best or really good dive light ?

[richard65]

Can I also add my request for information here. I am looking for a couple of dive lights to be used in the Caribbean and wanted to know what sort of thing I should be looking at. I have seen the number of lumiers quoted and obviously the higher the number the brighter the light but is there a minimum I should be looking for? Also are there any manufacturers that I should avoid etc. I am looking at the budget end of the market and I know generally you get what you pay for but any information on this is gratefully received.

[buddhasummer]

I just recently returned from a months diving around Indonesia, as I was travelling around weight was a concern. I took along my AA version mb-sub X1-VB. it performed flawlessly at night, during the day and low vis. It's small 250 lumens but the beauty is its ability to change focus from 3 degrees up to 25 degrees so great penetration during day dives an nice illumination on night dives. Build quality is superb my only criticism is that the anodising doesnt hold up overly well. Highly recommend and not just because I own one. Price in the US is around 220 I believe, I bought mine direct from mb-sub in Germany.

[bigrich954rr]

To the OP: What do you want the light to do, and how do you want to carry it? What kind of BC are you using, and what's your budget?

I was appalled as a new diver at how much dive lights cost. A set of lights with a big one, a middle-sized one and a small one was almost $200!

My last light cost me $1500.

That gives you an idea of what the spectrum is. Lights vary in power, burn time, degree of focus, and whether they require to be held in the hand. If you are doing only an occasional night dive in tropical water, a fairly small, hand-held light may suffice. If you are looking for something for Southern California, you are going to want a more powerful light, and possibly with more intense focus, especially if you end up using it for communication as well as for looking into and under things.

Give us a bit more information, and we can give you some options for lights that will work for your gear and your needs.

most diving will be in southern california, my BC is a black diamond. I was thinking a bigger more powerful light I was looking at the uk hand held but heard the switch has issuses. I figured id have it clip to the left side of my bc and just use it when needed

[Doc Harry]

Every single UK (Underwater Kinetic) dive light that I've owned failed after just a couple of dives. Avoid UK lights.

I echo the recommendation to get a used canister light if you want a larger, more dependable light. You can get a 10 watt HID canister light pretty cheap nowadays. Be sure that you get one with NiMH batteries, not the much older lead-acid batteries.

LED lights have a better battery life if you are using a smaller bulb with less watts. But a 21 watt LED light is going to have the same battery life as a 21 watt HID light.

Take a look at "back up" lights such as the Halcyon Scout and Intova.

[Wayne at DiveSeekers]

A lot of our Recreational divers have gone away from conventional hand-held pistol grip lights and converted to the hands-free lights. Taking a page from the Tec community. The two most popular of those hands-free lights for us has been the Big Blue CF250's and Light & Motion Sola Series.

Big Blue CF250g

Light & Motion Sola 500

[Doc Harry]

A lot of our Recreational divers have gone away from conventional hand-held pistol grip lights and converted to the hands-free lights. Taking a page from the Tec community. The two most popular of those hands-free lights for us has been the Big Blue CF250's and Light & Motion Sola Series.

Big Blue CF250g

Light & Motion Sola 500

I have used the Big Blue extensively. I needed a small, handy light when I was doing night photography.

The light itself is fine, but the neoprene Goodman's glove that it comes with is worthless. The glove is not rigid, so the light will telescope through its tunnel and invert. I have had a problem with the light inverting through the glove on every dive At that point it becomes almost impossible to fix underwater at night.

Basically what happens is that the light pulls downward under the force of gravity. It's a dense, heavy little light. If you hang your hand so that your fingers point downwards, the light will slide down through the neoprene tunnel. Since it is attached to the end of the neoprene tunnel by a key ring, it pulls the attachment point through the tunnel and inverts the tunnel. Now the light is hanging freely by a key ring. It is no longer in the tunnel, it is possible to use the light "hands free," and it is almost impossible to shove the light back through the tunnel without removing it from the key ring first. Good luck trying to fix this at night.

If you are interested in a hands-free light, avoid the Big Blue any any other light that uses a non-rigid Goodman-style glove.

I have not used the Light & Motion, but it looks promising.

[TSandM]

One of the big problems with most canister lights is that they are designed to be worn on a webbing harness. It can be impossible to mount them on a traditional BC, because there simply isn't any strap anywhere where a webbing loop OR clip can be placed.

For someone using traditional gear, I'd recommend looking at things like the SOLAS lights from Light & Motion. They are LED, they are bright, and they are worn entirely on the back of the hand, with no canister to try to mount anywhere. I really like lights on a Goodman-type handle, or light sock; they give you constant illumination, but with the option of using the left hand if you need to do so.

For the person who asked the Caribbean question, you need far less light than the OP. He's diving murky water where "punch" can be critical; you are diving clear water where too much light at night just means everything nocturnal has already hidden before you got there. You can do with a much smaller light, something a Southern Californian would view as a backup light. Something like the Dorcy Penetrator, for example. That's a great, dependable, bright and small light which is very useful for tropical night diving.

[SubMariner]

Every single UK (Underwater Kinetic) dive light that I've owned failed after just a couple of dives. Avoid UK lights.

I echo the recommendation to get a used canister light if you want a larger, more dependable light. You can get a 10 watt HID canister light pretty cheap nowadays. Be sure that you get one with NiMH batteries, not the much older lead-acid batteries.

LED lights have a better battery life if you are using a smaller bulb with less watts. But a 21 watt LED light is going to have the same battery life as a 21 watt HID light.

Take a look at "back up" lights such as the Halcyon Scout and Intova.

Your experiences with UK lights is absolutely opposite to ours. We have UK lights that are almost 20 years old & still going strong. Our "newest" UK LEDs are about 3 years old. So I'm at a loss to explain your bad track record with UK lights.

That being said, I really think the OP needs to identify how much diving he'll be doing and in what conditions. More (in terms of $$, lumens and weight) is not always better.

Basically the OP needs to ask himself: do I *REALLY* need to spend that much money on that particular type of light?

JMHO,

[Diogenesdemar]

SOLA!

Let me count the ways:

1. Bright
2. Compact
3. Light weight
4. Rechargeable
5. No batteries to schlep
6. No O-rings to grease
7. Versatile. Several mounting options including wrist mount, new pistol grip option, and video light mount.

The SOLA 500 is now retailing for $299, and at that cost and the battery savings, I figure it will be the least expensive dive light I have yet owned.

[scubafied]

Another +1 for the Light & Motion Solas. I picked up a 600 last year and it works amazingly well. I actually find myself only using the lowest settings unless vis has been reduced.