Need some light advice for night diving

[DJ457]

Hi everyone. I'm about to start getting into night diving. What are you guys using as a primary light? I also see the option of buying rechargeable kits for certain lights or lights that you carry a battery pack on you back plate for. Do these save you money in the long run? What do you guys suggest?
Thanks

 

[rhwestfall]

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/advanced-scuba-discussions/501859-cutting-cord.html

 

[Storker]

Two lights is the minimum ("two is one, one is none"). You don't want to find yourself in the dark if your primary light dies.

I'm definitely no tec diver, but I like the DIR-type backup light config. I have a single backup torch attached with a boltsnap to one of my shoulder D-rings, secured to the harness with a piece of bicycle tubing. My son uses a small backup light stored in his BCD pocket, and when we're night diving he keeps it turned on. That's a personal choice, of course. My primary light is a SOLA 1200 strapped to my left hand, but a simple torch works as well. I like not having to hold on to the light, though. My first primary light (a UK C8) had a pistol grip handle, I didn't like that. It tended to swing around and annoy my buddy if I left it dangling from its tether while occupied with other tasks. A standard, DIR-backup type torch directs its beam downward if it's left dangling from its tether, and IMO that's a lot nicer to your buddy.

EDIT: I'd definitely recommend a standard cylindrical type, no pistol grip torch as your first purchase. It's (IMO) better than a pistol grip torch, and it gives you the opportunity to go to a DIR-type backup light setup if you choose to go for a hand-mounted or Goodman handle type light later.

 

[BDSC]

This is the light I use for night diving as well as having one for the daytime dives. It's probably the most versatile light I have owned and is a very well made, high quality light. Comes with a rechargable batter and charger and has excellent burn times. Several power levels and has an S.O.S. function at night.

Welcome To Bigblue Dive Lights

 

[Storker]

No matter the advice, be prepared that your first purchase may not be ideal for you personally (except the thing about at least two lights). IME some people have pretty strong opinion about what's "right". I've dived with enough different people to realize that what's ideal for one is far from ideal for another. Use common sense, evaluate different advice, make a choice, but the only good answer is what your own experience tells you.

 

[NAM001]

when you are going to night diving and your light becomes critical, you need to look at it from a DIR perspective. I think you can get a lot of advice in that regatrds. Such aspects are switch method, seals, light type. storage mounting, ect. I use led lights, no switch lights (twist barrel to turn on or off. turn right to shut off and left to turn on so that when the light is off , the seals are tight to prevent flooding. In your pouch a couple of Physically small lights. You dont have to be loaded with 10# of photons. Dont be cheap 50$ or more should get a reasonable quality light. You dont need a can light till you get really dedicated diving at night/overhead. batteries need to be chargable where ever you go or you have to get disposable batteries. 18650's are good batteries and cheap and many comes with AA adaptors to use in place of teh 18650. Consider a goodman style handle for your light. Have a lanyard for the light.

With rear switchless lights you twist the rear barrel to make the ground contact. That aspect can over time fail, and it does. I also have experienced a presure build up in the light so I dont store the light with batteries in them. Make sure if you get a twist body type that you can get replacement twist fixures from the manufacturer. For my lights this is the most vulnerable part of the light. Many lights have twist switches where you twist the light end to make contact with the + side of the battery. This type depends on the head being loose when not used. Ther are also lights with proximity switches so that the case is always water tight. this requires a circuit board in the light and that is a failure point. Of all the lights I have I like the prox switch light for its reliability. But it is expensive 150 and up. a benifit to the prox switch is that you can have low med and high lighting controled by it. I dont think tere is any need to mention makes and models, however the technology is the primary factor. lastly you ned to get the right light for the right purpose. narrow beem lights are cgood for comjunicating. but sucks for looking around. broader beam lights are probably what you will want for looking around. Lastly you need a light that blends in with you buddy's light so you don't drown out his light and become unable to tell when he is not there and cant find him because his light failed. I think my lights are 600-1000 lumens. Keep in mind the light is not limited to night use only. limited vis day dives make a light handy also. Limited vis is what we are talking about anyway. Whether teh limitation is from algee or no sun light its is somewhat the same result.

