Hello all,

I'm just now looking at buying my first headlamp, and have a question. What is the advantage of having a headlamp with a Red light? Do animals not see red?

Thanks, Paul

This is mainly for the benefit of your eyes. When working in the dark, your eyes don't dilate when exposed to red light like they would if you used white light. This still allows you to see what you're doing without having to let your eyes readjust to the darkness after every time you turn the light on.  

There may be other benefits but these are the ones I'm familiar with.

The red light is good for your eyes as Shreffler said. It's great for camping especially backpacking where you want to see something but don't want to lose all your night vision. Also good for camping with others in a tent with you if you need to see something but not disturb others.

If you use it to approach tree stands before daylight I highly recommend it.  True deer may not mind a white light but I assure you birds and turkeys do.  I cannot tell you how many times I had birds fly off alarm sounds when I used a traditional white light.  Now that I use red it happens a heck of a lot less.  Several times I have flipped from red to white and had birds immediately alert.  I use red light when walking in, while climbing my tree, if I feel relatively safe there are not a lot of birds nesting near, I may switch to a dim white light while climbing.  Most of the time I just stick with a red light.

Thanks for the advice guys. I just ordered a Princeton Tec Remix with the red led.

QuoteOriginally posted by Tall Paul:
Hello all,

I'm just now looking at buying my first headlamp, and have a question. What is the advantage of having a headlamp with a Red light? Do animals not see red?

Thanks, Paul

Hi Paul,
Its been my experience that animals dont spook when I have my red led on. But I get a little nervous when I see eyes looking at me, less than a foot off the ground.