Gtg? Might be nice killing two birds with one stone and all that.

If you like some serious red glow the Surefire should do just fine.

For hunting or a two way range?

SureFire Vampires have been and still are used on a 2 way range very successfully. With all light either white, IR, or any color you have to use light discipline when deploying it. Anyone who is concerned with the purple hue that IR LED puts out or your AO requires you to remain 110% stealth you may want to consider a full mylar body suit to wear under your ghillie suit to avoid detection from someone using a thermo scope . If your looking to buy a M952V there are a couple of different heads. The early ones only put out 150 lumens while the later ones put out 350 lumens. They both use the TIR  style refractors so they have a real far throw even though the output is lower than most lights that have the same reach.

The red glow is minimal. Learn good light discipline and no issue when others are looking to shoot you. Hogs? No problem. The 600V is great. Make sure it’s the upgraded 350 lumen. Plenty of throw and decent spill on both white and IR.

I have 2

The red glow of my 600v looks about like a standard red headlamp without any forward projection. It is brighter and more visible from side angles than my SuperTac IR. I made a filter for the Surefire that eliminates all glow. Unfortunately, it also cuts useful range to about 30 yards.

Why would you reduce effectiveness to 25% all to reduce negligible glow?

Because my area of operations has thick vegetation, so ranges would typically be close (50 yards). The stock unit is to bright for close work anyway. For close range use (hunting or tactical) the red glow issue is very detrimental, regardless of light discipline. I haven't checked the red glow detection range, but it is likely visible to well over 100 yards.

Two operational points need to be made:

First, the filter is a slip on. My thought is that it could be quickly removed in the event longer range was needed and the glow would mitigated to some extent by the increased distance.

Second, while my setup does incorporate a LAM, primary NV sighting is accomplished thru an EoTech on a riser with the NOD run on the dominant eye. See previously posted threads (by augee) regarding this method. It's drawback is white light transition speed, but since that isn't a huge concern to me I was able to get by with the Vampire Scout.

The AA Scout has some real world advantages. I love the battery commonality with the EoTech and PVS14 (and GPS, radio, ect), switching, mounting (Haley Strategic), and the compactness the Vampire provides. To my disappointment, the visible signature is excessive though it is common knowledge that an LED based illuminator would have some glow. Surefire tells me my unit is normal. It seems like the TIR Lens exacerbates the problem.

BTW, here's a shot of the slip on filter. It completely eliminates visible glow. Unfortunately, it reduces output to much. It does work to about 30 yards and doesn't drown out the EoTech reticle when going from passive to active IR. It also tames the Vampire allowing use in thicker woodland areas. In effect, it provides a low output IR setting.

Makes sense.  I've been 20 ft from hogs and the moon has always been more of a detriment than the vampire red hue.  I've never spooked a sounder due to its light.  Pigs and other critters behave differently in other AO's...glad it's working for you.

Don't buy any A models. Insist on -B models.

Well i ended up getting one. It is a nice little unit indeed. I ordered an arisaka mount for it as well and a dual input switch to run both the light and my ir laser unit. I just need to find an end cap that it can plug into. I see surefire makes them for the scount lights but god theyre expensive. For close to 100 bucks im tempted to make my own. Any leads?

Also the red glow is noticeable. While i could see it possibly being of a concern doing room clearing and such, out side i think such a smalll pin prick would be hard to notice.

If you have an IR laser, does it have an IR illuminator as well? If not, do you plan on getting on? If yes, then just use that for IR illum, and get a white light that can be disabled. If no, then go ahead and get the V. I have a 300v for my helmet and it works great.

Edit: Just saw that you got it. If you think the glow on that is bad, look at the glow on an el cheapo Solarforce… might as well be a red lense.

I actually got one of those cheap holosun single ir laser emitter units as a stand in till i got a peq for my ar. I love thier red dots so i thought id give it a try. Well it works great and ive since moved it to my scar and its still good after 800 some rounds. Downside is it doesnt have an illuminator, hence the V light

I'm beginning to think something is wrong with mine. Anyone know if it's possible to get a bad LED that emits more into the visible spectrum than normal?

Current production vampire scout lights (as well as the M952v) are good to go. The white light has pretty insane throw when you consider it's only rated for 350 lumens. It's only slightly less intense than my 600 lumen x300u and throws just as far. The older 150 lumen versions (KM2-A head and older KM3 heads) are weak by today's standards, but the led output, coloration and TIR optics have all been revamped on the new lights and now they're my go-tos.

If you like the GWOT clone look of the M952v, try and track down the 350 lumen version. They're nearly impossible to find, but there are a few floating around out there. I've had the old and new versions and the new ones are worlds better. They can be identified by an etched data matrix on the KM3 head and a serial number with a "B" prefix. I don't think you can buy these direct from Surefire, the last time I looked on their page, they replaced the M952v with the M622v-TN.

There are some vendors that just have the 350 lu heads

True, but at he price I see most of them go for ($200+) you’re probably better off getting one of the new scouts. Plus every place I’ve seen the KM3 heads listed for sale are out of stock and/or backordered or discontinued.

Hopefully with all the product improvement Surefire has been doing lately, we’ll see some upgrades for the vampire line. With the M622v being listed as a “legacy” light now, I infer that as foreshadowing of good things to come.

I wouldn’t exactly call it killing two birds with one stone. The IR illumination really isn’t the greatest for some usues: it doesn’t throw far enough to offer good PID outside of about 75 yards. It’s also very intense within distances of about 25 yards, I’ve heard complaints about that a lot and a diffused Ir Illuminator is better suited for that purpose. Also, the switchology is extremely lacking if you were to try and use the vampire as your sole source of Ir illum in conjunction with a laser. The only good way to do it would be to use a TAPS, but for the price of an OTAL, m622v and TAPS you could have just bought a DBAL and a regular scout light and had a better performing setup.