Dive Light Preference?

[spectrum]

My primary is a Princeton Tec Shockwave LED, nice big white beam, long battery life, dependable "lamps". No problem operating the switch with 5mm gloves. 2 power levels.

My back-up and major daylight is the Princeton Tec, Tec 4000, a 4 C-cell lamp. A very adequate back-up. I got caught out in the dark once on an evening dive and we made the entire return swim in the dark with this light and it was very adequate. The switch is a non issue in 5mm gloves.

I do have a Princeton tec, Tec 40 that I use as a minimal dive light durng the day, it works, it lights up small stuff, the small size is my favoite feature.

Techincally your back-up light should be set-up with fresh batteries and only tested. That way you know it has good battery life should you need to count on it.

I've intentionally avoided rechargables. A light is one of those things that can get lost too easily and I prefer to limit the investment. With these lights it would take night dives beyond my wildest deams to make disposable battery cost an issue.

The Shockwave LED is good for 10 hours on HI and about 20 on LO. With 8 C sized Duracells for under $8.00 I come in at under 80 cents per dive.

Pete

 

[H20Bubbles]

We have the UK C8 LED as the primary light and love it. A small Ikelite PCa is the backup.

 

[spectrum]

.now about these first night dive jitters,
Bob

Not to hijack your thread but you asked....

Your first night dive should allow you to set-up in good light and get you in the water near night fall. You will probably use your light from the beginning but you will clearly still be working in some daylight. Mother nature will manage a gentle transition into night during your dive. Diving within the space of your light will let you focus on much more detail and there will be extra things to see in the night. Most likely you will forget that you are diving in the dark.

Buddies are easier to track since you can often catch a flash of glare to the side of your mask and that reveals their location.

I love night diving and hope we can make some once you get experience your first. I hope you find them to be as relaxing and unique as I do. Once you get your lights if you'd like to do a night skindive in fresh or salt water just say so! I think that's a great strategy. For our first night dive my wife and I did a night sklin dive one night and saw a slew of things. We came back the next night for the scuba dive. Both were dusk entries.

Avoid task loading such as dive flags and cameras at first, managing the light is enough.

Pete

 

[divermike1989]

Give the UK C8 a try. I've got the same kind of backup light (smaller UK light), I'm just glad I haven't had the need for it yet!

 

[jmps]

I just switched from my UK C8 to a UK LED C4. The LED C4 throws more light than the older C8, and it is smaller and less cumbersome.
I tried them both on night dives recently, and I like the LED C4. I imagine the LED C8 is fantastic.

Enjoy your night dive, and the many more to come after that!

The LED head fits both the C8 and C4. So if you have a LED C4 and a C8 you also then have a LED C8. For a one dive night the LED C4 is a great white light that is small and light. If you need longer light then use the LED C8. The voltage regulator will keep that going for a long time.

 

[LakeScubaDiver]

The Light Cannon is the way to go. It is as bright a light as you will need on a night dive. I used it one night while snorkeling with friends and the batteries died after about two hours, so the batteries (if you do not get re-chargeable) can get expensive!

Mike

 

[hunter991]

I like pelican lights. Particularly the 2460. It's led, long burn time and rechargable.

Brent

 

[mthirsc]

Just a note, runtime is not the only difference between the eled C4 and C8-- the eled C8 is brighter than it's 4-battery counterpart due to 8-cells being able to provide sufficient current. With both, you have a half power option which will make your batteries last twice as long and is still very bright.

I have the eled C8-- fanatstic light, both in and out of water. It also serves as my go-to for power outages, etc. A great value.

 

[sasscuba]

I like pelican lights. Particularly the 2460. It's led, long burn time and rechargable.

Brent

Have the same light and use it as primary..very good light.

 

[BSea]

My primary is the princton tec shockwave led. Uses 8 C batteries & 2 intensity settings. I like the White light it produces vrs the yellow light from conventional bulbs. Plus the LEDs will probably outlast the rest of the light, so no bulbs to replace.

http://www.scubatoys.com/store/Scuba_Lights.asp