I just picked up a Hog DL-20 dive light the other day. I have not dived with it yet but thought I would do a little review and use the DGX lights as a comparison since many here have those. I have the DGX600 button spot, the DGX600 push button video light, and the DGX300 Mini.
I got the Hog light from Pirahna Dive MFG for $60. which is the same price I paid for the DGX spot and DGX video lights. The DGX mini was $30. All of the lights came with extra o rings, a battery and charger. The DGX spot and video lights are rated at 600 lumens, the Mini 300 lumens but also states "600+ raw LED lumens" so not sure about that. When comparing the light output The Hog is definitely brighter than the 600 lumen lights. The video light has a nice even spread of light with no hotspots. The mini appears about half the brightness of the DGX600 spot so I have to guess that it is really a 300 lumen light. The Hog is really only comparable to the DGX 600 push button spot so I will mostly stick between these two for comparison.
With the Hog DL20 you get a 18650 battery but it is lower power than the DGX600 light. It is labeled as an unprotected 18650 2200mah
This seems low but has some impressive burn times for a lower mah battery. The box states a burn time of greater than 3 hours but does not state which mode.
I did a bucket test and burn at high power for 5 hours and 15 mins before I finally turned it off. As I understand it the 18650 3.7v batteries should not be discharged below 2.5 volts to maintain battery condition and longevity. The light output was so low I doubted it was monitoring voltage to shutdown, so I shut it off. At that point the output was so low it may as well have been off. I pulled the cell and measured, and it read 2.65V so it seems the light would have probably cut out before actually reaching 2.5V. The light output began to be noticeable dimmer at about an hour and a half. After two hours it has lost a lot of power and I would judge it to be pretty ineffective. At 2 hours and 40 mins its brightness was only about a quarter of the strength of my DGX300. The button gives a colored indicator of power. Hog's video on their website states that 100% is green then 50% is blue but my light is the opposite of that. At 100% it is blue, at 50% it is green, at 25% it turns red, and at some percent not stated, it begins to flash red. I would guess this in the 10-15% range. The battery that ships with the DGX600 is a 18650 protected 3000Mah so has more power.
The DL20 is slightly larger than the DGX600 in both length and lighthead barrel diameter. The DL20 light has two o rings were the DGX600 has three.
The DGX connection feels better though. What I mean by that is the tolerances for the threading and Oring gap feel more tightly machined. I can feel a slight rocking in the DL20 when i screw it together most of the way, then try to move the body shaft and light head. I do not get that with the DGX600. once the threads begin engaging there is no play at any point all the way down to its seated point. All the DGX lights are easier to start threading without potential cross threading. The batteries sit deeper in the shaft allowing you to engage the thread without the resistance of the springs. The DL20 requires you to press the body and head together while turning to engage the threads because of the springs. Beyond that, the machining, fit and finish looks and feels very similar between them. The Hog did not have any instructions other than what was printed on the outside of the box. It does state a caution though; "Batteries must be inserted correctly. Positive battery terminal must go towards the light head. Failure to do so could cause permanent damage to the LED module." so the light has no circuit protection and the battery is unprotected so that is a bit disappointing because all the DGX supplied batteries are protected and while I cant find on the DGX site if the circuitry is protected I believe that I read somewhere that it was.
They both use the same CREE XML2-U4 LED but the internals work with it differently.
The DL20 is brighter, and by my unscientific look at them on the wall method I would say it is about 50% brighter than the DGX600. The lightheads of both look very close in cone size, shape, and smooth highly reflective silver lining.
The DGX states that the LED "is single-mode driven to prioritize light output over burn time." That bears out in the test I ran. while I got a much longer burn time on the DL20 the light output became pretty ineffective after about 2 hours even though it stayed lit for another 3 hour and 15mins. The burn time of the DGX600 was 2 hour 1 mins. After the light shut off I registered the battery at 2.81V which is about the recommended discharge rate for 3.7V Lion Batteries. I began to notice some diminished light output at around 50 min, but not significant. At 1 hr 20 mins I would guess the light output had dropped by 40%. By 1.5 hrs the output appears to have dropped by 50%. At 1.75 hours the output has become so low to become ineffective. The DL20 does not state the beam angle. The DGX600 is an 8 degree beam angle. I like both of these lights but feel that on the whole the DGX is a better light. If they could increase the lumens to 1000 that would be great as that is really the only area apart from absolute burn time that I see the DGX lagging on. On burn time, while the Hog burns longer both quickly line up on par with each other in terms of lumen output form my clearly non-scientific eyeballing. While the Hog burns longer it is essentially diminishes to a pretty unusable light around the 2 hour mark, and before that drops in intensity so that it is close to the DGX in output since the DGX seems to maintain a more consistent output over time. For the diving I do the DGX provides me enough burn time to do 2 dives. If I need more I can carry a spare battery to swap in. Mind you that I am not doing cavern or cave diving, and am only using the light for Caribbean OW dives to poke around the reef. I am happy with both purchases though.
