Nocturnal Lights - SLX LED Technical Dive Light Package Review
The package arrived via Express Post a few days after placing my order and I was quite surprised at the compact size. The light measures 5 1/2" x 2 4/5" with no handle. The unit was well wrapped and arrived with no damage. Inside was the light unit with handle attached and a separate hand strap with a rubber coated hose clamp. Total cost (including free shipping) was $224 US as it was a "DEMO" unit I purchased through their clearance section. It looked brand new to me with no scratches or evidence of prior use. Unlike my last light shipment (which actually cost less) this package sailed through Canada Customs and there was no additional duty or taxes.
I unpacked the light unit and was impressed with the construction. It is compact in size with a solid handle. There are three holes in the handle for lanyard or other mounting options. It is made of tubular high grade aluminum and has finely machined features. It has a solid feel and it looks and feels like a quality product. The glass front of the cylinder (where the light comes out) is factory sealed and the three high output LED's have individual reflectors. A single toggle switch on the back end of the light is easy to work even with gloves on and has a locking tab avoiding accidental turn on. The switch is easily manipulated with 7MM gloves on.
NOTE: This picture shows the light in both possible configurations with handle on and inside the neoprene hand mount. There is only one light in the package.
The first negative thing I noticed was woefully inadequate documentation for the light. Usually, you would get a half dozen pages of diagrams and exploded parts lists, but there was literally one single sided page with very small type and no diagrams. On the back of that page was a half page for the hand strap installation instructions. The instructions were brief and assumed you knew what they were talking about. For handle removal they said to "unscrew the 1/8th" hex screw", but did not detail where it was and I spent a long time looking for it. The handle appeared to be an integral part of a one piece rubber coating and there was no hex nut visible.
I looked at it for a long time before realizing the boot at the base of the handle was flexible enough to be pulled up out of the way revealing a flat base, the switch and (pause for dramatic effect) a 1/8" hex nut. To get to the nut requires you pull the bottom of the rubber base away from the unit base and slide it up the handle of the light. Then you can unscrew the handle. Even after the handle hex screw was removed there was some sort of adhesive holding the handle on. It required a bit of force to break free. This was mentioned in the single page of docs. Once free of the handle, the light unit can be slipped into the neoprene of the hand strap.
The hand strap has a 1" and 3/4" Velcro strap. You may wear it with the 1" strap to the front or back as you see fit. The rubber coated hose clamp is then wrapped around the neoprene with the light inside to hold it securely in place. I wore it with the wider strap around my wrist and the 3/4" strap around my palm. The weight with batteries added (1.4 pounds) was noticeable, but this did not restrict my motion and felt fairly comfortable. It water it is slightly negative (0.5 pounds) for buoyancy. The straps are adjustable and fit over wet or dry gloves of various types easily. NOTE: If you have a dry suit with rigid rings on the wrist then I suggest trying one for fit as the ring may interfere with the body of the light and restrict your motion too much.
To open the unit requires you to grab the cylinder in one hand and twist the handle around counter clockwise. Without the handle in place it is very difficult to grab and turn the base as there is very little exposed metal on the base to grab onto. How to open the unit is not described and it took a lot of trial and error pulling and twisting to try to figure out. I was understandably nervous at twisting a brand new light as I did not know how it opened. However, the tight seal broke open and I unscrewed the base. The light head and battery holder are attached to the base unit and it slid out of the outer cylinder in one piece. The threads are made to a very fine and tight tolerance and there is a single lubricated o-ring at the very end. There is room for 6 AA batteries (three per side) and I used NiMH 2500 mAh rechargeable batteries to fill it up. I resealed the unit and then turned it on for a few seconds.
The amount of light output from the three high power LEDs is respectable. At night I was able to light up trees 300' feet away in my back yard. It is in a concentrated beam that is tightly focused. About 10-15% of the light is diffused around the focal point giving a reasonable amount of wide area coverage. I limited the time that the lights were turned on as there is a warning against using it in air for too long. The LEDs generate a lot of heat and should be submerged for proper operation. In the enclosed picture, I set up two lights 12' away from a white door in an otherwise unlit room. The SLX light is on top and the bottom is a UK eLED SL-4 for comparison. The UK light has a single high power LED. The light output from the SLX is slightly blue which should travel well through water. While it looks like the light output is similar in this picture, the SLX output was more powerful.
Maintenance for this unit is minimal. As long as you keep the o-ring lightly lubricated and check the hose clamp is secure then there is not a lot left to do except change batteries on occasion. I did see one of the small screws securing a light head was out slightly, but an angled screwdriver made short work of that.
