Used HID worth it?

[OldNSalty]

I went on a night dive recently where a buddy let me borrow a can light and wow I want one. When I dropped my tanks off at the shop the next day I said something to them and they showed me a used Dive Rite HID light. Switch on the top of the canister and that was about all they knew. They said it was "gentle used" and they wanted about $150 for it. Sounds too good to be true so what's the downside?

 

[tbone1004]

depends on how powerful it is, if the battery is good, etc etc.

If it's a 10w HID, you get more light out of the good backup lights on the market than you do out of them. If it's a 21w HID, then it's a bit easier to justify. It is unfortunately likely a 10w HID with NiMH batteries, and in that case I'd probably pass on it

 

[Bric Martin]

It may be a good deal, but there are a couple of downsides. HID bulbs are fragile compared to LED set ups. When moving gear stuff can get bumped and HID bulbs can break. The other downside is tied into the first, cost of HID bulbs. Some of those 10 watt bulbs used to be about 175$. I wouldn't buy it unless it had a couple of replacement bulbs.

 

[JohnnyC]

A new battery is gonna cost you about a hundred bucks on top of it, two hundred if you get good cells. If it comes with batteries and a charger and it works and has reasonable burn time, it might be worth it if you're not going to rely on it for serious use. It's not something I would buy looking to turn it into a primary light to take into a cave, there are way better lights for that now. It also may be a little tight beam-wise for a general purpose dive light.

 

[KeithG]

it's big and heavy. and maybe 10 years obsolete?

what are you currently using?

as a long time night (not cave) diver we slowly bought our way up to ikelite rcd8 dive lights. these monsters took 8 d cells (and would last more than a week's worth of night dives) and could be used as door stops. huge. heavy.

replaced one of them with a teeny tiny hog morph. never looked backed.