Wreck Diving Main Light

[Peter69_56]

Anyone have any recommendations on the best style of light to use for a main light. It seems in some circles canister lights are out of vogue now? If so whats the in vogue lights, if not what would others with more experience recommend?

Hand held seem short in battery life and a PITA to use while reeling line?

 

[victorzamora]

Anyone have any recommendations on the best style of light to use for a main light. It seems in some circles canister lights are out of vogue now? If so whats the in vogue lights, if not what would others with more experience recommend?

Hand held seem short in battery life and a PITA to use while reeling line?

I think it depends on what you want. Handhelds certainly don't have the lumen+burn time combo that canisters have.

Something big and bad like the Big Blue TL4500P, for example, is a fine light as long as you're fine with its limitations. Firstly, it'd be a bit lucky to get a real-world 3200lm out of it (assume any XM-L emitter maxes out at ~800lm out the front, and that's optimistic). That's a lot of light....it's also a lot of power. Assume 100lm/W (pretty optimistic near the top end)....that gives you at least 32W of power. It has a 4x18650 pack (assume really, really high-end cells at 2500mAh each). That gives you a 37Wh (4*3.7*2.5) pack with ~1hr of burn time. That's certainly more than respectable....but is it enough? If it is for you, and you don't want a cord, then it's great. If it's not, or you'd rather a cord, then a canister light it is.

I have not yet seen a handheld primary that could get me even close to considering switching. Many of them are glorified backups. The ones that aren't are simply way too big. I've gotten spoiled by a small lighthead, and honestly the cord doesn't bug me. I even use the cord to make my life easier and hold my lighthead up when I need that hand to be small.

 

[Peter69_56]

I think it depends on what you want. Handhelds certainly don't have the lumen+burn time combo that canisters have.

Something big and bad like the Big Blue TL4500P, for example, is a fine light as long as you're fine with its limitations. Firstly, it'd be a bit lucky to get a real-world 3200lm out of it (assume any XM-L emitter maxes out at ~800lm out the front, and that's optimistic). That's a lot of light....it's also a lot of power. Assume 100lm/W (pretty optimistic near the top end)....that gives you at least 32W of power. It has a 4x18650 pack (assume really, really high-end cells at 2500mAh each). That gives you a 37Wh (4*3.7*2.5) pack with ~1hr of burn time. That's certainly more than respectable....but is it enough? If it is for you, and you don't want a cord, then it's great. If it's not, or you'd rather a cord, then a canister light it is.

I have not yet seen a handheld primary that could get me even close to considering switching. Many of them are glorified backups. The ones that aren't are simply way too big. I've gotten spoiled by a small lighthead, and honestly the cord doesn't bug me. I even use the cord to make my life easier and hold my lighthead up when I need that hand to be small.

Thanks Victor, thats been my feeling too and I figured canister LED is the way I should go for the longer burn time.

 

[packrat12]

Generally for wreck diving, burn time is not that critical. In cave diving, you may need many hours of burn time. A wreck is normally not more than an hour so a couple of hours is sufficient.

I am currently using a Light in Motion Sola 800. Gives about 280 minutes (low 200 lum) to 70 minutes on high (800 lum). It is a small form so it fits on your wrist and does not interfere too bad with gear on your arm. The goodman handle is soft and fairly good, although I need to adjust it regularly through my dive. You can grip the wreck while wearing it and you can also easily operate a reel.

I have done 2hr penetration dives with it but find that after 3 hrs, it will die. I have one, my daughter's boyfriend bought one and I will be buying one for Christmas for my daughter. I think they are that good. It is also another company with a great reputation for service and support.

If the Sola 800 does not have a long enough burn time, the Light in Motion Sola Tech 600 which has a 180 minute burn time at high but a little less output at 600 lum.

 

[victorzamora]

What kind of diving are you going to be doing that you need a big primary light? What's the water condition going to look like? What kind of burn do you need? For wreck diving, shorter burn times are often fine. If the water is very clear, and you're doing limited penetration, you might not even need a ton of lumens, either.

The Sola lights are well-built and have useful light output. My only dislike is the price. For the money, you could buy a bunch of backup lights with the same light output and an hour of burn time....like 15 of them.

 

[stuartv]

I have developed somewhat of a rule of thumb for myself. If the light from one LED emitter is enough, then a handheld is potentially suitable. If I need more light than 1 LED can provide, then that means more battery draw, so a canister is probably required.

I'm not doing multi-hour cave dives. If I were, then even if a 1 LED light was bright enough, I would still need a canister to ensure adequate burn time.

My wreck dives are rarely more than an hour.or so of total runtime. Shallower wrecks would be longer, but I don't have access to many shallower wrecks. The wrecks I have been diving are most often in the 70 - 160 foot range. The shallower or those are such that I normally only turn my light on when I need it. It doesn't stay on for the whole dive (so, not having a canister is REALLY not an issue).

