New Dive Torch Required - What's Recommended?

[mockney]

Hi All,

I seem to have some bad luck or I'm making bad choices with dive torches, the last one (albeit from eBay) was a Scubapro item. I took it diving yesterday and it ended up flooded both internally and in the light space. Totally ruined and the battery combined with salt water was interesting, I had to carefully dispose of the smoking batteries.

Anyway onto my point, I need to good general purpose main dive torch, I have a reasonable budget so I'm looking for a quality item, ideally it would be suitable for all dive purposes including wreck diving.

I don't really have a type in mind, I want it to be bright, rechargeable and have multiple mounts depending on the dive type so I thought I would start my research here and see if anyone would be good enough to provide me with a few suggestions, preferably based on experience.

Thanks

 

[outofofficebrb]

I really like Big Blue lights. I have both a 1200 lumen that i use for day diving and a backup at night and a 3300 (iirc...) that I use for a primary night dive light. I’m very happy with them and the quality is excellent. The prices are reasonable as well. Lastly, they are rechargeable and the batteries are user replaceable. You can buy extras, charge and have backups, etc.

 

[joe10540]

How long of a burn time do you want? I have probably the cheapest lights you can buy and use them as backups as well as primary lights. As well as several of my coworkers now and everyone seems to love them. They are bright and burn for 90ish minutes before becoming too dim to be practical. Plus they can be had for less that $20 on eBay so they are almost disposable if something happens to them.

https://m.ebay.com/itm/Diving-Under...274996?hash=item4b09a3c534:g:OSEAAOSwi0RX1keg

Obviously they aren’t really ever going to put out 9000 lumens but they are certainly bright enough for most things. They have a decent spot and good spill as well as a nice blue tone. Obviously you can spend more and get brands with great reputations and service available but for me $20 was a great price and if the time ever comes to replace them I might consider something more expensive but I certainly don’t regret my purchase either.

 

[BDSC]

Another vote for Big Blue. Very high quality. They are the only lights I use now.

 

[RyanT]

DGX 600 Handheld Light Kit

Small, super bright and relatively inexpensive.

 

[Jayfarmlaw]

Absolutely the DGX 600 or 800. We have four of them and they are still going strong after 2 to 3 years. We usually get 45-60 minutes of dive time out of a charge, but my 800 went well over 70 on my last night dive. (Chinese batteries and chargers??) The only issues I have with them are the lack of a switch and only one setting. I don't like the screw the head on-off operation, and they put out more than enough light for normal diving so a dimmer that would add burn time would be nice. Neither of these issues are significant enough to not recommend them. Switches are another failure point and a dimmer would be too. My experience is that these lights are as bulletproof as you will find. Great customer support from the company too.

Good luck!
Jay

 

[mockney]

Absolutely the DGX 600 or 800. We have four of them and they are still going strong after 2 to 3 years. We usually get 45-60 minutes of dive time out of a charge, but my 800 went well over 70 on my last night dive. (Chinese batteries and chargers??) The only issues I have with them are the lack of a switch and only one setting. I don't like the screw the head on-off operation, and they put out more than enough light for normal diving so a dimmer that would add burn time would be nice. Neither of these issues are significant enough to not recommend them. Switches are another failure point and a dimmer would be too. My experience is that these lights are as bulletproof as you will find. Great customer support from the company too.

Good luck!
Jay

Thanks

I appreciate the replies I will take a look.

 

[Dogbowl]

I, too, am in the market for 4 lights; a primary and a back-up set for my husband and myself.

I've been paying attention to the light threads and noted the popular and recommended lights. My question is mainly about pricing and "bang for your buck".

Big Blue AL1200NP/WP/XWP - USD$160, including charger and battery
XSTAR D26 - USD $90, including charger and battery (approx. - prices are all over the place on ebay and other online retailers)
DGX 600 - USD $55, including charger and battery

I know @stuartv did an excellent comparison of the XSTAR D26 vs. the DGX 600 vs. another cheap eBay light (here: Review: DGX 600 vs Xtar D26 vs $22 eBay light), and while he preferred the XSTAR D26, it does come at a significantly higher price point. Now, with the Big Blue AL1200, it's probably "double" the lumens of the XSTAR D26 (questionable???) and almost double the price. Will I be twice as happy because I can see twice as much?

I only found out about the Big Blue light from this current thread. I located an LDS, who was able to give me a good price on them. And since I'm paying Canadian dollars and there's no shipping fees/customs duties involved, the difference in price narrows between the Big Blue and the XSTAR. And I'm supporting an LDS. But if I lose an XSTAR in the deep blue abyss, I won't hurt so bad.

I'm almost leaning towards buying 2 Big Blue and 2 XSTAR just to see how they compare.

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

Oh, one more thing. I remember going cenote diving and was provided with a light. It wasn't very bright. Halfway through the dive, it became pretty dark (there was a thunderstorm outside), and the guide gave me his backup light in addition to the one I was already carrying and boy, was his backup starkly brighter than my primary! So, yes, I CAN REALLY tell the difference! I did not ask him about the details of the lights at the time, as I was not in the market for them yet.

 

[Trailboss123]

I gotta say that I love this dive light. I have had mine for 4 years and my wife has had hers for 2 years. A solid 1000 lumens. Is not rechargeable, so that may be a downside for some, not for me. It takes 3 C Batteries and this torch burns solidly bright for 10-15 hours before you notice that the 1000 lumens is slipping down to 750 or so. It is military tough in its construction and with those C batteries in there, you can shave a few grams of lead
1000 Lumen Dive Light

 

[outofofficebrb]

@Dogbowl The AL1200NP that you refer to is the one that my dive buddy (my partner, heh) and I have as our 1200 lumen.