Get UK SL4 plus Cree U2 upgrade LED or dealextreme MJ-810E lights?

[DazedAndConfuzed]

I was looking for an upgrade on my light for upcoming bonaire trip, currently have the 400 lumen princeton tec miniwave LED. Is it better to buy a UK SL4 light, ditch the internals and get the Cree U2 1300 lumen LED upgrade from jjblomquist, or maybe the MJ-810E from dealextreme?

Issues I see:

I have to buy a new UK SL4

The SL4 and Cree U2 is field tested with no issues, although I will likely be running it with eneloop AA batteries fitted over AA to C adapters, so not sure if it would last 60 min, roughly the length of a dive (I could switch to backup on swimout, etc).

The SL4 has 1 brightness setting, so it is burn at full power the whole time.

I could get the SL6 with more batter capacity, but it would make this combo even more expensive.


The MJ-810E is of unknown reliability, and I don't want my primary light to fail on the whole duration of the trip, no matter what. Having to use a 10w xenon light would be completely different.

The MJ-810E's beam width is unknown. narrow beam is of no advantage in clear water dives, and if it is a narrow beam, I would never be able to use the full brightness setting, thus might as well get a 500 lumen light. (maybe that is a good thing, since lights like the MJ850 seems to die on full brightness setting).

 

[DazedAndConfuzed]

nobody has experience with both or have experience with even one of them?

 

[Hatul]

I don't have any experience with these lights, but for Bonaire with the clear vis you don't need a super light. Just about anything compact will do. Why blind the fishes?

Adam

 

[DazedAndConfuzed]

I think for both, they were specified as of the wider beam type, so I won't be blinding any fish with 1 million candlepower of light. Although, in my last night dive, even with a 400 lumen princeton tec mini wave LED, even with its semi wide beam, alot of pufferfish were doing bumper cars. Their giant eyes must not be able to take so much light.

 

[pedo]

Try to find an old bulb SL4 or SL6 for $5 and replace that with any LED upgrade

 

[sucnip]

UK SL4:

1. There is no way an XM-L U2 LED can produce 1300 lumen. Period.
2. Maximum output is likely to be no more than 1000 lumen IF LED is being driven at ~3.2 Amps.
3. If driven at ~3.2 amps max brightness will last for ~20 seconds and then the LED will start to cook.
4. Any high power LED will start to cook itself inside a SL4 within minutes...
5. UNLESS you drive it below its rated max power. ~2 amps should be OK, but the light will still get less bright when hot.
6. It should also be noted that installing batteries backwards inside the SL4 + the intense heat causes the switch to burn out and become unreleable.

I highley recommend *avoiding* the MagicShine 810 series of divelights. They are unreliable.

dp

 

[Dashrynn]

$46.8 - 200 Meters T6 700 lumen CREE XML LED Diving Flashlight(2*18650 batteries,not include)

I own this light and for the price it's nice but something I would like to state is, when traveling you have limited availability for batteries so lights using standard batteries should be the choice. I primarily use this as my backup light but, when I go lobstering, I pull it out to peak in holes.

Encasing a high power led in an INSULATOR, is a bad idea. But I would think the light would be under driven which would be pushing around 400 lumens estimated.

 

[DazedAndConfuzed]

UK SL4:

1. There is no way an XM-L U2 LED can produce 1300 lumen. Period.
2. Maximum output is likely to be no more than 1000 lumen IF LED is being driven at ~3.2 Amps.
3. If driven at ~3.2 amps max brightness will last for ~20 seconds and then the LED will start to cook.
4. Any high power LED will start to cook itself inside a SL4 within minutes...
5. UNLESS you drive it below its rated max power. ~2 amps should be OK, but the light will still get less bright when hot.
6. It should also be noted that installing batteries backwards inside the SL4 + the intense heat causes the switch to burn out and become unreleable.

I highley recommend *avoiding* the MagicShine 810 series of divelights. They are unreliable.

dp

I was told the SL4 w/U2 LED was field tested by the guy who builds it and nothing fried. We will never know the brightness.

MagicShine would have been a shot in the dark. If I did get it, I definitely would have brought a bright backup light since I would have assumed the backup light would have come into play sooner or later in the trip.

Anyway, I didn't go with any light, since it is for clear water. SL4's inability to be operated in low power mode means I will have to run it at full blast even if I don't need it.

 

[Mitchell Teeters]

I picked up an sl6 for $28 from scuba toys while they had a sale (I got really lucky) . I picked up a Cree LED r5 module. I bought some sheet metal spacers from ACE hardware. I can't believe how good it works. I even used the light out of the water while packing after the dive. It got warm but not hot. Must have been on for 20 minutes sitting on the table. Oh and the paddle fish scared the carp out of me at about 10 ft. Lol

 

[DazedAndConfuzed]

That sounds cool, maybe I can find a module for one of my old incandescent light.