Light recommendations

[EireDiver606]

Another bran

Hi all! Just started some coursework for cavern / intro to cave and realizing my sola lights are insufficient burn time and have limited mounting options so am thinking about getting some more serious lights, but wanted to get some advice.

My setup is sidemount.

I am guessing I want a canister light for primary and 1-2 backup LEDs I can operate with one hand because:
-Head can mount on helmet
-Can easily change hands with it to check gauges or play with
-Long burn times at full power (especially so we're able to do two 60-90 min dives a day without recharging)

From some initial research on primaries it seems the brands I should look at are:

Big Blue (e.g. 4800-PCLIM), UWLD, Dive Rite (e.g. LX25, HP50) and Light Monkey. I would love to hear any experience or recommendations with these, thoughts on beam width, sufficient lumens/lux/watts for cave diving, etc.

I'm also looking for advice on backup lights if anyone has any they like.

Thanks!

Another brand you should 100% look at is anchor dive lights. It’s an Irish company that ships globally. I know the owner myself. Sound man.

His lights are very well made. I have one of his Goodman handles and they are premium quality. He gets orders globally, and his credit card machine started to overheat with the amount of orders coming through. They are a great price for the quality.

They have a wreck canister, cave canister (longer burn time) and you can get different options like 2 outlet ports for heating system also.
I personally don’t have one of Dec’s canisters but considering the quality I’ve already gotten from his products, I wouldn’t expect anything less.

Don’t take it from me, look at them for yourself. Diving Light Series 5k – 15 | Scuba Gear | Umblical System

 

[C P]

I use a Light Monkey LED for my primary. The service at LM is superior. The instances over the last few years they have gone above and beyond. The first two instances weren't even their lights but they had them up and running quickly. The last was simply a service since the light had several years without servicing. My plan was to leave it at LM after a weekend trip to the caves. When I called to set up the service they said bring it by today and it'll be finished while you wait. Traffic issues came up on the way and I was running what would put them past closing time to complete the service on a Friday evening. When I called to let them know they told me come on by anyway. They waited and did the service for me. Used it all weekend and even got to bring it home at the end of the trip. I'm not saying anything bad about the others, I only have experience with one of the other brands, but that kind of customer service, where they treat you like a friend is something that is invaluable.

 

[catone]

My primary is a BigBlue 4500, it's great for shorter dives (about 2 hours). I mostly dive solo so being overpowered by other lights is not an issue, but it is very bright (almost as bright as a UWLD 35, if not even brighter) on highest setting. I usually use power level 2, that gives a lot of burn time and plenty of light. I have several backups, including 2 DGX 600 on my helmet. They are great in terms of built and ease of use. I can see how they can blind a buddy if not paying attention, but keeping them on while scootering is great. They each go for about 90-120 minutes (they use one 18650), so if doing dives longer than that (not typical for me), you can just turn on one at a time. Another great one is DRIS 1000, I hardly ever use it as I had no need, but whenever I test burn times (I use 3 rechargeables AAs) I consistently get 4-5 hrs of burn time.

 

[Chris H]

I've been using a Light Monkey 21W LED and it has been great. I'm lusting after their 32W Adjustable focus, but I can't justify it at this time. I previously used an 18W HID and it is still in my box as a backup/spare and throws a heck of a beam of light.

 

[Germie]

I use a polish light: Yellow diving 10 watt. This is bright enough for cavediving.
As backup I use Chinese lights which are rebranded by several 'wellknown' brands. None of these chinese lights flooded or broke. It is the Brinyte Div01. The 1000 lumen ones I have used as mainlight in caves in Florida with a 'goodmannglove'. My oldest has been 25 times over 330ft now. No floodings, no problems. Other brands has rebranded this light. There are 800 lumens of this light too (same light, only different led).
DIV01- handheld diving flashlight
Price on Ali express around 40 dollar.
Look at the picture and see that other brands rebrand this light.
I use rechargable 1.2V C-cells.

The Chinese backuplights suggested earlier in this topic I will never trust in a cave. The reason: they have a switch you have to move. That will break. For videolighting or normal diving you can risk this, but a backuplight must be the most trustable light you have. It must work when you need it. The switch of this light is really weak (I know it as I have the videolight version here at home).