Burn time for the SLX light (according to their web site) is 4+ hours (up to 15 hours depending on battery type). I did not test this, but see no reason to doubt it. I suspect a fully charged set of NiMH batteries would last 6-8 hours at least. If you wanted to get Lithium / Titanium batteries then 15 hours should be possible.
Conclusions: My goals in looking for a new light were:
- Hands free operation
- Travels well
- Cost under $250 US
- Minimal size
- Minimal maintenance
- No external wires or battery packs
- Usable as a primary light
I wanted something that was flexible enough for general diving, but also good enough for wrecks and night dives. This light seems to be up to that task. It is compact, travels well and takes rechargeable AA batteries (I have about 45 of them around the house so that works for me). The light output is superior to the UK SL-4 and with a 6+ hour burn time it will last through my expected 4 daytime dives and a night dive on my upcoming liveaboard trip. It has three high output LED's as opposed to my SL-4 (Which I currently use) that has only one. So I can lose an LED in the SLX and not have to call the dive. All of my goals seem to be covered with this product. I am sure an HID light would be brighter, but budget was a factor for me and $250 was my ceiling for this. Paying $1,000 more for 30% more light may be an option for some, but I wanted to put my money into other things. I was expecting to have to compromise at some point, but the SLX seems to have everything I wanted.
I feel that I got value for my money and am happy with the high quality in the construction of the light and housing. Even the hose clamp has a thin layer of rubber on it to protect the neoprene light shealth from sharp edged metal. That shows a lot of thought was put into the product design. You can tell the o-ring is doing its job when you screw the unit together as the resistance increases when the o-ring makes contact with the housing. It is simple, yet rugged and the company has tested it to 328 feet. The only disappointing thing I experienced was the lack of adequate documentation. A few simple paragraphs describing how to open the light and a diagram showing the location of key parts would be a welcome addition instead of leaving it to the user to figure out by fumble and luck.
My experience with the company was very good overall with prompt email responses to my questions. One thing I did note; their web page for credit card purchases is NOT encrypted with SSL (HTTPS). I sent a Money Order via Registered mail for the purchase as I did not want my CC info broadcast over the Internet unprotected and made them aware of the issue.
So if you are looking for a general purpose light then take a look at the SLX LED Technical Dive Light.
For the record I am not affiliated in any way with Nocturnal Lights beyond being a customer.
Nocturnal Lights - Manufacturer Dive Lights, Underwater Focus Lights, and Underwater Video Lights for regular and technical divers, underwater photographers, and underwater film makers
The package arrived via Express Post a few days after placing my order and I was quite surprised at the compact size. The light measures 5 1/2" x 2 4/5" with no handle. The unit was well wrapped and arrived with no damage. Inside was the light unit with handle attached and a separate hand strap with a rubber coated hose clamp. Total cost (including free shipping) was $224 US as it was a "DEMO" unit I purchased through their clearance section. It looked brand new to me with no scratches or evidence of prior use. Unlike my last light shipment (which actually cost less) this package sailed through Canada Customs and there was no additional duty or taxes.
I unpacked the light unit and was impressed with the construction. It is compact in size with a solid handle. There are three holes in the handle for lanyard or other mounting options. It is made of tubular high grade aluminum and has finely machined features. It has a solid feel and it looks and feels like a quality product. The glass front of the cylinder (where the light comes out) is factory sealed and the three high output LED's have individual reflectors. A single toggle switch on the back end of the light is easy to work even with gloves on and has a locking tab avoiding accidental turn on. The switch is easily manipulated with 7MM gloves on.
NOTE: This picture shows the light in both possible configurations with handle on and inside the neoprene hand mount. There is only one light in the package.
The first negative thing I noticed was woefully inadequate documentation for the light. Usually, you would get a half dozen pages of diagrams and exploded parts lists, but there was literally one single sided page with very small type and no diagrams. On the back of that page was a half page for the hand strap installation instructions. The instructions were brief and assumed you knew what they were talking about. For handle removal they said to "unscrew the 1/8th" hex screw", but did not detail where it was and I spent a long time looking for it. The handle appeared to be an integral part of a one piece rubber coating and there was no hex nut visible.
I looked at it for a long time before realizing the boot at the base of the handle was flexible enough to be pulled up out of the way revealing a flat base, the switch and (pause for dramatic effect) a 1/8" hex nut. To get to the nut requires you pull the bottom of the rubber base away from the unit base and slide it up the handle of the light. Then you can unscrew the handle. Even after the handle hex screw was removed there was some sort of adhesive holding the handle on. It required a bit of force to break free. This was mentioned in the single page of docs. Once free of the handle, the light unit can be slipped into the neoprene of the hand strap.
