recommended dive lights

[rajah]

I am in the market for a dive light and was wondering if anyone had any reccomendations. There seem to be plenty of options and price ranges. I will be needing a primary and back up light. Thanks.

[Tech Diver]

A recommendation depends on what sort of diving you do and how much you want to spend. Personally, I use a large Halcyon canister light that is supported by the belt of my harness on my right side. A 36-inch cable connects to the light head which I wear on my left hand via a goodman handle. The lamp is an 18 watt HID with a variable focus reflector so I can make the beam as narrow as a Star Wars light sabre for communication and for illumination down long corridors when penetrating wrecks. It is really great for night dives and for caves with a burn time of around 3 hours. I bought it used for about $800 and I believe it goes for about $1400 new.

If you do not need a powerful canister light, it will cost you *significantly* less. You could probably get a fairly good handheld unit for less than $200. But remember that without a goodman handle on a light head, you do not have use of your hand when you are gripping the light.

For backup lights I use the Halcyon Scout which is manufactured out of a single piece of Delrin. I have two, one on each chest strap of the harness clipped to the D-rings. A simple twist of the head turn it on or off. By the way, remember to always turn a light on first before uncliping it, so if you drop it you can find it. These backup lights go for about $85 a piece.

[maractwin]

While Tech Diver has some good advice for people into tech diving, if you are a recreational diver on tropical reefs, that's all overkill.

For daytime use I keep a small flashlight in my BCD pocket. It's useful for looking under overhangs and into small caves. It's powered by four AA batteries, uses a regular bulb, and probably sold for $20. Nothing fancy, but it gets the job done in a situation where it's there for convenience, not life support.

When I do night dives, my primary light is a pistol-shaped light with an LED bulb powered by 4 C cells (I don't recall the brand). LED technology has gotten to the point where these are as bright as incandescent bulbs, use much less power, and are less likely to burn out. For backup, I still have that small simple flashlight in my BCD pocket. While the backup is not a great light for a night dive, it's enough to find a buddy and/or make an ascent safely. And I always have a marker lamp hanging from my first stage. I got a small battery powered one since there's less waste that way than using a new chemical glowstick for each dive.

However, most night dives I'm carrying my camera, in which case I'm doing something different. I use the spotting light on my strobe (Inon D-180) as my primary light. It's not as bright as a real primary, but is enough, and makes it easy to take pictures. I carry my pistol-style light as a backup clipped to my BCD.

My favorite way to do night dives is to carry a not-very-bright light myself, but have a buddy with an insanely bright light like a Light Canon. That way my buddy is the one being swarmed by creepy-crawlies. As you might guess, I'm not a fan of HID lights for use on tropical reefs, as it is more light than you need and it just attracts shrimp & worms that will swarm around you.

-Mark

[Tech Diver]

Mark, I know what you mean about the creepy-crawlies. I do almost all my diving in New England where attracting them is not an issue, but last year I did a night dive in the Bahamas with my super-bright light where I was totally swarmed. Apparently, my bad sunburn and subsequent peeling made a delicious meal for hundreds of tiny fish who went so far as to explore the inside of my ears. The constant nipping on my forehead and hands was a bit distracting, but they did a great job cleaning the dead skin. One neat part was that a group of squid came to feed off the fish ball that I attracted. - Peter

[ratherbediving]

Hope I am not hijacking this thread... I actually am shopping for a dive light as well. I have an old Princeton Tek dive light that I have had for about 6 years (4 c batteries). It was okay, but eventually I either didn't tighten it enough (well, I think I did) or the O ring had a problem... anyway, it leaked. I haven't been doing any night dives lately, but I do like using a dive light for the wreck dives; I don't penetrate very far, but I like using the light during the day (blue/grey gets kinda boring after awhile). The backup light I have been using really doesn't do much to help with this.