 

[KeithG]

#1 you need 2 lights.
#2 all other advice is incorrect or wrong...

Make sure you get enough power, but not too much power. Clear caribbean night dives can get by on 200-ish lumens. More than than and you will blind / scare everything (including other divers). Different conditions may require more power. Do not bring 2000 lumen lights to warm waters.

Rechargeable batteries are a good idea to save money (and landfill if you care about that). Replaceable rechargeables are better as you can own 2 sets of batteries and have no down time (-1 for Solas!). Using AA's also means you can purchase emergency replacement batteries just about anywhere.

Screw on versus switch is a religion choice. Screw switches always eventually fail since someone will turn them the wrong way (or not far enough) and flood your light. Just a poor design.

LED is now the technology of choice. I have a few old RCD super-8's that I can offer at a great price. 8 D cells not included.

 

[Storker]

#1 you need 2 lights.
#2 all other advice is incorrect or wrong...

</thread>

Make sure you get enough power, but not too much power. Clear caribbean night dives can get by on 200-ish lumens. More than than and you will blind / scare everything (including other divers). Different conditions may require more power. Do not bring 2000 lumen lights to warm waters.

Thus, a light with variable output (like the SOLAs) is very nice to have

Rechargeable batteries are a good idea to save money (and landfill if you care about that).

Agreed. Except for the backup light. The backup light normally sees very little use (at least if you follow good charging practice for your primary light ), and the self-discharge of rechargeables is a liability. Single-use AAs have very little self-discharge and keep their charge for very, very long. You definitely don't want to reach for your backup light to find out the batteries have died while they were waiting to be used.

Replaceable rechargeables are better as you can own 2 sets of batteries and have no down time (-1 for Solas!).

Depends totally on your diving practice. I agree that if you're on a liveaboard and are doing 3-4-5 dives a day, the limited burn time of a light with non-replaceable batteries is a clear disadvantage. If you, on the other hand, typically dive max a couple of 1-hour-ish dives per day and stay at a place where you have access to power (like I usually do), it's a non-issue.

LED is now the technology of choice.

Amen. At least for those outside the cave diving community.

---------- Post added February 26th, 2015 at 09:32 PM ----------

Single-use AAs have very little self-discharge and keep their charge for very, very long. You definitely don't want to reach for your backup light to find out the batteries have died while they were waiting to be used.

Another point is the discharge profile of "normal" rechargeables vs alkalines.

Rechargeables (typically NiMHs) are good-good-good-good-ohcrap-dead. Alkalines go good-notquitegood-notgood-bad-crappy-nearlydead-dead. If you charge your batteries before the dive and bring a backup, you want the rechargeable voltage profile, because you don't count on your light dying on you, and you want max light output. I check my backup before a night dive, and a yellowish glow tells me that it's too close for comfort to dying, and I'd better put some new batteries in that torch before splashing. If it had a NiMH voltage profile, I wouldn't get that advance warning before it decided to die at an inopportune moment.


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[KevinNM]

Amen. At least for those outside the cave diving community.

I saw a Focus last month at Extreme Exposure. It was damn bright and was said to be brighter than a 21W HID. Not a cave diver, but the ones looking at it seemed to think it was pretty decent.

 

[eelnoraa]

For night dive, I don't think you a lot of light. In clear water, you can get away with something in 200-300 range. I have used a hollis LED5 230LM light in thailand, it was more than enough. In murky water, you may want to have more light and more importantly narrower light to minimized back scatter. Here really depends on how much you want to spend. Persoanlly, I like DGX600, DRIS1000(3C). They are sub $100 light, represent a very good value.