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Dereelight Torch

Dereelight Torch

Technology has moved on considerably with gun-mounted torches, but one of the problems with these compacts is effective range and light energy wasted in lateral spill. Yes a light might ‘illuminate’ to 200-yards and more, but what can you really see? As we require a tight/ bright beam to locate the quarry and place the shot.

Convex Lens

New to me is the Dereelight Night Master LED torch kit, which looks little different from the competition. It claims to illuminate out to 500+ meters, which is certainly a mission statement from a 15cm long, 300-gram (10oz) unit. Though looking conventional with its black, Type-3 hard anodised build and knurling, a slight give away is the size of the lamp head and lens shape.

Output is 300 lumens, which is about average for a higher rated torch of this type. However, its focusable, convex/ aspherical lens converts this into 100,000 lux due to its shape, as it offers maximum output and beam throw. A lux is a unit of illumination and roughly equals 1 lumen per square metre. So it concentrates the output to keep it inside a smaller area as possible. In fact when you focus the beam you will see a rectangular image on target, with very little/no over spill.

You get a single mode (3-mode available) white LED torch, scope mount, 18650 li-ion battery, dual battery charger and spare O-rings. Optional are coloured LED/heads (red and green) and a remote switch. The tail cap glows in the dark and offers press-on/click-on operation. A run time of two hours (continuous) is quoted, but sensible use will doubtless increase that to around four.

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Testing Times

The mount is a polymer Fig-8 clamp that self-adjusts to body size (torch and scope) by a single screw and gives good mounting latitude. I fitted the Night Master to my Ruger 17HMR/S&B Zenith 3-12x50 combo. It was not raining, but it was damp and through the scope I could already see a slight haze of moisture! The first test was still in the light as at 19.45 as a pair of roe does came out of the woods at 450-yards, I flashed them and even in these conditions I got a full reflection off their eyes, impressive! So no problems picking up a foxes peepers at 500+! Waiting for the light to go saw a number of hares and rabbits out into the field, well out of HMR range but good test targets for the torch. In the dark the tightness of the beam became most apparent, which I found to be a mixed blessing. Though we do not like too much overspill from a torch a little bit of it illuminates the area surrounding the target, which actually seems to give a better overall picture and contrast. I could get onto rabbits/hares out to around 250/300-yards to shoot them, but it was like looking down a small, white corridor and targets were easily lost if they moved off.

Focus You Fool

Likewise sweeping to locate targets required more precision and once shot just a moments lack of concentration from where the beam was could mean losing sight of it. It was at this time I remembered the beam was focusable and had already pre-set it. So I experimented adjusting it and got a far better all-round beam in the sight picture, with a slight reduction in range, which at night is not a problem. After all 200/250-yards is a long shot after dark!

Swapping to the red LED showed that it’s much better than fitting a filter, as there’s no reduction in output. However, the colour did not contrast enough and I found the reticule indistinct. But in fairness the water vapour in the air doubtless affected both optical and light performance too.

I found it better to mount the torch as low as possible, when used at 12 o’clock you seemed to be coming up into the illumination, which was refracting off the moisture in the air and hazing the picture. However, I could easily spot eyes at 500-yards and with correct torch placement also pick up movement/shape, though target ID was less than 100%. There’s little doubt that the Night Master throws an intense and tight beam, which is impressive and for my eyes certainly shootable out to 250/300-yards given the right conditions/rifle and able to pick up eyes at 500 too. Plus it can be refocused to suit! Overall the high power to low weight ratio makes this a good gun-mounted system.

FOR - Light, very powerful, compact and effective
AGAINST - Beam needs focusing for range and situation
VERIDCT - The convex/ aspherical lens is certainly the way forward for gun-torches

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