Trace – Chargeable Infrared Glow Marking Paste (4-Pack)

Description

Product Image – Coldfire Trace (right) is the smaller, lighter, applicator that looks like chapstick. The larger product on the left is CrayTac IR Glow Crayon.

From Battlesight Technologies comes the night vision operations tool you always assumed existed but could never find until now – ColdFire Trace. Trace is a compliment to the flagship product from BattleSight called CrayTac – but both do kind of the same thing in different ways. While CrayTac creates an IR glow on surfaces as soon as you mark it and lasts a relatively shorter period of time, this product, ColdFire Trace, creates an IR glow on surfaces after “charging” in direct sunlight. Trace goes onto a surface as less immediately visible to the eye, but still creates a bright IR glow seen through night vision devices only after being charged by ambient sunlight. Because of this, it is a more covert and potentially much longer lasting solution compared to CrayTac.

We found Trace by Battlesight Technologies while searching for useful tools that could increase our own night time event and training activities at Nocturnality, and treat Trace as a standard night vision kit accessory. We use it for a variety of applications, some of which are below for inspiration, but the possibilities are relatively limitless – what would you do if you could write or mark and have it visible only to night vision users at great distances?

We use Trace and CrayTac both for mostly the same things, such as:

• Making difficult to see targets more identifiable for to introduce training concepts
• Creating varied shoot/no shoot target concepts for night vision training
• Marking navigational waypoints
• Marking our own gear for easier identification in the dark to teammates without the need for other battery powered tools or expensive single use IR chem sticks

The capabilities are nearly endless.

Trace is Sold in a 4-pack of chapstick-sized applicators. 

What to Know About Using ColdFire Trace

As end users, we wanted to pass along some information on Trace’s use and effectiveness for best experience to prospective buyers. These are things we’ve discovered while extensively testing and using the product.

• Trace works by spreading special photosensitive powder suspended in a wax substance
• When you mark something with Trace, you place an amount of this special powder suspended in its wax carrier onto a surface
• Trace then needs at least 15 minutes in direct sunlight, or sometimes longer depending on the intensity of available sunlight, to charge up, much like glow-in-the-dark toys
• The difference between Trace and typical glow-in-the-dark stuff, however, is that Trace glows only in the infrared spectrum and is therefore primarily only visible through night vision
• Viewed through night vision, which amplifies IR light, Trace appears very bright once it has been marked onto an appropriate surface and charged by ambient light (at least 15 minutes in direct sun for best results, more is better)

• We’ve found if your use environment is very dark (even in night vision terms), once allowed to charge for 30 minutes to an hour in direct sunlight, Trace will often be visible from up to 50 or more yards away for upwards of 3-4 hours, if not much longer.
  • Certain wood (target stands), steel targets, ammo cans, polymer magazines, metal magazines, concrete, and many other surface materials often are best

• If your environment is only moderately dark or features mixed lighting, Trace may only appear obviously visible for a shorter period of time before the latent glow is reduced below the ambient light level

• Trace is lightly visible to the naked eye, but is meant to be lower visibility without night vision, and goes onto surfaces semi-clear