The DGX video light and mini are different lights than the first two so a straight out comparison wouldn't be fair. For the mini it is very small so easy to carry along as a backup. It is a twist engage light. It has two O rings which seems to be the standard for most dive lights though I like that the bigger DGX lights have three, both on the spot and video light. Fit an finish is very good and the slight wobble in the threads of the HOG is not there on this light. It feels as solid as it's bigger brother DGX600. The battery that ships with the 300 mini is a 14500 900Mah but does not state if it is protected. this has an 18 degree beam angle. Effective burn time is slightly over 1 hour. Total burn time is 3hrs 45 min(me pulling it out), and surprisingly this lasted longer than both the DGX600 spot and video lights(I also pulled the video light at this time) and was brighter than them both when they did go out. At about 1.25 hr the light had lost enough intensity to be effective. Surprising me the light output of the DGX 600 spot had dropped below the 300 at around 2 hours right before it shut off. I did not expect the 300 to outrun the 600 spot. The 300's output was greater than the video light that was still burning at 3 hrs 15 mins. the mini battery was at 2.89V when i pulled it.
I like the DGX video light a lot, though it is a bit weak for anything other than macro when it comes to video or photography with a stated lumen value of 600. I bought it before I learned that I was going to need a lot more output. It is a nice light and well thought out though. the size is the same as the DGX600. It is also a push button but the button is a magnetic button on the tailpiece. That is a bit easier to engage when you have this mounted on arms so you don't have to feel around the barrel of the light for the switch. It is also recessed into the back somewhat so just bumping the back of the light against something will not turn it on.
The switch itself travels very freely and is easy to engage so i can see being able to click it on and off without shifting around the rig. The LED is the same as the others. The battery that ships with the video light is a 18650 protected 3000 Mah. As stated before the light spread is very even with no hot spots. The beam angle is 120 degrees.
Effective burn time is about 1 hour, total burn time was 3hrs 45 mins (me pulling it out at this point). Surprisingly as the DGX600 spot and mini light seemed to fade more rapidly after 1.5 hours the video light output seems to be holding out stronger at this point in time and has not lost more than 50% intensity at almost 2 hours. around the three hour mark the DGX600 spot was dead, and the mini was brighter than the video light that was still running. An oddity here is that when i pulled the video light the button would not shut off the light, not a good sign! I will have to see how this works over time. I measured the battery and it was 2.65V. after reinserting the battery I could turn on the light but it would not turn off without unscrewing it again.
I do have a question about the unprotected HOG. If I use a higher Mah protected battery in it will that cause any issues? I wouldn't think so but wanted to ask.
I got the Hog light from Pirahna Dive MFG for $60. which is the same price I paid for the DGX spot and DGX video lights. The DGX mini was $30. All of the lights came with extra o rings, a battery and charger. The DGX spot and video lights are rated at 600 lumens, the Mini 300 lumens but also states "600+ raw LED lumens" so not sure about that. When comparing the light output The Hog is definitely brighter than the 600 lumen lights. The video light has a nice even spread of light with no hotspots. The mini appears about half the brightness of the DGX600 spot so I have to guess that it is really a 300 lumen light. The Hog is really only comparable to the DGX 600 push button spot so I will mostly stick between these two for comparison.
With the Hog DL20 you get a 18650 battery but it is lower power than the DGX600 light. It is labeled as an unprotected 18650 2200mah
This seems low but has some impressive burn times for a lower mah battery. The box states a burn time of greater than 3 hours but does not state which mode.
I did a bucket test and burn at high power for 5 hours and 15 mins before I finally turned it off. As I understand it the 18650 3.7v batteries should not be discharged below 2.5 volts to maintain battery condition and longevity. The light output was so low I doubted it was monitoring voltage to shutdown, so I shut it off. At that point the output was so low it may as well have been off. I pulled the cell and measured, and it read 2.65V so it seems the light would have probably cut out before actually reaching 2.5V. The light output began to be noticeable dimmer at about an hour and a half. After two hours it has lost a lot of power and I would judge it to be pretty ineffective. At 2 hours and 40 mins its brightness was only about a quarter of the strength of my DGX300. The button gives a colored indicator of power. Hog's video on their website states that 100% is green then 50% is blue but my light is the opposite of that. At 100% it is blue, at 50% it is green, at 25% it turns red, and at some percent not stated, it begins to flash red. I would guess this in the 10-15% range. The battery that ships with the DGX600 is a 18650 protected 3000Mah so has more power.
The DL20 is slightly larger than the DGX600 in both length and lighthead barrel diameter. The DL20 light has two o rings were the DGX600 has three.
