You won't be able to see any red markings with red lighting.

This Commenga compass glows in the dark and can be used without a light. If you want one that will glow longer, pay extra for the tritium version.

By the way, you don't need to adjust a compass for declination if you grid the map for the declination. There are instructions here for doing this. Once you do this, you can use magnetic headings.

I frequently hike at night with a white headlamp. It doesn't seem to affect my night vision much. The only time it would is if you used it to look at map without holding it at an angle so the light doesn't reflect back into your eyes.

It takes more lumens of light to see with a red light, so the effect on the night vision is the same. The red light myth along with the eating carrots myth was spread during WW II to explain why British pilots could "see" at night with their radar.

When I was a pilot in the Air Force, most people used the white light to see in the cockpit. Almost all of the cockpit lighting was white.

Added:

It takes many miles of practice to become proficient with a compass. It took me about 1,000 miles to get my error down to about 50 feet per mile with compass only navigation. Becoming proficient at night is not more difficult except for the record keeping along the way.

If you are serious about compass navigation I suggest making some ranger beads. There are many good YouTube videos about how to do this. In survival school, we navigated at night without a light or a map. It was all bushwhacking and compass only navigation.


Edited by Gershon (04/03/15 03:36 PM)
_________________________
http://48statehike.blogspot.com/