For cavediving I prefer backuplights without buttons to switch it on. I prefer the ones that you have to turn the head to turn it on. Why? buttons can break without knowing. It is weaker than a rotary switch.

 

[Cici Wu]

For backup light, price varies in the net. How to choose is also important. In China there are also many good diving light brand. and actually some brands overseas do use factory here to produce.

We are also an flashlight factory in shenzhen, China. if any problem for light, you can contact me.

 

[scubadiver888]

I'd have to agree with @kensuf. I have something similar to what @joe10540 is recommending for a backup light. I figured for $20 how could I go wrong. I bought if for open water diving. I wasn't expecting 15000 lumen. So I wasn't disappointed when it wasn't really 15000 lumen. I was however disappointed when the bulb flooded on the first dive. It seemed to still keep working. I didn't notice it was full of water until I finished the dive. I bought other cheap lights from China with similar experience. I don't know if it is just inconsistent quality or if there are so many knock-off of the Chinese lights but I'd not had a lot of luck with them lasting so far. I don't think I've had a single Chinese light that lasted more than a year.

Someone pointed out that a lot of the cheap lights don't have good o-ring seals and the threads aren't very good. Had a look at my light and sure enough that was the case for me. Maybe I'll tinker with it and see if I can get it working but I don't think I'd ever want to use it in a cave. For cavern diving (not cave certified yet), I use my DiveRite BX1 (12,400 lux, 4 hours) and XTAR D26 Whale (1100 lumen, 2 hours). Really happy with them. I got my DiveRite 3 years ago and it still works great. I've ony had the XTAR for 1 year but absolutely no issue with it. It was cheaper than the DiveRite but not $20. I think I paid $120 for the DiveRite and $85 for the XTAR.

Also, shouldn't a cave light have more than a 90 minute burn time? I can easily do an hour in a cavern with a single cylinder. If I'm doing doubles or sidemount I'd think you want something which does 4+ hours. Isn't this right?

 

[catone]

You’re right, 90 minutes burn time is kinda short, yet many if not most cave dives are about that long. You’d want a light that has about twice the length of the planned dive, just in case. So about 3-4 hrs.

A tank would last you that long in the cavern because caverns are likely to be shallower. Most Florida caves get deeper in the cave section, one tank won’t last you that long. Considering that you need to plan conservatively, even with doubles and a decent sac rate, those 80-100 cuft of back gas for penetration won’t last much longer than 30-40 minutes at 100 ffw. So there you have it, 90 minute dive (add deco to that, too)

 

[Dominick Gheesling]

Two weeks ago I had a Basic Cave student that had one of those $80 lights. We called it "Angry Cricket" because it was surprisingly bright for such a small light. He had previous issues with Angry Cricket flooding, and mentioned at least three times he hoped the O-rings would be OK. Angry Cricket failed on him in his class, but that gave him the opportunity to practice deploying his backup light. Thankfully we had completed all of the dives and skills necessary, otherwise he would have been SOL.

He is one of those guys that likes to tinker with things, but in a water filled cave, your light is a piece of life support equipment. And while all lights will fail, some seem to fail more frequently than others. I don't want to have to call dives because my cheap light failed.

BTW - this past weekend he posted that Angry Cricket died and he was looking for suggestions.

$80 may sound inexpensive up front, but sometimes you do get what you pay for and those things really are cheap. Be prepared to view that $80 primary light as disposable.

Hey,

It may not all be over for the Angry Cricket!!!

The Angry Cricket had not previously flooded. My big concern was the o-rings which were some metric or specifically asian size that I could not find a source for locally. They were fairly insubstantial and definitely needed to be replaced regularly. The light only came with one extra set.

I tried the closest match that I could find locally which ultimately led to the water intrusion.

Thinking about having new o-ring grooves machined into the body for a more substantial, imperial size o-ring.
If we can get these things reliable we might start marketing

In the meantime, yes I am purchasing the 21watt Light Monkey so I can get back in the water!!! And stay in the water.

The $80 light got me through Cavern diving and the beginning of my Cave training and I don't regret the purchase but now that I am really certain that I want to keep diving in the overhead and continuing my training the $400 price tag on a really good used light seems totally reasonable to me.

 

[Dominick Gheesling]

Any recommendations for backup lights that use disposable/alkaline batteries? I really like the idea of not having to charge my backup lights and having them just ready to go at a moment's notice.