The DGX connection feels better though. What I mean by that is the tolerances for the threading and Oring gap feel more tightly machined. I can feel a slight rocking in the DL20 when i screw it together most of the way, then try to move the body shaft and light head. I do not get that with the DGX600. once the threads begin engaging there is no play at any point all the way down to its seated point. All the DGX lights are easier to start threading without potential cross threading. The batteries sit deeper in the shaft allowing you to engage the thread without the resistance of the springs. The DL20 requires you to press the body and head together while turning to engage the threads because of the springs. Beyond that, the machining, fit and finish looks and feels very similar between them. The Hog did not have any instructions other than what was printed on the outside of the box. It does state a caution though; "Batteries must be inserted correctly. Positive battery terminal must go towards the light head. Failure to do so could cause permanent damage to the LED module." so the light has no circuit protection and the battery is unprotected so that is a bit disappointing because all the DGX supplied batteries are protected and while I cant find on the DGX site if the circuitry is protected I believe that I read somewhere that it was.
They both use the same CREE XML2-U4 LED but the internals work with it differently.
The DL20 is brighter, and by my unscientific look at them on the wall method I would say it is about 50% brighter than the DGX600. The lightheads of both look very close in cone size, shape, and smooth highly reflective silver lining.
The DGX states that the LED "is single-mode driven to prioritize light output over burn time." That bears out in the test I ran. while I got a much longer burn time on the DL20 the light output became pretty ineffective after about 2 hours even though it stayed lit for another 3 hour and 15mins. The burn time of the DGX600 was 2 hour 1 mins. After the light shut off I registered the battery at 2.81V which is about the recommended discharge rate for 3.7V Lion Batteries. I began to notice some diminished light output at around 50 min, but not significant. At 1 hr 20 mins I would guess the light output had dropped by 40%. By 1.5 hrs the output appears to have dropped by 50%. At 1.75 hours the output has become so low to become ineffective. The DL20 does not state the beam angle. The DGX600 is an 8 degree beam angle. I like both of these lights but feel that on the whole the DGX is a better light. If they could increase the lumens to 1000 that would be great as that is really the only area apart from absolute burn time that I see the DGX lagging on. On burn time, while the Hog burns longer both quickly line up on par with each other in terms of lumen output form my clearly non-scientific eyeballing. While the Hog burns longer it is essentially diminishes to a pretty unusable light around the 2 hour mark, and before that drops in intensity so that it is close to the DGX in output since the DGX seems to maintain a more consistent output over time. For the diving I do the DGX provides me enough burn time to do 2 dives. If I need more I can carry a spare battery to swap in. Mind you that I am not doing cavern or cave diving, and am only using the light for Caribbean OW dives to poke around the reef. I am happy with both purchases though.
The DGX video light and mini are different lights than the first two so a straight out comparison wouldn't be fair. For the mini it is very small so easy to carry along as a backup. It is a twist engage light. It has two O rings which seems to be the standard for most dive lights though I like that the bigger DGX lights have three, both on the spot and video light. Fit an finish is very good and the slight wobble in the threads of the HOG is not there on this light. It feels as solid as it's bigger brother DGX600. The battery that ships with the 300 mini is a 14500 900Mah but does not state if it is protected. this has an 18 degree beam angle. Effective burn time is slightly over 1 hour. Total burn time is 3hrs 45 min(me pulling it out), and surprisingly this lasted longer than both the DGX600 spot and video lights(I also pulled the video light at this time) and was brighter than them both when they did go out. At about 1.25 hr the light had lost enough intensity to be effective. Surprising me the light output of the DGX 600 spot had dropped below the 300 at around 2 hours right before it shut off. I did not expect the 300 to outrun the 600 spot. The 300's output was greater than the video light that was still burning at 3 hrs 15 mins. the mini battery was at 2.89V when i pulled it.
I like the DGX video light a lot, though it is a bit weak for anything other than macro when it comes to video or photography with a stated lumen value of 600. I bought it before I learned that I was going to need a lot more output. It is a nice light and well thought out though. the size is the same as the DGX600. It is also a push button but the button is a magnetic button on the tailpiece. That is a bit easier to engage when you have this mounted on arms so you don't have to feel around the barrel of the light for the switch. It is also recessed into the back somewhat so just bumping the back of the light against something will not turn it on.
The switch itself travels very freely and is easy to engage so i can see being able to click it on and off without shifting around the rig. The LED is the same as the others. The battery that ships with the video light is a 18650 protected 3000 Mah. As stated before the light spread is very even with no hot spots. The beam angle is 120 degrees.
Effective burn time is about 1 hour, total burn time was 3hrs 45 mins (me pulling it out at this point). Surprisingly as the DGX600 spot and mini light seemed to fade more rapidly after 1.5 hours the video light output seems to be holding out stronger at this point in time and has not lost more than 50% intensity at almost 2 hours. around the three hour mark the DGX600 spot was dead, and the mini was brighter than the video light that was still running. An oddity here is that when i pulled the video light the button would not shut off the light, not a good sign! I will have to see how this works over time. I measured the battery and it was 2.65V. after reinserting the battery I could turn on the light but it would not turn off without unscrewing it again.
I do have a question about the unprotected HOG. If I use a higher Mah protected battery in it will that cause any issues? I wouldn't think so but wanted to ask.