You are likely to be eaten by a Grue!

When doing night dives, how many lights do you normally keep on your person?
What lights are your favorites/recommended? How about a reuseable tank marker?

-M@

I usually have a main light and a backup for myself, I like LED lights now as the burn time is so long compared to other lights meaning battery costs are less!
Some people use light sticks on their tanks, its a good way for a dive leader to be marked!

You chose a strange title for this question, maybe people will ignor it because of that! The real question will get you more answers and information!

In OW a main and backup light should be sufficient.

What kind of light you need depends on where you dive. In the tropics a much more modest light will suffice than in murky water.

If the dive team makes good use of the lights for signaling tank lights aren't really needed, IMHO. Can't hurt though.

Gen San Chris:

I usually have a main light and a backup for myself, I like LED lights now as the burn time is so long compared to other lights meaning battery costs are less!
Some people use light sticks on their tanks, its a good way for a dive leader to be marked!

You chose a strange title for this question, maybe people will ignor it because of that! The real question will get you more answers and information!

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The group that I go with requires tank markers for all divers. I am also going to try and get a unique color to go onto my tank so that no one else would have that. Thanks for the thought on the thread title, but the geek in me just could not resist ...

Matt S.:

In OW a main and backup light should be sufficient.

What kind of light you need depends on where you dive. In the tropics a much more modest light will suffice than in murky water.

If the dive team makes good use of the lights for signaling tank lights aren't really needed, IMHO. Can't hurt though.

Click to expand...

Jersey shore dives are the only locale in my log to date ... looks like I will need to get something with a bit of power to it =(

I dive in Seattle, where 20 ft vis is a great day. IMHO for those conditions, anything that puts out less than about a 10W HID is not enough for a primary light. If I were you I would look at 10W HIDs, and LED lights in the 500+ lumen range.

They are not cheap, but a righteous light is a wonderful tool, even in daytime.

Id definately go with the LED lights myself. They make all the diffrence in the world. Mine has flooded a couple times and I let it dry out and its good to go. The bulbs in traditional lights are ultra sensative to temparture. You have a light on for a good length of time then it floods its entirely possible to cause the buld to bust.

I do a lot of night diving and the amount of torches I bring varies from 1-3 but mostly 2. I have a Princeton Tec Shockwave LED as a main (that I do not like as bits keep falling off it and just in general I wouldn't get another pistol grip torch) and use an OMS K2 as a backup (which I like and sometimes use it as a main). I find them adequate for viz in the range of 1-8m (general viz for my diving) both for signalling and for looking at stuff. Eventually I'll have to get something decent I guess

Then I have two Princeton Tec40s as backups as well, dislike them and have had nothing but trouble with them so rarely take them on a dive. They were 12USD or something really small though so can't complain.

I don't like bright lights at all for night diving, and really dislike it when other people bring bright lights. I dive at night because I like the dark! The worst people to dive with are the ones that have bright white flashing strobes attached to their tanks. I don't mind the fairly dim red ones that a lot of people have - I have had two myself but both have flooded - one of them on the very first dive - so given up on them now though. You can use glow sticks too.

I carry a main light (eight C-cell), and a smaller backup in the pocket. In addition, I routinely carry a light stick in my "emergency" pouch (sausage and line, mirror, lightstick, whistle), and for most dives mark my tank with a light stick (one liveaboard I dive with doesn't permit tank strobes...that's what they mark their downlines with).

I dive with a primary, UK C8 LED, and 2 backups... Ikelite PCms and a small glo toob on my tank

I wish I could afford a nice canister light. I can't right now.

Last year I got a new primary light. It is a Nocturnal SLX. It is LY's 300 lumen version. Frankly, this light blew me away. It really keeps up with my buddies 10W HID DR light. He has better penetrating power, but not by too much. They have now released an 800 lumen version! Dive Lights

In my pocket I carry a UK SL4x.

I have two blue glo-tubes on my tanks.