The hand strap has a 1" and 3/4" Velcro strap. You may wear it with the 1" strap to the front or back as you see fit. The rubber coated hose clamp is then wrapped around the neoprene with the light inside to hold it securely in place. I wore it with the wider strap around my wrist and the 3/4" strap around my palm. The weight with batteries added (1.4 pounds) was noticeable, but this did not restrict my motion and felt fairly comfortable. It water it is slightly negative (0.5 pounds) for buoyancy. The straps are adjustable and fit over wet or dry gloves of various types easily. NOTE: If you have a dry suit with rigid rings on the wrist then I suggest trying one for fit as the ring may interfere with the body of the light and restrict your motion too much.
To open the unit requires you to grab the cylinder in one hand and twist the handle around counter clockwise. Without the handle in place it is very difficult to grab and turn the base as there is very little exposed metal on the base to grab onto. How to open the unit is not described and it took a lot of trial and error pulling and twisting to try to figure out. I was understandably nervous at twisting a brand new light as I did not know how it opened. However, the tight seal broke open and I unscrewed the base. The light head and battery holder are attached to the base unit and it slid out of the outer cylinder in one piece. The threads are made to a very fine and tight tolerance and there is a single lubricated o-ring at the very end. There is room for 6 AA batteries (three per side) and I used NiMH 2500 mAh rechargeable batteries to fill it up. I resealed the unit and then turned it on for a few seconds.
The amount of light output from the three high power LEDs is respectable. At night I was able to light up trees 300' feet away in my back yard. It is in a concentrated beam that is tightly focused. About 10-15% of the light is diffused around the focal point giving a reasonable amount of wide area coverage. I limited the time that the lights were turned on as there is a warning against using it in air for too long. The LEDs generate a lot of heat and should be submerged for proper operation. In the enclosed picture, I set up two lights 12' away from a white door in an otherwise unlit room. The SLX light is on top and the bottom is a UK eLED SL-4 for comparison. The UK light has a single high power LED. The light output from the SLX is slightly blue which should travel well through water. While it looks like the light output is similar in this picture, the SLX output was more powerful.
Maintenance for this unit is minimal. As long as you keep the o-ring lightly lubricated and check the hose clamp is secure then there is not a lot left to do except change batteries on occasion. I did see one of the small screws securing a light head was out slightly, but an angled screwdriver made short work of that.
Burn time for the SLX light (according to their web site) is 4+ hours (up to 15 hours depending on battery type). I did not test this, but see no reason to doubt it. I suspect a fully charged set of NiMH batteries would last 6-8 hours at least. If you wanted to get Lithium / Titanium batteries then 15 hours should be possible.
Conclusions: My goals in looking for a new light were:
- Hands free operation
- Travels well
- Cost under $250 US
- Minimal size
- Minimal maintenance
- No external wires or battery packs
- Usable as a primary light
I wanted something that was flexible enough for general diving, but also good enough for wrecks and night dives. This light seems to be up to that task. It is compact, travels well and takes rechargeable AA batteries (I have about 45 of them around the house so that works for me). The light output is superior to the UK SL-4 and with a 6+ hour burn time it will last through my expected 4 daytime dives and a night dive on my upcoming liveaboard trip. It has three high output LED's as opposed to my SL-4 (Which I currently use) that has only one. So I can lose an LED in the SLX and not have to call the dive. All of my goals seem to be covered with this product. I am sure an HID light would be brighter, but budget was a factor for me and $250 was my ceiling for this. Paying $1,000 more for 30% more light may be an option for some, but I wanted to put my money into other things. I was expecting to have to compromise at some point, but the SLX seems to have everything I wanted.
I feel that I got value for my money and am happy with the high quality in the construction of the light and housing. Even the hose clamp has a thin layer of rubber on it to protect the neoprene light shealth from sharp edged metal. That shows a lot of thought was put into the product design. You can tell the o-ring is doing its job when you screw the unit together as the resistance increases when the o-ring makes contact with the housing. It is simple, yet rugged and the company has tested it to 328 feet. The only disappointing thing I experienced was the lack of adequate documentation. A few simple paragraphs describing how to open the light and a diagram showing the location of key parts would be a welcome addition instead of leaving it to the user to figure out by fumble and luck.
My experience with the company was very good overall with prompt email responses to my questions. One thing I did note; their web page for credit card purchases is NOT encrypted with SSL (HTTPS). I sent a Money Order via Registered mail for the purchase as I did not want my CC info broadcast over the Internet unprotected and made them aware of the issue.
So if you are looking for a general purpose light then take a look at the SLX LED Technical Dive Light.
For the record I am not affiliated in any way with Nocturnal Lights beyond being a customer.
Nocturnal Lights - Manufacturer Dive Lights, Underwater Focus Lights, and Underwater Video Lights for regular and technical divers, underwater photographers, and underwater film makers
