A really good use of a strobe system is on night hikes with your pet and you're worried about them running off after a squirrel or something. Gives you a better ability to pick them out. Another good use would be on your vehicle once you enter a new area to mark where you parked. Night hiking in a new area can be daunting because you're worried about potentially losing where you came from.

I really loved your performance in American Psycho. It’s pretty cool having a celebrity gun guys like Christian Bale.

The streamlight sidewinder 2 was the GOAT of headlamps in Ranger school and in my Infantry unit. It was the only red lens headlamp I could find that took AA batteries. That was huge. Had battery commonality with PVS-14's (and later back at my unit, our ancient PEQ-2's) and I could (and did) swap the battery in the dark while rucking, instead of having to struggle with 3 AAA's that alternate directions. Plus it has IR and a helmet mount, and can take EITHER a single CR123 or AA. I have 2 or 3 now.

Admin lights and stobes seem to be one thing you could really find a great price for on the Ali-Express knockoff market. They don't have to survive recoil, don't need to put out that much power, etc.

Yourself and Brass Facts are my favorite “guntubers” because you go against the grain with this simple, easy to follow and digest format. Don’t stop doing what you’re doing, your work is appreciated!

You can also tap the power button 5 times and hold and you can change to green, blue or red in the color setting just so you know.

The old skool Streamlight Sidewinder was actually standard issue when I was in the Corps. They're pretty awesome, man. Always worked great. Streamlight makes great stuff...going to have to grab one of these new ones.

I wish I had a cool friend like Hop.

Long as that beers notta Bud Light we're all good brother 😂

You pointing out the Otto makes me want a review of that It looks pretty good, but Otto's website doesn't have a lot of pricing or purchasing information. Heck, it doesn't have a lot of information beyond dry specs in general.

Lmfao the classic Hop format of going in depth through the pros and cons of gear just to say, "....and none of these are good options". Sidewinder compact is goated. I used one on my helmet as I currently only have a TW bump, so managed to rig it on the helmet through the holes with zipties.

My black cat doesn't ever seem to realize her ass is sticking out of her concealment either. Nice video, appreciated by us nighttime boys

As one of the 6 people to watch - I would appreciate you offering me a beer next time. Thank you.

I don't mind the beer... it's the fact I had to wait 11+ minutes to get to the cat action that is pissing me off.

The sidewinder Stalk is the best option by far, I was preparing to type an angry comment towards you ignoring it when you revealed it on the table. You can use the Velcro mount to put it on the helmet instead of the rail and still mount earpro.

Ah yes, the best way to spend an afternoon

I appreciate the info and your shared experience Hop 🍻

Otto Review? How do they compare to comtacts and such? Love your videos. Especially the cat segments :))))

Just got my helmet set up going. Semi budget build Cayman style bump helmet PVS14 NNVT Walkers attached to mounts counter weights I finally feel like a night goon

nice content Hop. I'm in the process of getting myself some night vision so this is good information to keep in mind.

While expensive I've found my favorite to be the SS Max mount with a vampire head. The form factor is perfect and it's the lowest profile full power helmet light I've found that's not a total snag hazard.

Oh Socko says a thing 😻

I use a vampire on my helmet and it's extremely useful when in super dark areas when trying to walk over rough terrain. Of course my area being mostly mountains and forests is very different from your open desert environment. It's also useful when I want to use it as an umbrella white light when everyone wants to take the nods off and looks around. Highly recommend it as a helmet light

a great very interesting video Mr.Hop.I do hope that you got way better and that you are going to make some really great and interesting videos on the Shot Show Mr.Hop.have a good one Mr Hop.

I use the mission first tactical little light with a knock off pic rail like the one you showed. It works great.

I'll have you know I watch all your NV videos despite never seeing myself owning NVGs

This is pretty well outside the scope of the video, but I think it's worth mentioning that outside of NV/IR setups, it's extremely useful to consider civilian/recreational headlamp setups. The Petzl E-lite is low-profile (in my experience, basically unnoticeable when doing high-intensity climbing and mountaineering) and still offers great illumination when you need it!

This was an enjoyable experience for me

I like the ol’ Surefire helmet light mounted on chest rig/ PC pointed down for low light needs and with the strobe doesn’t hit my noods cause it’s so close to my body and I can un clip it use hand held. Leave it on ir and just crack the battery cap to use as on/off.

