New Gear - Phantom Lite IR

Like I mentioned in a previous post, the kind folks over at Phantom Lite sent me a Phantom IR to test in the field and review. Loving new toys as much as I do, I've been looking forward to doing this review for sometime now.

I decided to take the Phantom IR with me to the Fort Mifflin/TAPS investigation on August 14th and Burlington County Prison on August 20th. I figured these would be a great place to put it through the paces considering most of the casemates in the fort are pitch black and BCP has long hallways. In my opinion, good IR illumination at these investigation hotspots is key.

Quality:
The Phantom IR comes with 25 LED's and has a pretty sturdy case to house them in. The case is made out of plastic which makes it light to carry around(When you are carrying around a 12 hour battery on your cam, you don't want extra weight.) The power switch is a standard on/off, nothing really special. You would need to buy a hot shoe adapter if you want to attach this baby to most light brackets though. It does however come with a tripod connector on the bottom for you to mount to most accessories associated with cameras or camcorders. The Phantom Lite website also sells special brackets as well.

For me, the best part about the casing is the battery compartment. It is similar to a radio/remote control type. It very is a secure compartment. I like this feature.

NOTE: Phantom Lite will be offering hot shoe adapters for their illuminators very soon. They were not yet available at the time of this review.

NOTE EDIT: Hot shoe adapters are readily now available on the Phantom Lite website. Click here to order one.

Distance:
The Phantom Lite website claims that the unit can reach a distance of 50ft. I feel as though it hit around 45ft respectfully. Those 25 LED's do show up rather nicely down a hallway if you position it on an angle towards one of the walls.

Small rooms are a breeze with this IR. It works like a flood light that lights up the entire room in infrared. Very clear and bright.

Battery Life:
The Phantom Lite website claims that the unit can last up to 12 hours. The Fort Mifflin investigation itself was from 9pm till 2am. At Burlington County Prison, I had it on for 4 hours. I let the battery run out after that and got about another 1.5 hours. So, total was around 11 hours on a single 9 volt. For the record, I used an Energizer battery. Pretty impressive battery life.

Price:
At $44.99 (+ $5.95 for flat rate shipping) this unit is fairly priced. Compare it to other units like the Sony HVL-HRM and you will see the huge difference in battery life, quality, distance, and price.

Conclusion:
Overall I would have to say that the Phantom Lite IR is a great toy to add to your arsenal of investigative equipment. It does the job rather well and is a solid illuminator to light up the IR spectrum. I will be using this IR on many investigations in the near future. Consider me sold on the Phantom Lite IR.

Interested in getting your hands on one of these bad boys? ORDER HERE