For hog hunting at night the LUMENSHOOTER A10 is the most useful light: one housing switching between green, red, white and 850nm infrared, with mounts for a scope tube or a picatinny rail. If you only want green, the ANEKIM UC20 costs a third less and mounts the same way.
Hogs move after dark, which means the light is not an accessory on a night hunt — it is the thing that decides whether you get a shot or spend four hours listening to one. What follows is drawn from the current product listings and published specifications, compared side by side. We have not field-tested these lights and do not claim to have.
That matters here more than in most categories, because the numbers on the box in this corner of the market are close to meaningless, and the first section below explains how to read them.
Read the Range Claims Sideways
Three of the four lights on this page quote a maximum range, and the three figures are not describing the same thing.
LUMENSHOOTER says the A10 reaches 390 yards on green. ANEKIM says the UC20 reaches 1,586 yards at 2,000 lumens. VASTFIRE puts “350 Yard” in its product title and “250 yard range” in its own bullet points, on the same listing.
These cannot all be using the same definition, and the last one tells you why: a beam-distance number is usually the point at which the light still produces a quarter of a lux, which is roughly full moonlight. That is the distance at which a sensitive instrument can detect the beam, not the distance at which you can identify a hog from a sow with piglets or place a shot. Useful identification range on a handheld green light is a fraction of the quoted figure, and if you want a single rule of thumb, halve it and then halve it again.
What actually determines reach is the reflector: bezel diameter and depth. A 40mm bezel throws further than a 25mm one at the same lumens, every time. The lumen number tells you how much light leaves the emitter, not how far it goes.
LUMENSHOOTER A10 — Most Useful Overall
Four outputs in one head: green, red, white and 850nm infrared. The practical argument for it is that you stop choosing in advance. Green for scanning, red when you want to disturb less, white to confirm what you are looking at or to follow up, and the infrared channel for anyone running a digital night-vision scope.
LUMENSHOOTER quotes 370 yards on white, 390 on green, 300 on red and 300 on infrared, which at least has the virtue of being internally consistent and plausible. The bezel zooms from flood to focused spot, so one light scans a field edge and then tightens onto a target.
It ships with mounting for 1-inch and 30mm scope tubes as well as picatinny, which covers nearly every rifle a hog hunter is likely to carry.
The catch is the price and the complexity. Four modes mean a mode switch to get wrong in the dark, and if you only ever use green you are paying for three channels you will not touch.
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ANEKIM UC20 — Best Dedicated Green Light
Single mode, green only, 2,000 lumens, picatinny mount, and a remote pressure switch with two behaviours: press-on-press-off, or momentary where the light dies the instant you release it.
The single mode is a feature, not a limitation. There is no cycling through white and strobe to find green again, which is exactly the fumble you do not want when something moves at the edge of the field. And the momentary switch is the part experienced hunters care about: you light the target for the second you need and the field goes dark again.
Ignore the 1,586-yard claim. Judge it on the mount, the switch and the fact that it does one thing.
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VASTFIRE 350 Yard Kit — Best Value Kit
The most complete package here for the least money: the light, a 40mm bezel on a 1-inch body that fits standard mounts, both a picatinny mount and a scope mount, a dual-mode pressure switch, two rechargeable batteries, a USB charger and a case. At 6.2 ounces and 6.6 inches it is a genuinely small light.
The 40mm bezel is the specification that matters and it is the same diameter as lights costing three times as much. Two batteries plus a charger in the box is the other quiet win, because a night hunt that outlasts one cell is a wasted drive.
Its own listing cannot decide whether the range is 250 or 350 yards. Assume the lower figure and you will not be disappointed.
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Ulako Green Light — Cheapest That Still Works
A zoomable handheld green light, and the one recommendation on this page that survived from the previous version — the only one of the original five still on sale. For a product in this bracket, staying listed for years is the only reliability signal available.
It is a flashlight, not a weapon light. No pressure switch, no rail mount in the box. If you hunt with a partner running the light while you shoot, or you are scanning from a stand before you ever raise the rifle, that is fine and it costs very little. If you want the light on the rifle, buy one of the kits above.
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Green, Red, White or Infrared
Pigs are dichromats — their colour vision is built on two cone types rather than the three humans have, with poor sensitivity at the red end of the spectrum. That is the usual reason given for hunting them under red or green light rather than white, and it is why the whole category is green.
Green is the default because the human eye is most sensitive to it, so a green beam looks brighter to you than a red one of the same power and shows more contrast at distance. It is the best compromise between what you can see and what spooks least.
Red preserves your own dark adaptation better and is the more conservative choice on pressured ground, at the cost of apparent brightness and some ability to pick detail out of grass.
White will absolutely be noticed, and it is still worth having for confirming a target before a shot and for following up afterwards. Blood does not show under green.
850nm infrared is invisible to you and to the hog, and completely useless without a digital night-vision or thermal-capable optic to see through. If you do not own one, the IR channel on the A10 is dead weight.
The Mount and the Switch Decide How It Feels
A scope-tube ring puts the light directly in line with the bore, which keeps the beam where the crosshair is but crowds the turrets and can throw a shadow from the objective bell. A picatinny mount gets the light off the scope and onto the rail, which is cleaner but means the beam and the point of aim diverge at close range.
The remote pressure switch matters more than either. Reaching up to twist a tailcap while holding a rifle on target is how shots get missed. A momentary switch taped to the forend means light only when your thumb says so — and the field stays dark the rest of the time, which is the whole point.
One practical note on batteries: most of these run 18650 cells, and the cheap ones in the box are usually the first thing worth replacing.
Before You Hunt With a Light, Check Your State
Using artificial light to hunt hogs is regulated, and the rules differ considerably from state to state and sometimes between public and private land, daylight and night, or landowner and permit holder. Some states require a permit for night hunting, some restrict light colour or mounting, and some treat feral hogs differently from game animals. Check your current state regulations before the hunt rather than after. Nothing on this page is legal advice.
Questions Hog Hunters Actually Ask
Do lights spook hogs?
A beam swung across a field will move them. A light brought up smoothly, kept off the animal’s eyes, and used in short bursts moves them far less. Technique does more here than colour does.
What is the best time to hunt them?
They feed heaviest in the hours after full dark and again before first light, and they shift later on ground that gets hunted. New moon nights concentrate movement; a bright full moon spreads it out.
Can they smell me?
Yes, and better than they see you. A hog’s nose is the sense that ends hunts. Play the wind first and worry about the light second.
Do I need a light at all if I have thermal?
Not for finding them. You may still want one for confirming a target and for recovery, and an infrared illuminator helps a digital scope that struggles in full dark.
Our Pick
The A10 if you want one light to do everything and you may add night vision later. The UC20 if you want a green light that does one job without a mode menu. The VASTFIRE kit if you want both mounts, both batteries and the switch for the least money, which for most people is the honest answer. The Ulako if the light stays in your hand. For aiming once the light is on the animal, see our guides to thermal scopes and red dot sights.
