LED vs HID

[buddhasummer]

thats kind of what i am asking is would it be reasonable to use a 10w hand held LED for a primary? 1 to eliminate the canister and 2 you would no longer have a cord witch would be great for side mounting also the bulb life in 10x greater

Can someone tell me what is or where can I find this 10w handheld LED that several posters have mentioned? have I missed something

 

[karstdvr]

SCUBA Diving Equipment and gear for Technical, Wreck and Cave Diving: Dive Rite, Inc - Product Catalog - LED 500 Flashlight

 

[Hoyden]

I own both a DR 10W HID canister light and their new LED - for night diving, the LED may be preferable to a fixed focus LED. It is not quite as bright, but it has a broader spot. For daytime diving where you use your light for signaling, it is inadequate. The beam is simply not tight enough/bright enough for signaling. It is a great back-up for cave/cavern diving given it's burn time and isn't a bad starter primary for cavern diving. I think that the LED is perfect as a travel light - no more lugging your big can light and charger to tropical destinations - just an almost 3-c cell sized flashlight that runs on AAs.

Jackie

 

[karstdvr]

The beam is simply not tight enough/bright enough for signaling. It is a great back-up for cave/cavern diving given it's burn time and isn't a bad starter primary for cavern diving.

I haven't had much trouble with signaling. I have used mine extensively since their issue,and have had it in everything from small cave to massive dark cave like Emerald. Everybody I've signaled has seen my light signals and responded,so I have been satisifed that in spite of it not having a real tight beam,it does a great job. The problem could be the people being signaled may not be alert to the signal due to things like perceputual narrowing etc. I agree that it does serve well as a back up too,it is especially good to have as a back up primary so the dive doesn't have to be terminated. I think the future will hold for bigger and better things in the world of LED,in fact I have been privy to some R&D of a couple light manufacturers,and have seen their beta tests during dives.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Perhaps I misunderstood, but I think Hoyden meant Dive Rites LED was not tight enough/bright enough for signalling in daytime OW. So much ambient light requires alot of power to become noticable.

 

[D_B]

500 lumens? ... I cant wait to see a review of MB-Sub's new 22W - 1000 lumen Osram Ostar LED light

 

[Hoyden]

Perhaps I misunderstood, but I think Hoyden meant Dive Rites LED was not tight enough/bright enough for signalling in daytime OW. So much ambient light requires alot of power to become noticable.

Yep - that's what I meant.

Jackie

 

[WD8CDH]

Current technology has LED at over 100 lumens/watt. That is equal to or better than HID. It's no longer the question as to which is better, HID or LED. The Question now is which light is better based on it's design (reflector, battery type, switch, size etc.) for a particular use.

LED is more rugged and reliable.

 

[karstdvr]

Perhaps I misunderstood, but I think Hoyden meant Dive Rites LED was not tight enough/bright enough for signalling in daytime OW. So much ambient light requires alot of power to become noticable.

ScubaBoard>Scuba Diving Central>Technical Diving Specialties>Cave Diving
Sorry,in this forum I am not thinking about ambient light in an OW area

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

If he hadn't pointed out OW specifically, I would have only thought about overhead environments as well.