Tamas
Contributor
Recently I had the chance to test-drive the Metalsub HID-200 canister light and would like to share my humble comments and opinions of the unit in a few words 
Initial reaction/inspection:
WOW! Huge and bright! With the 50W HID light it drowns out even most car headlights and is the brightest light on the market today. Size is large, for both the massive recentugalr battery and the 10" long light head with a large 3" reflector. The unit feels and looks very tough and robust with incredible amounts of machining and fit.
Closer Inspection/Dry use:
Battery:
The unit is very well made, using a number of hexagonal-ended bolts throughout the body of the battery which is jut over 13" long and weights in just shy of 8lbs dry. Machined to perfection and coated in a green (army inspired) Teflon like paint. It is actually an anodised finish on an aluminium body. With a 12V 8.5Ah (NiMH) power the unit did last quite long before a recharge was needed. I managed to get close to 1.5 hours of continuous burn time out of it at the full 50W setting. I guess with the lower 24w setting this time would be more closer to the 2.5-3hour mark. The proprietary connection is used for charging the unit as well as the lamp cord. It is designed to seal using an o-ring a and a 90degree twist, making contact with two small connectors.
Mounting Options:
There are several ways of mounting the battery - one of them is using the supplied quick release system that can be strapped to the tank using cam bands or pipe clamps, it has rubber inserts that allow for a good tight fit and will not damage tanks. Or it can also be placed on the waist belt, if you are so inclined since it has slots for 2" strap.
Light Head:
Using an automotive D2S bulb, and a large 3" reflector the light is crazy bright. (that is the best way to describe it). I estimate that it has a 10'-12' degree non-focusable beam, while it's not a super concentrated/focused beam it sure is a light sabre due to it's intensity. Singling with 50w underwater despite the wider beam angle should not be any problem.
The head itself received the same amount of engineering as the rest of the unit, with perfect fit and finish, smooth operation and even little extras like a small d-shackle for attachment.
There is a Goodman handle available for the light as well, and it is needed, at 10" long it is not an easy thing to handle under water and found it that without the handle it was hard to use - even with the Goodman handle it proved to be a large light (almost as large as some handheld lights).
The rotating collar switch on the bottom of the light can be locked out or rotated to vary the light output from 50-35-24 watts, although I did not see much of a difference between the 50 to 35 setting, the 50 to 24 was more noticeable.
The light head also has a little multi-coloured LED that illuminates according to the state of charge of the battery- very nice little feature to see the life remaining at a glance.
I wanted to create a side-by-side comparison of the HID200 to another 10W but frankly speaking the light was so bright that I had a hard time taking a picture of it that would show the true brightness of the light, not to mention that when placed side-by-side the 10W HID was not visible for the comparison.
Underwater Use:
Get ready to shock everyone when you strike up this beast. With the light on, you can light up the whole wreck or dive site without any issues and it totally drowned out my buddies 10W HID. A night dive with this light will become a day dive - this light is so bright that it would be more suitable as a video light then a light for the average diver. I didn't have a chance to try it on a tropical destination, instead a local zebra mussel infested wreck in green water with the occasional bass or perch, but I was finally able to see all the details of the wreck as well as the surroundings. I would assume it would also work well on a day dive lighting up corals and sponges to get their true colour.
With a 4200k colour temperature it is more of a "warm" light then the typical bluish-white hue of most HID lights at 6000k but the water penetration was excellent (after all it is 50W!!!). The beam is focused enough yet offers enough escaping light to illuminate the surroundings as well.
I tried mounting the light first on my waist strap to see how it handles, while it removed close to 4lbs from the weight belt I found it to be too tall and in the way. It kept poking me in the side and I was worried about the gland/cable being broken from the sharp angle it came down across the chest. Perhaps mounting it upside down might be a solution or for taller divers it might not be an issue. My choice of mounting was on the tank using pipe clamps - this proved to be the easiest and most suitable for my application and liking.
Overall Observation:
Very well made, robust, super bright light with good battery life and easy to use. One could almost say that the light is over-designed, but since it was developed for the army, I can see why the things are the way they are.
On the other hand a few changes would be nice to accommodate all the diver's needs. A focusable head would be great, to allow the beam to go from a narrow sabre like to a wider flood. A smaller battery pack (yet with the same capacity) would also help with the mounting and make it easier to mount on the waist band. Smaller/shorter light head in the 50W design to make it easier to handle under water.
But overall, the HID200 with it's 50W HID output is one killer light and would be a good compliment to anyone's diving needs and styles.