I am going to Australia, and have a 3 day/ 2 night liveaboard booked on the great barrier reef (very excited). My concerns are: I don't dive much, so I can't really justify spending a huge amount on a really nice light. I'll get in a couple of night dives, down in Australia, but I don't typically do that very often here in San Diego. However, I would definitely like a light which is brighter than my old light I was using previously. I was looking at the UK light cannon 100, which I can get for around $175--- but it's pretty bulky. Something smaller than that would be nice, and this might be more than I need. Another option is the UK LED lights--

UK led light product review

What I can't understand is what benefit does the 8 battery light offer over the 4 battery unit? Both use a 6 watt LED; the 8 battery unit has a slightly longer battery life, but is marginal. I am not really sure if this would offer much more light than what I had previously. Any recommendations? Please don't limit yourself to the lights I just mentioned

[thereefgeek]

Check out these guys: www.nocturnallights.com
I just got the TL50w twins for my video housing. We're taking off to the Philippines this November so I'll be trying them out there, but the look killer so far. They make a single lantern style with the battery in the lamp, and a remote pack (worn on the belt/bcd) with a single hand held lamp head as well as the twins. You can follow my thread on ScubaBoard.com for how I mounted them on my video housing, and right now they're running a 15% discount with the "scubaboard15" coupon code. They have banners posted all over the forums over there so check 'em out.

[ZippyBoy]

Ratherbediving,

I'm primarily a warm water diver (been to the GBR a few times) and maractwin had the best advice. Your light choice depends on what you want. I personally never diver without my UK SL4 (day or night). My day dives tend to be deeper (80-100'), so having a small handy light to bring the colors out in those depths is a key consideration for me. I also use it as a tank banger for grabing someone's attention.

For my night dives, I use the same light (but keep if off most of the time) as I like my night dives to be night dives....not daytime lights on a night dive. Nothing's better than a full moon dive w/o the artificial lights blaring away.

If your goal is to bring the sun into a night dive, look at the new HID lights (especially if you will be videoing/photographing the dive). I think UK is top notch and most of the operators I've dove with use and recomend that manufacturer. So, its easy to get parts if you are a long way from home.

[ratherbediving]

Thanks for the informative replies! I looked at www.nocturnallights.com and will probably look again when I need to upgrade my lights again (although the discount makes it tempting now!)

ZippyBoy
Here in San Diego, the water is pretty murky; I have had 15' visibility in water at 110' at the Yukon. Having a fairly bright light would be handy even during the day. I agree with you that in warm water diving, the UK SL4 should be fine.... and the small size is VERY tempting, but I think I need more light, even during the day.

[narow37]

underwater kinetics. thats what i use and like

[David P]

UK sl4 is a nice little light that will fit in your pocket, with an easy operated thumb switch. I use this light for many things (like looking at my reef at night) I also have a halcyon scout, seems a pretty rugged unit but pricey for what it is. I just picked up a TekTite light at DEMA and it seems pretty nice, a 4w led that runs off 3 or 4 (cant remember) 'D' batteries in an aluminum housing that seems real rugged. I think they sell for about 170. But I havent really compared prices at all.

[raskal311]

http://cgi.ebay.com/UK-LIGHT-CANNON-...ayphotohosting

got this one and have been happy with it.

[iflyprops]

Ditto on everything UK. I have a D4 for my main when I don't have my camera with me (which has a pretty bright modelling light on the substrobe) and a small UK 4aa light that is always attatched to my BC

[aquamanathome]

The moon

[joedelt]

i've actually started using a green force HID canister. great light, well built and modular (you can change out the light head for different applications, or upgrade to a larger battery if you need to.
i carry a LED as a backup as its small and outa da way.
i think another thing thats important to consider is what your regular dive buddies dive with. last thing you want is somthing signifigantly smaller or larger that will result in your light washing out, or being washed out by the buddies.

[bhbell]

Light Cannon. HID rocks.

[chetm2]

UK http://www.leisurepro.com/Prod/ItemI...0/UKTTPYL.html

This thing is super bright, used it on a manta ray night dive and it was the brightest next to the video lights.