Gotta love cats

In remarks to strobes on helmets...most of what im gonna say is really just common sense so its not really giving away any TPPs if someone wants to cry about that. When i was working with SF down range, we really didnt use strobes for air. Almost all the time, air knew who the good guys were and who the bad guys were. It wasnt that hard for them to see the notable difference. Usually air was on us before any enemy contact came so when it did come, air knew the line between us and them. What we DID use them for however is when we started splitting off elements to avoid friendly fire and even then...didn't use them much. We just had really good situational awareness that if we saw movement on mountain "x", that was supposed to be the RECCE element or support by fire element or something. We did have a situation however where ofcourse working with Afghans and them acting like a bunch of 13 year olds at the local airsoft field, helo'd in, saw my element up on the mountain, and opened fire on us. We called out a cease fire, and the SF guys were asking "hey, does anyone have a strobe?" LOL i found it kinda funny the more highly skilled dudes were asking infantry guys that but luckily I had mine and slapped it on my helmet. Some could argue its not really necessary to put on your helmet, but I personally was always the guy that had something that was only needed 1% of the time but it still ended up being needed at one point or another and its good to have. Stobes today are super small and super light - its a really good idea to have one

That nitecore would have been an interesting option had I known about it. I actually have a Cejay Phoenix Jr 123 wrapped in Saran Wrap on mine. Actually would be pretty good if the mount had an option for a clear plastic cover.

Got 2 Unity Sparks on my helmet. Simplest method to tell them apart is just to use a sharpie and mark the green with a G and the infrared one with IR. Doesn't diminish the effect these thibgs put out. Or put them side by side and systemize it by deciding right side = IR or somthing. As long as you have a system and get familiar with you gear it's smooth sailing.

Enjoy your beer my dude!

The Stalk looked really appealing to me when I first saw it. Unfortunately I’m still stuck in 2015 so I have the original Comtac arc rail mounts that leave just barely enough room for some goggle bungee mounts. I just use my pvs14 map light as a task light and an inforce wml on the back of my helmet as an umbrella light. I just pull the inforce off my shotgun since it’s QD and I can also put it on my rifle in case my Surefire vampire goes down. Great multipurpose option. For strobes I just use an ms2000 cuz gwot vibes and the big pos also acts as a bit of a counterweight.

Just got my pvs14 monocle today. So sick,

I love this niche. And I love you. Enjoy your beer and I'll enjoy the video.

TNVC has a dual mode single cell vamp head that's only 5mW of IR when clicked once for low mode, 2 clicks gets you full 100mW of output. it's the best option I have found and might be worth looking into.

TAPS is king, admin pouch in front, dbl pistol mag and radio on left, TQ on right. Can pack 2 40rnd in far left and far right pouch. I also just run a slickster and throw my rig over it when I want to run plates. You can adapt a condor H harness and run double strap for the horizontal for a more secure fit, even with 12 mags and all the other crap there is little movement when secured properly.

moduar chest rigs are the way to go!

Having used most offerings, I think the best currently is (albeit cost prohibitive) the TNVC/Surefure head on an S&S MAX mount and with a surefire flip filter. This gives you low then high white and IR light, on a highly adjustable arm to angle it any way you wish, and a blue or red flip cap for a white light filter. Close second and 1/4 the price is the Princeton tec charge. With a red/green/IR low and bright white model and your choice of AA or 123 battery it’s pretty slick. The streamlight falls into third place from my experience

Funny intro. True, though. No one else has nightvision, and no one else wants to talk about it. I still love it though.

Awesome video. Id live to see a video about your earpro.

Love you hop

I use the Sidewinder Stalk. It has visible light in red, white, blue, and green. It also has the IR stuff. I had to get the instructions back out to get the color back to red, when I got it stuck in green. It's not very intuitive, but does a lot of things if you get the hang of it.

Cheers mate!

I am using a helmet mounted IR flashlight coupled with a defocused laser as night bike riding illumination. A PEQ for the head :D The torch handles everything up to 20m and the laser 150m. Pretty fun near/far light combo, needless to say that`s full on Gen1 mode glowing like a christmas tree

My helmet light is the PETZEL STRIX. They were discontinued over a decade ago so it was a royal pain in the ass tracking one down, but I’m glad I did. It has red, green, and blue lights for your choosing, a white light of 3 intensity levels, and an IR light with 2 intensity levels and a strobe mode. All with an intuitive control setup that can be locked so you don’t accidentally discharge your white light, and if you have your white light on and also turn on the IR, it overrides the white light setting and just shines the IR. It has a rotating head but no boom arm (which I personally like because I’m paranoid of the damn boom snagging shit). Plus it looks badass too!

5 people turned into 25 thousand people in 10 days.. that is a lot of beer!

Just got set up a couple months ago. The Streamlight is definitely the jack of all trades, but at least the bases are covered and it's a reliable, tough, versatile little light. Doesn't take long to get familiar with the controls - just remember to ALWAYS poke the button and turn the thing off before twisting! No idea why on earth they decided to make it remember the setting and risk a big ol' negligent light blast.

Just a heads up the Sidewinder compact II is better than the stalk IMO. More candela for a more focused beam. Form factor isn’t as good but it’s a trade off I’m willing to take. Umbrella lighting is still possible on the highest setting.

