Lamping equipment

macadam

Should have the licence for the hornet soon , now i need to buy me some lamping equipment , got a price from Jack Smyth's in Newry for a lightforce 170 variable complete with belt pouch and battery pack and two filters £250 thats about €300 approx can i get a better deal .

Have seen the Cluson SLG2 kit for about £110 or €140, is this light any good, I know this was all posted before but they seem to have gone very dear , or am i just misreading.


Maca

clivej

macadam wrote: »

Should have the licence for the hornet soon , now i need to buy me some lamping equipment , got a price from Jack Smyth's in Newry for a lightforce 170 variable complete with belt pouch and battery pack and two filters £250 thats about €300 approx can i get a better deal .

Have seen the Cluson SLG2 kit for about £110 or €140, is this light any good, I know this was all posted before but they seem to have gone very dear , or am i just misreading.


Maca

Forget the Cluson (pure sh!te) its not anywhere as good as the 170
Get 170 with dimmer from opticswarehouse.co.uk and the battery from an electrical wholesalers, and a cheap camera bag for a very few $$$$$$$$

I have the Cluson my son has the 170 + dimmer there's no comparison between the two.
I have tried to improve the Cluson with some success, a 75 watt bulb, but it's still a non runner against the 170

Bottom of the page 170 + dimmer

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@£;125
http://opticswarehouse.co.uk/products.asp?cat=173

bull1648

The 170 is an excellent lamp.Dont waste your money on belt pouches etc.The time they run the lamp for is very limited.I have bought a 20 amp hour dry cell battery from maplins and fitted it in a canvas bag.It gives a few hours lamping

clivej

bull1648 is right with the battery life. I get will about 2 1/2 -3 hours a night when using the dimmer on a 7 amp-hour battery @€;16 from the wholesalers
But now if we are in the 4x4 we will have it pluged into the cig socket at the same time so that way it is charging at the same time as being used.
i.e. lamp is still connected to the battery and using a 'Y' connector it's pluged into the cig socket as well.
Hop out of the 4x4 unplug from the cig socket and away you go, that way it will last all night.

Sparks

bumped to hunting

bunny shooter

Lightforce 170 are best lamp out there IMO

thelurcher

The Cluson light is excellent IMO - I've been using them for over 10 years - with the lurchers and the guns.
Seen a lot of lads buy the Lightforce and change to Cluson fairly soon after.

Main problem is the filter on the Lightforce - it's the clip-on type - makes it very awkward if you're on your own.
The Cluson is much more compact also.

I still have my first Cluson - use it as a backup - but bought another one last year.

You cannot beat the clusons for reliability - the main beam bulb just does not blow no matter how you treat it - the secondary bulb is very handy getting over ditches etc.

Keelan

thelurcher wrote: »

The Cluson light is excellent IMO - I've been using them for over 10 years - with the lurchers and the guns.
Seen a lot of lads buy the Lightforce and change to Cluson fairly soon after.

Main problem is the filter on the Lightforce - it's the clip-on type - makes it very awkward if you're on your own.
The Cluson is much more compact also.

I still have my first Cluson - use it as a backup - but bought another one last year.

You cannot beat the clusons for reliability - the main beam bulb just does not blow no matter how you treat it - the secondary bulb is very handy getting over ditches etc.

Agree. I have the LightForce, but the wiring has let me down on a few occasions!! Cluson are far more reliable, ill be replacing the light force for the cluson soon.



Keelan.

macadam

What model of Cluson are ye guys using and what range do you shoot at, i used to shoot foxes before with a home made spotlight and a 12v battery in the back of the pick up , now i need something light and easy on the back.

maca

jimbo 22

My two cents worth.

I use the Lightforce 170 with a 100 watt bulb - variable power running off 160 x 100 x 100 mm battery pack. Fully charged it should do a full nights Lamping - 2-3 Hours

If you dont want to carry extra weight and are only lamping for short periods buy a 140 also and run it off a battery pack half the size of the above - If you put a 60 watt bulb in it - It will get you out for an hour or maybe a bit longer if you spare it using the dimmer switch. There is not that much difference in the 140 / 160. I find the 140 will light up most fields


One last thing

Dont be tempted to buy the scope mounted versions-
The lightforce quick attach mounting system is rubbish - it wont hold centre and has to be adjusted when you attach it / detach from your scope. If you use this set up you will need 2 lamps one for spotting and the other affixed to your gun to counteract the above problem. With a single scope mounted set up you will find your self Waving your gun dangerously scouring the fields - which is a no no!

Just Last night i came across a fox - I only had the hand held 170 by the time i alligned the lamp and the gun on him - he had scapmered.
If i had the the scope mounted version i could of nailed him quicker:rolleyes:

There are pros and cons of using differnt set ups. Always bear in mind when buying a lamp if you are going to have a companion with you the whole time. It can be difficult to find recruits on wet and windy nights

clivej

As I quoted above my son has the 170 + dimmer it's a scope mounted version but used hand held because we both go lampimg together, 1 to shoot and 1 to lamp. Realy haven't used it much on the scope but he complains that I'm not holding it on the target all the time for him so the cluson will now be on the scope for him while I have the 170 to scan the fields with.
My Cluson is the shootalite version bought as the kit #2 @£;95 then paid an extra £36 for a 30mm scope mount and a 75 watt bulb to try and make it shine futher which does work but still not as good as the 170 for distance of beam and brightness across the fields.
But what I did find out was that the 75w bulb, from the lightforce 140, has the filiment going across the reflector and this gives a better light --now without the black spot in the centre that makes it hard to focus correctly.

macadam

Have another one for ye lads , friend of a friend has a Nightsearcher 750 and swears its the biz, anyone else use one of these.

Going to buy next week cant wait till xmas.

maca

thelurcher

clivej wrote: »

30mm scope mount and a 75 watt bulb

Where did you buy them Clivej - lurcher has a broken leg and the other one is still too young so I'll have to concentrate on lamping with the rifles this season.

clivej

Got the bits from:

http://www.arthurcarteruradshop.co.uk/

Takes about 7 days to arrive from them and they sent the wrong mount BUT they did send on the correct 30mm mount for the cluson. The 75w bulb is from the lightforce 140 and fits OK.

I had the Cluson out tonight mounted on the gun/scope and my friend had a handheld 170 beside me the result was

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Not bad. I was looking through the scope with the shootalite on it and found it worked good. My friend turned on the 170 and the difference was not that great over 150m and the rain was beating down into my face.
I must say that the new bulb is far better and there's more output with the new 75w bulb.
If I had my money back what would I buy???????
The 170 of course but the shootalite is now better than before. Total cost of the shootalite with mount and new bulb was more than the 170 with dimmer and the 170 has a 100w bulb in it and 25mm and 30mm mounts. But the shootalite did come with a 7 a/h battery and charger

macadam

Just came across this site selling the Cluson shootalite sl2 package for £87.95 www.molevalleyfarmers.com it includes lamp and gun mount kit , battery pack and beam control, is that not good value?

Did not get a price for postage but total weight inc packaging is about 4 kgs so £10 should post it.

Maca