Greetings from Las Vegas.
Military.com associate editor Greg Grant and I are attending this year’s SHOT Show in Vegas and we had an opportunity to demo some of the hottest products from vendors today at the couple ranges outside the gambling mecca.
One of the most interesting themes we ran across was the change in color from red laser sights to green. Technical reps from both Crimson Trace and Viridian told us that the green laser is much easier to pick up during daylight shoots and that since the red laser is closer to the invisible IR spectrum, the eye has a harder time picking it up in all environments.
We test shot some pistols and rifles with both the red version and green and agreed that picking up the green version was easier on mottled backgrounds (read camo) than the red. But the big down side is that the green light takes more power to produce, thus reducing battery life of the sight.
Stay tuned here and to Kit Up for more from the 2010 SHOT Show.
(Photo: Crimson Trace)
– Christian
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
Wouldn't it be hard to see the green laser in a dense jungle where the surroundings are green?
Why the discussion, it is just a matter of time before they offer both colors on a single sight. Green for indoor and night vision enhancement and red for jungle and state park (joke) applications.
Yea! Lets say your patrolling in a green house and everything is green…what do you do then?
This is the same reason behind why green scopes are used for Night Vision goggles.
The eye is more adept at picking up variations of the green colour than it is at others.
However… this has an obvious hinderence. You can see the green colour from miles away… whereas with the red, you can’t.
Useful when raiding a room or house, but not on outdoor operations.
The real "problem" with green lasers is the power issue, but not just battery life. At this point, they cannot be made as small as red lasers. In other words, no guide-rod lasers, no rear-sight lasers, no lasers integrated into the grip, etc…
But, who knows what technology will bring in the near future. Remember the High Tech red laser Arnold used on the 1911 in the first Terminator? It was the size of a Mag Light.
if you look at the picture, it looks pretty intergrated into the grip, to me… i've seen green beams the size of my thumb.
I meant that they cannot be integrated into a and existing Pistol's grip such as Crimson Trace. The Grip in the photo has plenty of room for the lasers guts; that whole grip was designed/built around that green laser. There are a few companies that make smaller green lasers, but they all have to mount on the front rail and prohibit use of most "fitted" pistol holsters.
Of course when it comes to a rifle, the size of any accessory is not going to as much of a problem.
Ahh, i understand what you aree saying now…
Good Afternoon Folks,
I know this isn’t a tech issue, but is not the color “Green” always been assigned to the Russians like in tracer rounds? For you old guy those were the tennis balls we had coming at us at night. US guys putting out green lasers could confuse some people that have their own fire power.
ALLONS,
Byron Skinner
But the red one goes faster!
A switch to green lasers will assure our victory in Afghanistan.
Why didn't the US military think of this before?
True! We should also put a bible verse on it and then we got them where we want them
Red, Green, how can we tell the Empire from the Rebel Alliance
Yellow….that was a easy question
This article is a little KrellBoy and was posted 6 months ago but the technology should be matriculating soon into the defense industry.
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/07/28/1239211/Finally-a-True-Green-Laser?from=rss