Woah I ordered a stock from Amazon yesterday.

Super cheap option is to use a hole punch to punch 4 holes in a pvc Velcro patch and ziptie an old handheld to it. You can move it around pretty much anywhere on your helmet for task, navigation, umbrella, etc. also less of a snag hazard as it’ll just rip off and dangle if it’s dummy corded.

I still run an old Petzl STRIX IR, it does everything well enough. Costly to find these days though...

I look forward to Socko everytime

Now all you have to do is produce a blink182 song and we’ll know you’re serious about the hobby.

I generally don't trust men who like cats, but you're the exception Hop! 😂

7,481 people watched so far and im pretty sure most of us are drinking a beer with you!

It’s only acceptable if it’s a Busch Lite (not Busch Heavy. There’s definitely a difference)

Bro read my mind I was literally just searching to see if he put out a video on this topic

I feel pretty special being one of only 5 people to see this vid!😁

Can you do some videos on night vision vs gun painting. Ive noticed many things that look good in light for camouflage glow under nv.

Do you have a video talking more about you ear pro mounts? I’m very interested in those & what rails they’re compatible with

Sounded more like a white claw

Going from a FLIC to a TAPS was night & day, so much better, when I was serving.

Thanks Hop there goes more of my money.

I think I still have one of those little ir strobes that connect to a 9v battery they issued us, never once fucking used it in 6 years.

Watching a man work through his own mental illness. It's very brave.

For white work light just wear a headlamp as a neckalce so you can take your helmet off when you need to.

Taps or eagle h harness are king

I'm drinking a beer or four quietly in the background while watching this video.

that cat knows you can see it, but it was staying there under the blanket because it's warm. my cat tries and fails occasionally to tuck herself under covers when she gets cold

Good shit as always! What's the tl;dr on the Noizebarrier vs ComTacs? I'm about ready to throw my Amazon PoorTacs in the trash.

Have you done any videos about different hearing protection you have used? If not is it something you are planning on doing?

I know my sidewinder has blue, green and red for visible options. You’ve got to use the button(press it 3x?) to switch between the options.

Task light recommend blue or green light. Yes red light doesn't travel as far, but red actually has the most bloom and appears brightest while aided vs green or blue. Not great if you're trying to reduce your signature vs aided or not bloom out others/your own goggles, but it also might not matter based on your environment. Many NVDs have a blue light filter which means blue light is completely compatible (you can't see blue light through them) which means you can do all unaided work under blue light without it affecting anyone on goggles. Also if you use yellow highlighter and hit it with blue light, it will glow if you're referencing some navigation/mission products. The ol streamlight sidewinder 14032 is standard on our gear and can do blue, green, ir, and visible which works good enough for a lot of things. It's not the most high speed nor is it hands free (though it does have a clip). This is in addition to a lip light and they occasional stalk light that someone puts onto their helmet.

Hop, Another informative vid, thanks. BTW, whats that watch you are wearing looks like a old military watch?

Looking for the screenshot for my next Hop thread on /k/

Sweet

The Unity Spark IR has a very dim visible red indicator that shows you if the unit is on and what mode it’s in

Spectre gunships is so 2010. We actually have Ghost Rider gunships now.

Joke’s on you, Hop. Almost 7,500 people watched this video so far. That’s like at least double the 5 you predicted.

Hop what's your beer of choice

Hey hop the meprolight mor pro is a red dot with a ir laser built in. I havent seen many people review them, could be something cool to try out.

Yo hop! I was wondering how you were liking the Otto headset and how you would compare it to other stuff you tried?

Do you have a video on helmet mount ear pro?

How do you like the Otto’s? I tried on a pair and the spatial awareness seemed top notch. Strongly considering upgrading to a pair.

You are so wrong, NV is why and how I found your channel, AND have been waiting patiently for you to enlighten us more on the subject. Thanks!

I personally prefer the mpls pro to the stalk. They are both very similar. The button options on the mpls seem harder to ND a vis light im not a huge fan of the spinny selector on the stalk.

Used IR beacons in airsoft. It makes a huge difference for foe identification. Night time combat can be chaotic, even with NVG's. IR beacons made it very easy to identify a target as foe, especially when close to friendly playes. However, these days...too much NVG capability on both sides :)

I probably missed it but is anything Z Bolt makes worth looking into? They seem to be in an upper tier price range…

How are you liking the Otto’s?

Will we get your thoughts on the TA110?

How do you like those ear pro mounts? Seems like the rear mounted ones arent as stable as the top mounted ones.

Hop after diving into battle rifles these days, do you miss your old PTR, or do you dislike it even more

No sure fire hl 1? Has task, red light and ir and stroke Ina. Way smaller package?

shotshow video please , does the jakl bullpup look good? freak.

Heat cat !!

dad posted new opinion

Thanks!