!
I also noticed that for £1 more, there is a newer model, the 2000L, but it doesn't give the power of that one at all.
Click to expand...
It probably won’t get that much use now as the surf beach bassing window is closing.
That’s not to say the fish might not be around a bit longer if the water temps stay up but by mid December I don’t usually want to stand in the middle of an exposed beach lol.

Yes I kept seeing the ‘click here for a newer model’ but it looked like the new one went back to separate batteries?

Tbh as I said, the level of lumens interests me not at all as all I wanted was a dim red light, with enough extra light if needed to land a fish or sort a tangle but even then, I don’t want it very bright.

No point switching your lighthouse on to land your first bass of the night, then scaring away all the others in the vicinity and not getting another bite.
Which is something I see others doing a lot - they fish in near dark or with good light discipline, then catch something and suddenly it’s the second coming.
Which instantly undoes all the previous good work 🙄
It’s not exactly hard to land a fish on a flat piece of sand, they don’t need spotlights for that….
 
Last edited:
Mr Fish said:
People reading my bass surf beach reports will know I’m pretty anal about an absolute minimum of light on the beach while fishing.

Last time out I used my old cheap backup with a red light setting, but the plastic catch that holds it together is pretty much gone, so hunted around on Amazon for something else.

I found these…


Two for £18, I had a 10% discount offer available.

What I wanted was a DIM red light setting that would just about pick out my tip tape and these seem to fit the bill.
They’ve just arrived and yes, made in China and a bit cheap and plasticy, but the white beam seems reasonably bright, should you need it to land a fish, and the red setting seems nicely dim.

Bear in mind this is NOT intended as a proper back up when on rocks or more difficult marks (I have something else for that), and certainly not my main light, it’s literally there to put on once I’m set up on a surf beach to watch rod tips and bait up.

All the more expensive lamps with red settings are far too bright for what I want, so I think this will fit the bill.

View attachment 35284
Click to expand...
wait till it rains and welds itself to your forehead!!! :)
 
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