Images can be seen in my gallery HERE since this thread does not allow thumbnail posting
Initial reaction/inspection:
WOW! Huge and bright! With the 50W HID light it drowns out even most car headlights and is the brightest light on the market today. Size is large, for both the massive recentugalr battery and the 10" long light head with a large 3" reflector. The unit feels and looks very tough and robust with incredible amounts of machining and fit.
Closer Inspection/Dry use:
Battery:
The unit is very well made, using a number of hexagonal-ended bolts throughout the body of the battery which is jut over 13" long and weights in just shy of 8lbs dry. Machined to perfection and coated in a green (army inspired) Teflon like paint. It is actually an anodised finish on an aluminium body. With a 12V 8.5Ah (NiMH) power the unit did last quite long before a recharge was needed. I managed to get close to 1.5 hours of continuous burn time out of it at the full 50W setting. I guess with the lower 24w setting this time would be more closer to the 2.5-3hour mark. The proprietary connection is used for charging the unit as well as the lamp cord. It is designed to seal using an o-ring a and a 90degree twist, making contact with two small connectors.
Mounting Options:
There are several ways of mounting the battery - one of them is using the supplied quick release system that can be strapped to the tank using cam bands or pipe clamps, it has rubber inserts that allow for a good tight fit and will not damage tanks. Or it can also be placed on the waist belt, if you are so inclined since it has slots for 2" strap.
Light Head:
Using an automotive D2S bulb, and a large 3" reflector the light is crazy bright. (that is the best way to describe it). I estimate that it has a 10'-12' degree non-focusable beam, while it's not a super concentrated/focused beam it sure is a light sabre due to it's intensity. Singling with 50w underwater despite the wider beam angle should not be any problem.
The head itself received the same amount of engineering as the rest of the unit, with perfect fit and finish, smooth operation and even little extras like a small d-shackle for attachment.
There is a Goodman handle available for the light as well, and it is needed, at 10" long it is not an easy thing to handle under water and found it that without the handle it was hard to use - even with the Goodman handle it proved to be a large light (almost as large as some handheld lights).
The rotating collar switch on the bottom of the light can be locked out or rotated to vary the light output from 50-35-24 watts, although I did not see much of a difference between the 50 to 35 setting, the 50 to 24 was more noticeable.
The light head also has a little multi-coloured LED that illuminates according to the state of charge of the battery- very nice little feature to see the life remaining at a glance.
I wanted to create a side-by-side comparison of the HID200 to another 10W but frankly speaking the light was so bright that I had a hard time taking a picture of it that would show the true brightness of the light, not to mention that when placed side-by-side the 10W HID was not visible for the comparison.
Underwater Use:
Get ready to shock everyone when you strike up this beast. With the light on, you can light up the whole wreck or dive site without any issues and it totally drowned out my buddies 10W HID. A night dive with this light will become a day dive - this light is so bright that it would be more suitable as a video light then a light for the average diver. I didn't have a chance to try it on a tropical destination, instead a local zebra mussel infested wreck in green water with the occasional bass or perch, but I was finally able to see all the details of the wreck as well as the surroundings. I would assume it would also work well on a day dive lighting up corals and sponges to get their true colour.
With a 4200k colour temperature it is more of a "warm" light then the typical bluish-white hue of most HID lights at 6000k but the water penetration was excellent (after all it is 50W!!!). The beam is focused enough yet offers enough escaping light to illuminate the surroundings as well.
I tried mounting the light first on my waist strap to see how it handles, while it removed close to 4lbs from the weight belt I found it to be too tall and in the way. It kept poking me in the side and I was worried about the gland/cable being broken from the sharp angle it came down across the chest. Perhaps mounting it upside down might be a solution or for taller divers it might not be an issue. My choice of mounting was on the tank using pipe clamps - this proved to be the easiest and most suitable for my application and liking.
Overall Observation:
Very well made, robust, super bright light with good battery life and easy to use. One could almost say that the light is over-designed, but since it was developed for the army, I can see why the things are the way they are.
On the other hand a few changes would be nice to accommodate all the diver's needs. A focusable head would be great, to allow the beam to go from a narrow sabre like to a wider flood. A smaller battery pack (yet with the same capacity) would also help with the mounting and make it easier to mount on the waist band. Smaller/shorter light head in the 50W design to make it easier to handle under water.
But overall, the HID200 with it's 50W HID output is one killer light and would be a good compliment to anyone's diving needs and styles.
Images can be seen in my gallery HERE since this thread does not allow thumbnail posting
