Cutting the Cord?

[JahJahwarrior]

I got to play with the new Dive Rite RX-20 this last weekend. Small, light, almost the same burn time as my 12w LED on high, double the burn time on "low" but the light seemed similar...

And I love the ingenious battery carrier design. Nothing to align, and you could easily carry backup sets of cells to switch over between dives.

It's fair to say that my next primary light won't be corded. The only reason I'd stay with a cord is to have a spot to throw a car key, and currently only one of the two primary lights in the household have a spot for that, because it's ancient and pre-dates the sealed canister banana plug design.

I also use a Sola 800 focus light. I love the tiny size and the fact that I don't ever have to open it. Don't like that the LED's are on the front so I have to tilt it or my head to see them sometimes, and the charging ports get corroded over time. Also, the burn time of 1 hour on high is too short, I would have taken a slightly larger body for a 2 hour burn on high.

 

[Redshift]

Cordless lights are evolving, but so are corded ones. For the former to catch up with the latter it would mean the latter had stopped. For a certain luminosity and burn time, we need a certain battery size. There's no magic. What can happen is that cordless reach the level of our needs. But I thought we always needed more light

 

[TSandM]

I've had a chance to play with a couple of cordless lights, and I will confess to a rather neurotic distress with them. Something in the back of my brain just KNOWS that, if I drop my can light, it won't go anywhere and I won't lose it. Cordless lights make me nervous.

In addition, I like to be able to get a whole day of diving off my light without recharging or changing batteries. Two dives for me would be about two hours in the water, which means I need at least three hours of burn time; three dives would mean 4.5 hours, so as not to deep cycle the battery. My cave dives average around two to two and a half hours, so again, 4 hours of burn time. I haven't seen a cordless light yet that can do that.

 

[Kevrumbo]

Used both cordless LED Primary Lights in Truk, a Halcyon EOS mini and the UTD Viz35; nice tight hot spot of the Halcyon EOS mini, with the UTD Viz35 having a better peripheral/concentric halo. Like not having to futz with a cord (i.e. no need to worry about routing a cord under the long-hose and convenient to switch light to either hand because of the cordless design); easy to hold and point to illuminate at all angles (oblique & acute) & wrist rotations. Both have high power illumination burn times of 3 hrs, and can be switched to lower power mode to conserve battery. Good to have for Z-system sidemount -no mounting external battery canister on waist belt in back and again not having to route a cord around back-to-front & under the long hose. . .

 

[sphyrnidus]

Hartenberger dive lamps, UW lights and UW-flash light for scuba diver and professionals
I use a Hartenberger Mini Compact. It has led light, it last about 4 hours before a recharge. Here in the Netherlands we use a light on every dive, because it gets dark here in the murky waters. It isn't cheap, but has real nice light and I almost always have it at 25%, even at night. They're not cheap, but mine lasts for over 500 dives now. And they do last for 260 minutes indeed.
For Video I ditched the Sola 1200, because I had a lot of trouble with it. It needed resetting after every 2-3 dives and it would fail me in the water too. So I changed to RG Blue, which are far more solid, only a bit heavier (bigger battery)
Of course everything is secured, so there is a cable attached to the D ring for the Hartenberger, the RG Blue's are attached to the camera.

 

[tomfcrist]

Hartenberger dive lamps, UW lights and UW-flash light for scuba diver and professionals
I use a Hartenberger Mini Compact. It has led light, it last about 4 hours before a recharge. Here in the Netherlands we use a light on every dive, because it gets dark here in the murky waters. It isn't cheap, but has real nice light and I almost always have it at 25%, even at night. They're not cheap, but mine lasts for over 500 dives now. And they do last for 260 minutes indeed.
For Video I ditched the Sola 1200, because I had a lot of trouble with it. It needed resetting after every 2-3 dives and it would fail me in the water too. So I changed to RG Blue, which are far more solid, only a bit heavier (bigger battery)
Of course everything is secured, so there is a cable attached to the D ring for the Hartenberger, the RG Blue's are attached to the camera.

Did you send the sola back to the Mfg? I couldn't imagine having a light get pissed at me that often...mine haven't had any issues since day 1.

 

[sphyrnidus]

No, laws are different here. So after two years there is nothing to be done. It had been back to the dealer and was serviced three times and still had the issue. As it has to be sent there it stayed away for 2 weeks every time, which is quite annoying during the season...
So I sold it on Ebay, but I did tell the guy it had issues

 

[runez]

I've had a chance to play with a couple of cordless lights, and I will confess to a rather neurotic distress with them. Something in the back of my brain just KNOWS that, if I drop my can light, it won't go anywhere and I won't lose it. Cordless lights make me nervous.

This is a good point that I overlooked. I get the exactly the same feeling when deploying my handheld backup lights. My wife did actually drop her handheld torch once on a wreck, but luckily I was just below her and caught it.

 

[Teller]

I've yet to see an led that keeps up with a 21w hid, esp in murky water.

at our current technology level, a corded 21w beats all the rest.

AJ, have you seen any of the UWLD lights? I bet my LD35 can keep up with any 21w HID out there.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[PfcAJ]

I've seen them a few times in the water now. They're bright, but still not 21w hid "cut through the murk" bright.