Canister Lights

[Alejanca]

Hi everyone, am doing some research with a canister light for benchmarking. Which model from Light Monkey ("LM") you reckon comparable to the Halcyon Focus 2 ("HF")? Or any other brand other than these two?

Thanks in advance!

 

[The_Norwegian]

Wouldn’t the LM 32 variable focus be the one to compare the H focus with? For lights in this price range, I would also look at the German light Thor 2.0 from Thor Engineering.

 

[Alejanca]

Wouldn’t the LM 32 variable focus be the one to compare the H focus with? For lights in this price range, I would also look at the German light Thor 2.0 from Thor Engineering.

That's very difficult to tell, nor I'm too new to make valid benchmarking. The Blue H is a half-eaten apple (quoted from my other thread) whilst the LM sales said the LM32 is way more better. The problem is, almost no retailer here with LM, not to mention Thor. Thus I can only rely on researching from their websites, either not much there or in German... lol

Any recommended sources? TIA

 

[RyanT]

Why a can light? For long cave penetrations, they are necessary, but for open water diving, I wouldn't even consider one. Given where you are so far in your training, I would suggest a self-contained light. There are lots of nice ones out there, easier to use, and a lot less money.

 

[Scuba Scott]

Are can lights becoming less popular due to longer lasting LED lights?

 

[RyanT]

Are can lights becoming less popular due to longer lasting LED lights?

Yes, and brighter LEDs. Way back in the day, I had this huge pistol grip lantern that took 8 alkaline D cells. It was only marginally brighter than the little sola I use today that sits comfortably on top of my hand.

Of course can lights have taken advantage of the LED technology as well and they are impressive lights. But if you aren't doing long cave dives, I just don't see any reason to lug the separate battery pack.

 

[vam]

I was considering a Sola, but a technical diving friend had trouble with his flooding at greater than recreational depths, but well within the limits specified by Light and Motion. They replaced it for him with one that should withstand the advertised depths and said that it was a known issue. The cost of doing a recall when most divers are within recreational depths wasn't worth it to them.

I'm still considering a Sola, but I would expect to use it at greater than recreational depths in the future, so this has made me think twice.

Also, I'm just passing this along - it didn't happen to me personally.

 

[RyanT]

@vam, I have a Sola 1200 S/F. Its' hard to imagine a flooding issue with it since it has a factory sealed battery. You charge it through the housing, so unlike many lights, there is no "user error" to be had with O-rings when changing batteries. I've had mine to 200' with no problems.

With that said, I have a love/hate relationship with mine. On the the love side, the ergonomics are second to none. It sits comfortably on your hand and is super easy to toggle between flood and spot modes.

On the hate side, it is way more expensive than it needs to be. For a fraction of the cost, I can buy a spot beam only light that is much brighter. Of course the spot beam, doesn't have a flood mode and the ergonomics still aren't as good.

After a year of using this light, I still haven't decided if it's a good deal or not!

 

[vam]

@RyanT I think the leak was in the switch for flood / spot now that you mention it. I saw him use it in December and mentioned that I was thinking of buying one. He knows I want to move towards technical diving so he mentioned the problem.

I used to want a canister light for long hose routing, but I'm diving sidemount now and have my long hose looped under a bungee on a tank, so it's no longer a problem. Any recommendations for less expensive alternatives for a primary light? My one and only dive light now is a Gobe which I'd always intended to demote to a secondary. I need to sort it out before I enroll in AN&DP.