Rifle Scopes Illuminated reticle, green or red?

[sr15match]

I am looking to order some new glass and I’ve never used an illuminated reticle but am considering it.

What is your preference in color and why, green verses red.

Help me out.

Todd

 

[sobrbiker883]

Re: Illuminated reticle, green or red?

I prefer red, it doesn't affect my natural night vision like green does. However, if you are running NVD then green works better I hear....

 

[TOP PREDATOR]

Re: Illuminated reticle, green or red?

green eats up the battery more, i don't mind either for low light shots, but to me the more important thing is the levels of brightness.

the 10 or 11 settings are nice, as the ones with less are sometimes still too bright when using at night. just kills my night vision, and while coyote hunting, i actually can't see anything in the scope because it's too bright with the only 4 or 5 brightness settings.

you can always put an almost dead battery in, which lights up the reticle less, but then you have the risk of it going totally dead.

 

[427Cobra]

Re: Illuminated reticle, green or red?

Human eyes see red alot easier than green

 

[sr15match]

Re: Illuminated reticle, green or red?

I don't have NV as of yet but I'm trying to open the budget to allow it in the future. Red makes sense for the short term but if green is prefered with NV then maybe green is the way to go and just live with it for the time being. (no my mind hasn't been made up yet)

Dusk and night shooting is going to be limited for quite some time anyway but ending up with NV is no guarantee either.

Damn, red or green, red or green................... decisions decisions.

 

[500grains]

Re: Illuminated reticle, green or red?

GREEN because that is what the human eye is most sensitive to.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
Red light is used in cockpits for night flying because it is the least detrimental to the
pilot's night vision. You have noticed that it takes a period of accommodation for your
eye to see well in the dark after leaving a lighted room. That accommodation is easier
after being exposed to red light.

There are two problems with the red light in the cockpit. First the human eye is less
sensitive to red light than to any other color of the spectrum. Second, the pilot cannot
see red print (which is sometimes used on navigation charts) under the red light. To
solve this second problem the cockpits often have a small, narrow-beamed white light that
is used sparingly. Often the pilot closes one eye when using the white light to preserve
the night adaptation of that eye.

<span style="font-weight: bold">The human eye sees green the best. </span> So the important information (like numbers on
instruments) are generally green (or sometimes yellowish green) in color.

Maintaining good vision inside and outside the cockpit... even at night... is important
to a pilot.


http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/eng99/eng99235.htm

</div></div>

 

[dcjs]

Re: Illuminated reticle, green or red?

Of course it's still a matter of personal preference to some extent, but there are reasons why most lit reticles are red.

The human eye is indeed most sensitive to green (around ~550nm wavelength ), but that's not necessarily a good reason to have a reticle in that color. For nighttime use, too prominent a reticle (in color and shape) will lower the ability of the eye to see the actual target behind that reticle because the eye adapts to local contrast in an image. A high contrast reticle will lower the ability to resolve the very portion of the target we are most interested in. Red is also generally best for helping preserve night vision.

In daylight, high brightness/contrast of the reticle is not a problem (after all, high visibility is what is desired when using an illuminated reticle in daylight), but in many settings green (vegetation) is far more prevalent than red, making a red reticle stand out better from the background.

 

[sobrbiker883]

Re: Illuminated reticle, green or red?

There's a reason the old army flashlights had red lens covers-red does not affect wash out the 20-30 minutes of adjusting to darkness your eyes have gone through naturally.
I don't recall the specifics of the rods and cones in the retina, maybe an eyeball guy will drop by and explain better (or tell me I'm full of it).

 

[samnev]

Re: Illuminated reticle, green or red?

I prefer red, it doesn't affect my natural night vision like green does. /quote]
I also prefer red for the same reason.