Are Canister Lights fading away...

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

A few years ago I bought myself a primary cave diving light that has no cord/canister. It has about four hours burn time and has LED's.

The first one of these I had seen prior to this did not have enough of a focused beam to be able to signal a diver who was in front of you as the light was fairly diffused especially if the light ahead of you was a HID type light.

Over the past few years I have totally moved to hand held primary cave/wreck lights. My canister lights are sitting in the closet collecting dust.

The ONLY thing I miss about my canisters is a good place to tuck my 7-foot hose under.

I am wondering how many of you cave/wreck divers are still using canister lights and if there is a good reason you have not gone over to cordless?
@NetDoc

 

[PfcAJ]

No cordless for me. Not enough power, not enough burntime.

 

[DevonDiver]

I rarely use canister lights any more. I think we are 1 generation away from truly effective handheld LED primaries; where canister lights will be necessary only for expedition-grade, ultra long duration, caving.

I've been experimenting with a relatively cheap LED recently. It has a tight focused beam, but also spreads to a nice flat, wide beam for use with GoPro. Burn time is 2 hours - sufficient for most of the wreck penetrations I do. It's rechargeable, but you can also swap out the (surefire) battery for subsequent dives. I take 3x batteries on the boat; one for each dive and a spare. The beam is more than powerful enough for wrecks and signalling....I find that the bigger canister lights are too powerful for many wreck dives - too much backscatter and blinding. Cave divers, working in roomier areas and clearer viz might appreciate more punch.

Several of the 'tech' manufacturers now offer handheld primaries...Expect to see more and more on the market in the coming 1-5 years.

 

[tbone1004]

I'm torn. I think LED's are at a point where you can make lights with "good enough" burn time and enough oomph to realistically make handheld LED's work. Where they come short is comfort. My UWLD head is significantly more comfortable than the old RX1 I have or the new LX20. They're big and heavy in comparison to the really small light head on my uwld. What I am still experimenting with is helmet mounting my primary and having a small backup light on my wrist for signalling.

 

[Bennno]

I like the small led light heads and I want at least five hours of burn time. So I wont be switching to cordless anytime soon.

 

[oya]

Changed to to DR LX20 about a year ago. Won't be going back anytime soon.

Bright with a nice hotspot. Supposedly a high and low setting (though I can't tell the difference, both look plenty bright). Most of all: I have long arms and wear a lot of gear so with the cordless I don't need to deal with yet another bit of stuff that needs to be wrapped somewhere to get in the way of grabbing bailout tank valves every once in a while.

As far as burn-time: for the cost of a big UWLD I can get two LX20s. If (and that's a pretty big if as I'm getting over 4 hours with no sign of flagging) one goes out I can pull a second fully charged one out of a pocket without even turning the dive.

 

[The Chairman]

I love my 21W HIDs. I also like the effect of LEDs in certain situation. I usually carry two primaries for that reason.

 

[oya]

I love my 21W HIDs. I also like the effect of LEDs in certain situation.

I do miss HID light when I'm on the Northeast wrecks. LED still doesn't seem penetrate the green as well.

I do not miss worrying about breaking those $200 bulbs, though.

 

[tbone1004]

Changed to to DR LX20 about a year ago. Won't be going back anytime soon.

Bright with a nice hotspot. Supposedly a high and low setting (though I can't tell the difference, both look plenty bright). Most of all: I have long arms and wear a lot of gear so with the cordless I don't need to deal with yet another bit of stuff that needs to be wrapped somewhere to get in the way of grabbing bailout tank valves every once in a while.

As far as burn-time: for the cost of a big UWLD I can get two LX20s. If (and that's a pretty big if as I'm getting over 4 hours with no sign of flagging) one goes out I can pull a second fully charged one out of a pocket without even turning the dive.

the big uwld's aren't for the burn time, they're for the 3x the light that the 35 puts out over the lx20, on top of the burn time excessive yes, but for the cost of the LX20, I'd rather get 3-4 backup lights and just switch out because the good backup lights are putting up comparable output to the LX20, good enough burn time, and without the size and expense

 

[The Chairman]

The back up lights are really getting bright with longer burn times.