Night dive primary

[ben_wilson3301]

I need someone's oppinion who has actually used one of these lights at night and their thoughts. I currently use a Dorcy 220 lumen primary. Id like to upgrade to a better brighter light for night diving. I have been looking at the HOG/Edge canister from Pirahna Dive Mfg which is 1000 lumens and 8°. The questions I have are:

One, is a 1000 lumens way too bright? I dont want to blow out and piss off everyone else in the group.
Two, its has an 8° beam. Isnt that way too narrow for a primary night diving light?

This will be used exclusivly for night diving in the ocean. Thanks in advance.

Ben

 

[robertarak]

If you are looking at a 1000 lumen HOG light, it must be the Morph1000. The Morph1000 has 3 variable power settings; 100%, 75%, and 50% power. If you feel the light is too bright, just move to a lower setting. That being said, I have dived the Morph1000 without feeling I had too much light and routinely dive with lights in the 1500-1700 lumen range. As for the 8 degree spot head on the Morph1000. I like the angle and it seems to work quite well.

 

[Nwcid]

1000 lumens is not too bright. The lights we use are 1200. Nice thing about LED, including the HOG is that they have different levels. In this case 1000 lumen is the high.

For a dive light you want a narrow beam, wide beams create more backscatter and make it harder to use as a signaling device.

Why limit yourself to using it at night? We use our can lights on almost every dive in every location. We even took them with us to the bright blue waters of Bonaire. They are great for brining out true colors and looking into places to see little critters.

I bought a HOG "backup" with the video head, 72* beam, for use with my camera. I really like it, if I did not have the can lights we do now I would seriously consider getting the HOG. I would not use the video head as a "primary" light. The beam is too wide and can create lots of backscatter. It is great for pics but I like the narrow beams for good penetration.

 

[victorzamora]

The Hog/Edge canister isn't THAT bright. You'll be fine. If you get an Underwater Light Dude light (start at $1000) you get multiple power settings so IF you blow out/piss off the night dive. However, that light has MUCH longer burn time, and is MUCH brighter. Even the smallest/cheapest blows the HOG out of the water. I've had them side-by-side.

 

[Imla]

Personally... I have 2 different primaries (Depending on the dive)
One is 3000lumen... This one has a wider angle, and is used primarily to look for macrostuff on photodives.
And the other is 1500... 8 degree angle. This is normally my gotolight here in Norway.

 

[kelemvor]

I've got that edge morph 1000. I got the wide angle "video" heads, but same output. I constantly have people on night dives comment about how bright it is. They're always positive comments. I'm careful not to shine it at anyone. There's a good chance you'll want to use one of the lower power setting if you don't need all that light for video.

 

[Michael Guerrero]

As has been said, 1000 lumen is not too bright on night dives. If you don't have to have a canister light, there are much less expensive options. Also, there is a guy on here that sells 1000 lumen canister lights for about half what the HOG goes for. It's a DIY for him, but nothing but good reviews from SBers. He's in SoCal. Andrewy or something.

 

[ben_wilson3301]

As I said, I use the 220 on every dive. Its on a retractor, and I use it to look in holes, brighten coral, etc. Wonderful feed back, I think I'll end up buying the Hog, its only $500 and if what everyone says is true it should work great for me. Thanks again everyone. Its so nice to get feed back from those who have actually used the equipment. I hate buying sight unseen.

 

[Nwcid]

Please give us a review when you get to use it.

 

[eelnoraa]

It also depends on the water. In tropical crystal clear water, I think 1000 LM is a lot, probably more than I want to use. I used Hollis LED5 (260 lm) in thailand, and i thought it was too bright for night dive. In murky Moneterey water, 1000LM is sufficient, but i can definitely use more.