Guys ,
How about the Scubapro NOVA 230 in comparison to the Intova Ulltra and Mini , it seems to have a bit more power and more burn time 14- 18 hours but the beam angle is around 10 degrees (a bit narrow ?) and almost same price range. What do you think ? anyone owns one can help to review it?
Never tried it. I can only compare it to the Intova Compact torch, which has a beam angle of 12 degrees. A narrow beam in my books.
It's enough to get by during the day when you need to light up nooks and crannys. At night it's once again enough, but only when you're focused on something. If you're scanning an area at night it gets kinda tedious to continuously move your light and follow the pinpoint to spot things. I only use the narrow beam at night if I have to, and I only enjoy it if I'm scanning (at the most) a 10ft radius around me. Any bigger and it gets really annoying and tedious.
For this reason I go for a wider beam so I can light up a big area and scan more with my eyes alone rather than pointing and looking.
In general I choose wide beams for night diving because I want to scan large areas to spot anything interesting.
I use narrow beams for daytime nooks and crannies and as a backup light during night dives.
I may be a little buyist because my Intova Compact is lighter, smaller, and brighter than my current wide beam (Princeton Torrent Xenon bulb).
I've noticed in general that wide angle beams have less penetration distance for it's light than narrow beams, however the wide expanse of light you get makes up for it during night dives.
