Niterider Swiftwater 800 Dive Light for PSD?

[dittrimd]

Since I started PSD diving I have always used a hand held light. Princeton Shockwave 8C cell battery light as my main light carried on my right hand. I have two spares one on my left shoulder strap and one in my gear pocket. Both small pelican lights. I can say that I have yet to have a problem with the Princeton as far as how well it holds up. I have had the bulbs get a little off center with a couple of good hits and just recently the rubber boot came loose and does not want to stay on. Maybe a littel adhesive will be required. Other than that the light has help up exceptionally weel.

At any rate on several occaisions I have found my hand held light to be cumbersome especially in instances where I have a need to use both hands and have good light. My question is why wouldn't a NR Swiftwater with the AGA kit work for me if I rounted the wire carefully so as to not create another snag hazard? From what I have read it seems canister lights are not too popular among PSD divers. The more I have used this forum and I see the advertisement on the left hand side of the screen showing a AGA with this type of light I just had to investigate. It would be a big investment so I am looking for some insight. Thanks in advance.

Mark

 

[Boater Dan]

While I carry a light in my BC, I seldom use it as we are generally diving in zero vis. In fact, I many times close my eyes as I am diving to heighten the awareness and attention of my other senses. I would ask yourself how useful a light really is in your work? If you have some visibility, it would probably be a great tool on night dives.

Just my $.02.

Dan

 

[bridgediver]

I don't know anything about the AGA light but I will suggest sending your light into princeton tec - you may end up with a brand new light. They stand behind their product amazingly well. I flooded one once and was up front with them in that it was totally my fault - they sent me a new light no questions asked!

Nobody on our team even carries a light. Even with a low vis environment the backscatter will break the concentration during a search and disorient the diver. We usually close our eyes in that instance. We do have a couple of small ones for the tenders...

When I'm sport diving I carry a canister light but my equipment configuration (and team) is completely different - except for the jet fins.

If you do go for the AGA light let us know how it works out for you

 

[dittrimd]

Since we started diving single diver on a line we have reduced the chance of silt that gets stirred up. If I am on my game I can hover just about the bottom and keep some visibility. With a light it does help with search patterns. I agree in zero vis a light is useless and yes I close my eyes and try to focus on my hand searches. If you are able to keep from silting in many instances a light can be beneficial. I recently went in at night under the ice. I did a good job of managing my weight and kept off the bottom. With my light I had 3 to 5 fee of vis. It really helped me search a larger area. I will keep listening and let you know if I get the light how it works out. BTW the light from niterider can be confugured to be mounted several ways. They make a special bracket for the AGA mask. They also have the handles, head bands, helmet mounts, reel mounts etc. There site is pretty cool, even if you are not looking for a light they have some cools stuff.

Mark

 

[BladesRobinson]

None of our divers carry lights because of limited visibility. Like Dan, I keep my eyes closed most of the time. We have water proof lights on the dive truck primarily for top side night operations. Having lights with wrist lanyards or attached to full face masks have to be done with a risk/benefit analysis, giving consideration to increased risk for entanglement, leaking mask, loosing the ability of using one hand, etc.

Even when we do have visibility (rarely), I find the back scatter from the light is more of a distraction, as Bridgediver pointed out, hence the reason why we don't use them often. On very rare occasions, when we are doing a recreational ... opps, a TRAINING dive ... at night, we will carry a light but that is under the most ideal conditions.

 

[Boater Dan]

I am just curious as to how many others close their eyes while on dives? I have found that when you lose the sense of sight, it calms from being in zero visibility, but heightens the sense of feel. I can keep better track of where the tether line is crossing or touching my body and can do better patterns.

On the flip side, I do carry a small 2 AA light in my BC. We do a lot of river calls and if we are sometimes in a near vertical tether pattern. I find I can keep my orientation even in limited vis by holding the light "right across the mask" and I can determine the flow of the river by the direction of the debris. Since I cannot see a compass, that is the next best thing that I have found if I lose my orientation to direction.

Dan

 

[BladesRobinson]

In the absolute ZERO vis I keep my eyes shut and use the search line to assist in orientation. Feeling across the bottom helps too but every now and then I do have a sensation like I am "listing" to the left or right. Water current helps, or more often (because we also dive in the ocean) bottom surge caused by waves can keep me oriented.

The "vertical tether" that Dan describes is more difficult and we work hard to prevent that situation by moving the line tender to a different location. We have also placed the line tender on the bottom wearing SCUBA gear, though this takes more coordination and has some inherent risks. It is imperative though that both divers (primary and tender) have comms to the surface. A bottom weight can also be used as a pivot point for the search line but that too presents some challenges. If a double "A" flashlight resolves the issue, I am not opposed to giving it a try if the proper conditions are present.

 

[dittrimd]

On a recent search I had a hard time staying down becuase the surface support were directly above me on the ice. If they tightened up just a little bit they would really mess me up. Add to the fact that I was only in 10 to 12 feet of water and I had my work cut out for me.

I like the idea of having a light with me because it can be such a benefit if the vis is right. Most of our diving is done in lakes and ponds with an average of 3 to 5 feet of vis if you do not stir up the bottom. I have successfully used my light to find a target a whole pass or two earlier. I am just looking to see if anyone has had any experience with this type of light.

Thanks

Mark

 

[Yotsie]

We have them on our team and all of our AGAs have mounts attached. We don't use them on every dive, but they have held up very well (6 yrs old) and we've never had an issue with bulbs or batteries. Well made piece of equipment. I personally don't use them that often due to zero viz in our local ponds.

 

[james croft]

I also keep my eyes closed when doing jack stay searches, etc. as I am in pretty much 0 viz. I guess I feel more comfortable doing that and seem to be able to focus more on what I am doing than being distracted by stuff that may loom into sight for a secong or two.