SneakyHunter Hikers Bootlamps solve the problem that all outdoorspeople face sooner or later—safely walking to and from your destination in the dark. Whether you’re hiking late or walking to a treestand, your light source can actually cause almost as many vision problems as it solves. Most hunters resort to flashlights or headlamps, but SneakyHunter Hikers Bootlamps are superior to those solutions in a number of ways.
It’s not that headlamps are necessarily a bad idea—they aren’t—but they can cause vision problems both for you and for your companions. If you’re wearing a headlamp, when you talk to your fellow hikers and hunters, you can inadvertently ruin their night vision for up to 45 minutes if you shine the light in their eyes. What’s more, one of the primary problems with the way humans see at night is depth perception. Having a light up by your face tends to mess up your depth perception. Putting the light source down below your waist—as with a SneakyHunter Hikers Bootlamp—improves this enormously.
SneakyHunter Hikers Bootlamps use three AAA batteries and have three settings—white, for general hiking; red, for hiking with a soft light that will not spook animals; and green, which offers less eyestrain over time. You activate them by simply pushing the button on top—one click for white, two clicks for red, three clicks for green.
You don’t even have to put the SneakyHunter Hikers Bootlamps on your boots, if you don’t want. SneakyHunter Bootlamps also work well when strapped on the knees. This directs the light where you are walking, and is ideal in situations when walking in water, snow or other times your shoes might be immersed. One creative customer even uses them while snowshoeing in the dark, while another wears hers as an armband when walking her dog so that approaching vehicles can easily see her.
Jim and Annette Manroe, the inventors of SneakyHunter Bootlamps, came up with the idea when Joe was wondering why he kept spooking elk on his way to his hunting location. “SneakyHunter Bootlamps were first conceived when I spent time in the offseason reviewing my unsuccessful hunts,” Joe remembered. “I realized there were missed opportunities from my headlamp illuminating the eyes of big game, or generally disturbing them with scattered light when I inadvertently flashed them.”
Made in the USA, available colors include white, red, and green (Hikers Bootlamps), and white, red, and violet (Hunters Bootlamps). The average runtime is 70 hours; MSRP is $59.99 for two bootlamps. SneakyHunter.com
