Wanted, T20 (I think)

[Rabid]

Hi, I am looking for a t20 to go with my pulsar n550.

I have been pointed in this direction as I understand a few people sell them on here ?

I believe I need a 850 3 mode driver, with a tail switch ??

Does this make sense to anyone cos it baffles me.

[punky]

Marky above m8 night-tek bought a three mode one myself fast post and ex coms or others on here sell them

[Radagast]

850nm = bandwidth of light. Think of it as the 'shade' of infrared that gets projected by the torch. For NV you can get 808nm lasers, which are near visible red, 850nm led torches, which have a slight red glow at the torch head, but no visible beam and 940nm which has near zero red glow, basically a 'black light', but roughly half to a quarter the range of the 850nm torch.

So we generally get the 850nm.

So far the best Infrared LEDs are the Osram Oslon Black. The 850nm Oslon black comes in low power (SH4715) & high power (SH4715S).

So you want the 850nm SH4715S Osram Oslon Black in your torch.

Because its a powerful LED, sometimes when pointed at close targets you will get too much IR reflected and it will 'white out' the image in your eye piece. So its best to get a torch that has a 3 mode driver, meaning it has low, medium and high settings. You just click the button to switch the mode. In the dark of the moon with long range targets? High mode. Full moon and short range targets? Low mode.

Unless you are shooting off a rest, fumbling around in the dark to turn the torch off and on or swap modes can be a pain, so a lot us use a remote pressure switch or 'rat tail' switch. These have a momentary (light pressure and hold for on, let go for off) and rocker switch (off & On) combined with a long wire tail to the back of the torch so you can tape the pressure switch to the stock, close to your finger or thumb.

There are multiple types of torches, that can be converted to 850nm. The most commonly used by forum members are the Uniquefire UF T20, The UF T20 with 66mm Crelant Head and the Ultrafire 501B. These are used because they come with, or can be converted to an aspheric lens. Aspheric lens are almost a half hemisphere in shape and will collect and concentrate the IR from the torch into a very tight beam, so that illumination to 200 or 300 meters is possible. The bigger the head the more concentrated the beam, but also the more likely to knock against things, extra weight and general unwieldiness.

Because the Pulsar has a side rail, the 66mm head will be a pain in the rear, so cancel that idea. That leaves the 501B & the T20.

The 501B is sold by forum member Some Bloke (Dave). I'll let him make his pitch to you when he comes along. He sells a 501B with a quality custom aspheric lens, remote pressure switch and three mode Oslon Black. The 501B is not zoomable, but is relatively low profile with a 28mm wide lens.

The UF-T20 is sold by forum members Marky610 (Mark) & Sika Stag (Ian). The T20 has a zoomable head, so you can twist it to adjust for spot and flood. It has a 44mm lens, so you need a higher mount to clear the side of the scope.

Dave, Marky & Ian all have good reputations for customer service, they test their builds before sending them out and warrant their products. I've ordered a couple of times from Ian, he has shipped same day.

Marky is a forum sponsor and has his section here:
viewforum.php?f=38
& a sales thread:
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=4181

Ian's sales thread is here:
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=4528
&
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=4569

Dave has a sales thread here:
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=5651
&
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=5287

You will also need a battery and charger. Both the 501B & T20 use a single 18650 (18mm wide, 65mm long) lithium ion battery of the type used in laptops. If overcharged they can explode. If badly constructed, they can explode. If over discharged they lose the ability to carry a charge and are useless.
So it's best to get what is called a 'protected battery' These have a protection circuit against overcharge and over-discharge. You will also want a quality charger, one that monitors if the battery is damaged, in back to front or overcharging. Laptops don't explode because they have the protection circuit / charger circuit built into the battery pack, which will contain 6 or 8 18650 batteries.

Quality batteries are Sanyo, Samsung, & Panasonic. Other good brands use those three under their wrapper.
A good charger is the Nitecore Intellicharger i4

The forums' recommended UK supplier of batteries & chargers is Torchy the Battery Boy.
His test data site:
http://www.torchythebatteryboy.com/p/18 ... rgers.html
His Ebay store:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/big_f_d_d/m.html

Hope this helps.

[baffled]

What a wonderfully informed reply!

Not only 'what' but 'why' also.

Well done Sir.

baffled.

[Rabid]

Thanks for the replies everyone, especially to radagast for taking the time to put that in writing, I have read it three times, and reckon it all makes sense now, much appreciated.

All I need to do now is find one, I will send a couple of messages to those who have been mentioned.

Many thanks, Rob.

[AirRifleSport]

Rad aghast, your post should be a sticky. Well done!