first canister dive light

[sufur]

Hi all. I took fundies a while back and managed to eek out a rec pass and now im looking to get my own primary canister light to practice with. Ive been looking at the light monkey 21w with 11ah battery from divegear express. The price difference between the HID and the LED versions seems to be pretty small. I only dive in ocean right now, dont have any cave certs. Im hoping to take tech 1 next year sometime. Which should i go with the HID or the LED? Also i see you can custom configure the LM HID model you can choose split or standard ballast or EO style, also it shows an option for a 15 ah battery which isnt on the light monkey website. whats up with that?

[Scott L]

Cave diving, ocean diving or both?

[sufur]

For now its just gonna be ocean diving, i dont know if or when i will pursue any cave certs. but i wont rule it out.

[DA Aquamaster]

In my experience, HIDs tend to cut through murk a better in offshore diving and smoky lower viz caves, and they generally have a hotter spot which aides communication and signaling in an offshore environment where their is less contrast of light versus back ground in your peripheral vision.

However I generally prefer LEDs for the longer burn time, greater durability, generally wider and more even beam in most cave environments. Since we tend to dive smaller tunnels more often than large ones I don't see a need for death ray power levels and LED lights work fine, with generally smaller light heads and no worry about dropping the head and breaking the bulb.

In the big picture, 18-21w is probably a sweet spot for a light and will work well with buddies who have 35W lights and with buddies who have 10-12W lights.

Split ballast on an HID requires a larger can for a given battery size as it takes up space under the lid - but it allows a smaller light head, and that is, in my opinion, preferable.

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If you are interested in a used light, Marci is looking to sell her Salvo 21W HID. It's got split ballast with the smaller 150 minute burn time battery *but* she has two batteries for it, one of them near new, with very few dives on it and the other in early-mid life and working great. Without getting into the company history and related drama, it's the same basic light as the current Light Monkey, just an older version without the internal sealed battery compartment.

[shorty_diver]

You might like this one 24W HID Primary Dive Light I have looked at them live few times and they are very nice lights.
Its 24w but not much less light than 35w. Just another option to consider.

If you dive ocean I would go with HID more likely than LED, there are a quite few that has a real punch power too but somehow still ocean in my head = HID
Good luck !

[Peter_C]

If you are interested in a used light, Marci is looking to sell her Salvo 21W HID.

We have two 21 watt Salvo HID's. Mine has never failed me over many hundreds of dives. With that said for night diving and caves, I would prefer an LED for the softer spread. Either way you can't go wrong with Light Monkey. If you wanted to save some money I would be talking with DA Aquamaster above about his light.

[TSandM]

The split battery-E/O cord setup is useful if you are using video lights or a heated vest; otherwise, it's additional cost for very little return.

Although I love HID lights for our murky water, and for signaling, if I were to buy a new light today, it would be an LED, simply because the longer-lived bulbs and loss of the ballast reduce the number of things on a light to fail. LM is one of the best companies on earth for customer service, but it's still better if you don't need it.

[katepnatl]

The split battery-E/O cord setup is useful if you are using video lights or a heated vest; otherwise, it's additional cost for very little return...

Lynne, it's so rare that my experience is different from yours! LOL

I LOVE my EO cords! For several reasons... at first I had a regular setup, then I upgraded to an E/O cord when I got two light heads... among other reasons I originally purchased an HID and wanted the option of an LED. My preference in general is the HID but I wanted the LED for travel and as an option when teammates were diving LED. Having the ability to switch between the HID and LED to match my team or the conditions was great. I've since purchased another canister and I am still loving the E/O connection, because if I'm doing just one longer dive, I can use my smaller battery pack with the HID - if I'm doing two, I can use the larger. I can't imagine not having the E/O connections.

[OzGriffo]

The split battery-E/O cord setup is useful if you are using video lights or a heated vest; otherwise, it's additional cost for very little return.

Although I love HID lights for our murky water, and for signaling, if I were to buy a new light today, it would be an LED, simply because the longer-lived bulbs and loss of the ballast reduce the number of things on a light to fail. LM is one of the best companies on earth for customer service, but it's still better if you don't need it.

Hmm. I've literally just bought a HID light (21W Halcyon) seeing as it was on special with the 13.5A battery pack for under $1000 brand new. I've got 2 LED can lights (both DR) and both around 10-12W, and i'd noticed that in our local murky water, they simply weren't cutting it. Mind you, in clear water at night, even they were far too much light.

Oh diving, how many lights do you need!?!?!

[TSandM]

Kate, I wasn't dismissing E/O connectors in general, but I believe the OP was looking at the LM canister which has two batteries and TWO E/O cords. It's designed for people using some kind of high current draw item, like a heating vest or video light. You can run that off one battery, and on deco, or whenever you can shut off your primary light, you can switch the high current draw item to the light battery, which has experienced very little depletion. THAT's the setup I didn't think the OP needed. I need it, though . . .