WalMart Divers Light?

[Kevin R]

There are times when too much light can be a problem.

As an example, you have 6" of visibility, and you need to check your gauges. If you light up an 18w can light it'll be like driving down a foggy road with your brights on. A little 1w penlight allows you to see those gauges without completely blinding yourself.

Obviously you haven't tried it. First of all, you don't "light up" a primary light during the dive. It is turned on at the beginning of a dive and not turned off until you surface. The greatest chance of a bulb failing is when they are turned on. In addition, the primary light is used as a form of communication. Try finding your buddy in 15 feet of vis with your 1w penlight. If you are behind him and more than 3 feet away, try getting his attention. The idea is to keep your lighthead focused in a tight narrow beam which is perfect for signalling. If you are illuminating your gauges you use the dimmer outer edge of the light cone, not the full force of the center beam. This means I do not need to change lights, fumble for a specific light or loose the use of my left hand which may also be running line, manipulating a stage, etc. That is the true beauty of a cannister light, as well as why it is better to have an uncluttered, balanced rig. Try to focus (no pun intended) on the big picture rather than the small points.

 

[Seabear70]

I do a lot of balck water dives. 15 feet away is forever in those situations. I will admit I ave not used a canister light, but even my supersabre is a bit much in 6" of vis.

 

[jazscam]

Has anyone used a glowstick or chem light as a back-up. They work 100% of the time and the high intensity ones are pretty bright.

J

 

[Seabear70]

From what I have heard there is a problem with them not working if they have been in storage for any amount of time.

 

[Groundhog246]

Shouldn't be any problem unless they've been activated. They are two chemicals, one in a glass tube encased with the second in a plastic tube. Once you crack the glass it's in use. If you handle them roughly (kicking around a few weeks in the bottom of a gear bag would qualify) they'll break. I saw a console the other day (older) that had a special holder for a small glowstick (I've seen the same size used on earings) to mount between the spg and depth gauge. A glow stick should certainly provide enough light to see your gauges, not sure you'd see much further. Using it as a backup however. the glass used inside is very thin and if there was any air inside the glass tube, I'd expect it could be enough to cause the glass to crack at depth. I'll also note, that the cheap ones, do not work well when cool (less chemical?). I've seen them used on a night dive as a tank light and after a very few minutes in the water at around 47F they faded away to nothing. The more expensive ones kept on glowing fine. After the dive, the cheap ones warmed up again and resumed glowing.

 

[PatH]

Has anyone used a glowstick or chem light as a back-up. They work 100% of the time and the high intensity ones are pretty bright.J

A chemlight is an inappropriate backup. They would light your guages and that's about it (blinding your eyes at the same time as they don't have a blind spot). You wouldn't be able to see anything beyond your gear nor use it as a signalling devices.

An appropriate backup is at least a 5 watt light with a beam capable of being focussed (important for signalling). It should offer sufficient burn time to allow you to extract yourself from any situation with an appropriate reserve.

We do use chemlights, however, for AOW courses as tank markers and line markers. They aren't biodegradable so make sure you pick up anyones that you use.

 

[Janko]

I bought a North49 light for 10 bones, and it flooded even though i only went to 50ft. I hadn't even turned it on. Piece of crap.