Betalight

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I was visiting with someone at the gun show a few weeks back and, as sometimes often happens when you’re hanging out with like-minded individuals, the conversation turned to gear. As the person I was with was going thruogh their bag I noticed something…

“Is that a BetaLight?”
“Yeah, I got it….”, and I heard how this person came into it.
“Cool. I’ve always wanted one of those but they can be a little tough to get.”
“Here. You can have it.”
“!!!!!!”

Some people are just too generous to describe in a way that does them justice. I try to be as generous with other LMI, but it’s pretty hard to top giving someone a BetaLight. (Although, it can be done….rarely)

So what is a BetaLight? Well, the easiest way to describe it this: you know how those glow-y tritium dots on your pistol are about the size of a pinhead? Imagine if they were the size of a quarter. It provides enough light that, when its dark and your eyes have adjusted to the low light level, provides enough light for close-in tasks. And, since the thing is powered by physics and not batteries, it lasts quite a while.. (12.3 years half life, so it’ll be half as bright in about 12 years.)

Although readily available in the UK, they are a tough thing to get your hands on in the US.

Advantages? No moving parts, no batteries, no electronics, waterproof, shockproof, dustproof, everything-proof. Produces a useful amount of light for close-in tasks without being strong enough to draw attention to you.

Disadvantages? Small amount of light limits utility for anything other than close-in tasks. Cancer if you eat it.

So, naturally, I have to play with it. In a dark room, after your eyes have adjusted to the light, it generates enough dim light to see the walls of the room, and definitely provides enough light to read instructions, check a gun, examine switches, operate combinatin locks, etc.

It’s a cool piece of gear that I’ve always been fascinated by. I am very grateful to the person who gifted it to me, and I hope I can return the favor someday.

16 thoughts on “Betalight”

  1. Nice acquisition. It was good of that individual to pass it on to you
    You do meet some generous people in that setting.
    Harry

    • As some one in the UK I’ll tell you now they are not that readily available. Every time I have put a order in (with more than one seller and over years) they are out of stock and do not know when (if?) they will have any in.

      • There is a difference between a lack of availability due to low inventory, and lack of availability due to bureaucratic edicts.

  3. My wife bought me a Luminox watch with tritium on the hands and 6 of the hour positions. Living in a city where it never truly gets dark, you don’t appreciate it. But a couple of weeks later, a snowstorm knocked out power to everything in the area. The watch was casting shadows on the wall across he room. I can only imagine what a quarter sized chunk of tritium would do.

    • I had a similar watch. Don’t recall exactly what it was, but it was so bright in a blacked out room, that I couldn’t read it. It was blinding. I would leave it on the night table next to a normal clock, and use it to illuminate the clock to check the time. I could read a book with it.

      Hmm, that might have been back when my eyes were much younger, and people would ask why I was wearing sunglasses at midnight. Now I’m wondering what happened to that watch.

    • I’ve noticed a similar effect from the tritium sights on a pistol before, bunking down out in the back of beyond. Given the not-unreasonable prices of tritium front sights these day, it might be feasible to make one’s one light from one or two front sights, a piece of tubing, and some epoxy?

  4. You might check out some of the products from UVPaqlite. The UVO necklace is pretty cool. Needs a light source (Any light source – sunlight, flashlight, indoor lighting, etc) but its good to go for a couple of hours until it needs a recharge. Supposedly lasts a lifetime. I’ve had several of the mylar sheet products and detect no loss of light.

    Pretty much describes most of their products. Same as beta light – no batteries, same ‘everything proof’ features. For close in lighting – the necklace can be taken off and lowered to foot level to see the path in the dark.

    I keep a couple of different products in a day pack – the sheet products are weightless and can be wrapped around an object if you like.

    • I stock the tube types from UVPaqlite. Something like $8 each. If you buy a high lumen LED flashlight it takes about five seconds to recharge the tube ( construct a box to hide the light to preserve your night vision ). They don’t stay real bright forever, 15-30 minutes at full brightness then fade. But while they are at full, I can read by them by laying the tube on the page under the sentence. You can get real fancy and expensive doing it otherwise but for me this was the frugal work-around.

    • Second the recommendation of the UVPaqlite. Every member in the Fam has one of the tube lights, gave them out as stocking stuffers a few years ago. No moving parts and the size of a chemlight. They advertise a 1:1 shine to illuminate time, however I find that one exposed to sunlight all day gives 7-9 hours of (usable) light at night.

  5. I read the post and liked the look of the Batalight, so I went to their website. After having a look at the product, I sent them a message asking how I could order one. The answer was: “They do not comply with the Canadian regulations, according to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.” I suspect that this is also the case in the (not so) United States and that’s why they are as scarce as hen’s teeth on this side of the pond.

    I’m not too worried, I travel across the pond every couple of years and the next time I go I’ll just get one of my contacts to order one for me.

    • There’s also more than a few on eBay that have sellers willing to drop one in a box…….

      • I never even thought of eBay… Thanks for that tip. I’ll look, but I’m not expecting anything because these items will not make it over the border by post. It’s funny, one of the other things the sales rep wrote was that these units are made in Canada but, because of regulations made by our feudal masters in Ottawa, they cannot be sold in country.

    • Flashlights, “tactical light” and such-like are some of the “ordnance” items on the US ITAR export list. Can add layers of silly bullshit to the purchasing of simple AA light, never mind something radioactive” etc. Be cautious trying to circumvent the export rules — there are substantial penalties if one is caught with a controlled item in an outbound box.

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