Green/red laser/light Pros and cons...

[Texasgrillchef]

What are the pros and cons for each using them at night for either hunting or SD.

I am referring to using lasers of either the red or green variety, as well as using red or green flashlights.

I use a green laser for astronomy reasons because you can see the green laser line and makes it very easy to point out stars planets etc in the sky. Yes one has to be careful of airplanes for obvious reasons. So I’m not for sure one would want to use a green laser on a firearm for SD other then maybe against an animal.

As far as flashlights go... the red or green doesn’t seem to me to be any different on my eyes seeing. I can’t see anything better or worse with one over the other or vice versa.

I do have scopes and sights where I can choose between a red dot/reticle and a green dot/reticle. So one one firearm, I have my red laser sighted in for 75 yards and my Green dot sighted in for 50 I use green so when looking through the sight I can see where my 50 and 75 yard target lines up.

However since both are available I am just wondering what the pros and cons are, or if there aren’t any except for personal preference. And the fact the green laser you can see the beam.

 

[Tinman357]

Green is better in daylight. But in my experiance, way to bright inside at night. Blinding in fact. If I were to point it into a bad guys eye, i believe he would have a hard time seeing me for a while. I have a lot of reflective surfaces in my home. I don't use the green inside. Red is harder to see outside or in daylight.

I have both. My EDC has a green. Bedside gun has a red. Both have night sights. I practice with irons and lasers. Also have RMR equipped. I find all of them useful.

 

[Texasgrillchef]

Green is better in daylight. But in my experiance, way to bright inside at night. Blinding in fact. If I were to point it into a bad guys eye, i believe he would have a hard time seeing me for a while. I have a lot of reflective surfaces in my home. I don't use the green inside. Red is harder to see outside or in daylight.

I have both. My EDC has a green. Bedside gun has a red. Both have night sights. I practice with irons and lasers. Also have RMR equipped. I find all of them useful.

on my handguns they all have night sights, some from factory, some replaced with tru glow night sights. I only have the lasers on the rifles and SD shotguns. On the SD shotguns, allows me to fire from the hip quickly and accurately to 25 yards.

night time doesn’t seem to make a huge difference to me, but I can tell the green laser is much easier to see during the daytime that’s for sure.

one other interesting note, my girlfriends cat seems to like to play with the red laser dot.... but totally will always ignore the green laser dot. Doesn’t even seem to notice it at all. Red laser... always...

 

[JTHunter]

A few years ago, I was finally able to acquire a Keltec PMR-30 pistol (.22 Mag). Over the next 18 months, I checked out red, green, and blue lasers at gun stores and shows. Although the gun shows were fairly well lit, the red laser was noticeably dimmer to me, even when shined on the walls above the lights. The greens were definitely brighter, even the low end ones. That may be because most males have a certain amount of color blindness, and in my case, it runs in the family. After 18 months of looking, a newly opened Academy Sports had a sale on lasers with both red and green going for $49.99. I jumped ! My PMR now carries that green laser on its built-in rail under the barrel.
I also have a multifunction flashlight with 6 white LEDs, 2 red LEDs and one green one. That single green is brighter than the dual reds. Go figure.
Oh, the blue laser? Don't waste your time. The several different models I tried were all a "joke". They were as dim (or dimmer) than the reds and I could not see any use for them.

 

[labnoti]

The human eye is more sensitive to green wavelengths and green lasers are easier to notice compared to red lasers of the same brightness. Green lasers take more energy to produce that brightness -- they're less efficient -- and so they tend to have greater battery demand or shorter battery life.

Some animals may be less sensitive to certain wavelengths and for nocturnal hunting (as for hogs) certain colored flash lights can be employed without startling the game whereas white light may be more likely to startle them. I've never hunted with lights so I can't comment from personal experience what works or doesn't.

I have owned several weapons-mounted lasers and no longer use any. I don't find them compelling for use. I can see how IR lasers might have their place in conjunction with NV, but I don't do that. Over the decades that lasers and red dots have been around, it seems to me that red dots have earned recognition as a compelling tool and are being adopted in every discipline. Lasers continue to be mostly a gimmick sold to newbies. How many police forces use lasers on their handguns? How many competitors use handgun lasers for anything but muzzle weight? How many top flight handgun schools/academies teach laser-specific classes?

 

[herrwalther]

Green is easier for the human eye to pick up and process. By comparison it is easier to see a green laser even in daylight over red. There are only a handful of disadvantages of green laser vs red: they are "brighter" so they will affect night vision more than red. Green is a higher wavelength so they take a little bit more equipment and battery power to project. As such, a red laser might have a battery life of 3-4 hours constant run time where green will be 1.5. Because of this, red lasers are cheaper.

My carry firearms have carried red and green lasers for years. They can be quite useful if you know how to use them properly. I used lasers (laser sight and bore laser) to properly line up iron sights when I couldn't sight in a new firearm at the range. They are great at dry firing drills. You can really see how much your trigger pull moves your muzzle around if you are focusing on a laser at 10 yards.