I have found that a quality light with a single Cree XM-L2 (of any bin, really) LED emitter is adequately bright for my needs. If the light does not have adjustable brightness (e.g. the DGX 600), then it will last long enough for 1 dive, with 1 x 18650 battery (my cells are Sanyos that test at 3200 - 3300 mAh, rated at 3400), but I would change the battery for a fresh one before using it for a second dive.

But, if the light is adjustable, so I don't run it on Max the whole time, and especially if it uses a bigger battery, then I can comfortably get 2 dives out of one charge. I'm now using Xtar D26 lights as my primary. They use 1 x 26650 battery and have adjustable brightness, so 1 light will easily cover 2 full dives, for me, on a single charge. The batteries I got for it are Soshine and they tested at 5300 mAh, IIRC (rated for 5500). The D26 is a single-cell, single-LED light, so it's fairly compact and fits in a soft Goodman handle on the back of my hand with no problem. It has a magnetic push button to turn on/off or adjust brightness, and the push button twists to lock against accidental presses.

If the light and burntime are adequate, I feel like I would much rather have a handheld than a cord or canister to worry about getting tangled up with or catching on stuff. Plus, the D26 is around $60 and the DGX 600 is $50. Batteries for either run less than $10 each. Those prices make them practically disposable compared to the "top rated" canister lights.

 

[stuartv]

The Sola lights are well-built and have useful light output. My only dislike is the price. For the money, you could buy a bunch of backup lights with the same light output and an hour of burn time....like 15 of them.

I have two dislikes. The price, and not being able to change out the battery between dives. If you're diving in conditions where you need to run it on High for the whole dive, then you need a second light to do a second dive. Plus, the Sola 800 (for example) is spec'ed at 70 minutes on High. To me, that does not give adequate safety margin (again, if you are doing a dive where you need it to be on High). A DGX 600 with a good 18650 will put out somewhere near 800 lumens and run longer than that.

 

[packrat12]

...The Sola lights are well-built and have useful light output. My only dislike is the price. For the money, you could buy a bunch of backup lights with the same light output and an hour of burn time....like 15 of them.

Yea they are fairly expensive. This is one of my few exceptions where I think the quality is worth it. The fit is nice compared to user replaceable battery lights as it is shorter but slightly taller on the wrist. The burn time is good and the fact that they are well sealed is great. I do not like twist lights like the DGX 600 because you can go the wrong way or turn it off too far and flood the light (never seen that before). I like using this with my backups being the user replaceable lights. I have lost a couple of user replaceable battery lights this year due to flooding. Like my Shearwater computer, this light has taken a beating and is still going strong after 1 year. I will often wear it even if I am not anticipating penetration.

I am regularly diving up to 1 hour of wreck penetration (engine room etc) inside the wreck with about another .5 around and inside the wreck. The burn time has not been an issue except when I did a second dive of the same length. Since I am on a CCR, I do get longer dives then most OC wreck divers. Most divers only turn on the light when needed so the descent, ascent and deco, the light should be off. It really comes down to how long you plan on being in the wreck.

Also, the light control is nice, I often dial it down to low during most of my dive. I really find that once I am inside the wreck, a low light source is the best.

 

[victorzamora]

Yea they are fairly expensive. This is one of my few exceptions where I think the quality is worth it. The fit is nice compared to user replaceable battery lights as it is shorter but slightly taller on the wrist. The burn time is good and the fact that they are well sealed is great. I do not like twist lights like the DGX 600 because you can go the wrong way or turn it off too far and flood the light (never seen that before). I like using this with my backups being the user replaceable lights. I have lost a couple of user replaceable battery lights this year due to flooding. Like my Shearwater computer, this light has taken a beating and is still going strong after 1 year. I will often wear it even if I am not anticipating penetration.

I am regularly diving up to 1 hour of wreck penetration (engine room etc) inside the wreck with about another .5 around and inside the wreck. The burn time has not been an issue except when I did a second dive of the same length. Since I am on a CCR, I do get longer dives then most OC wreck divers. Most divers only turn on the light when needed so the descent, ascent and deco, the light should be off. It really comes down to how long you plan on being in the wreck.

Also, the light control is nice, I often dial it down to low during most of my dive. I really find that once I am inside the wreck, a low light source is the best.

The quality is certainly nice, and the fact that they're sealed certainly has its pros. Stuart's point about needing two for two dives (as opposed to one light and a backup battery) is the obvious con to sealed lights. For the money, though, I'm buying backups. The ones I'm gravitating towards now are rear-push-button lights with ~800lm and about 1hr burn on high (like 400lm and 2.5hrs on medium). For <$30, I can't really argue.

 

[tbone1004]

yeah, so for me it really depends on what you are doing and where.

quick fun fact
The high quality backup lights have more light output than a 10w HID. This was enough for a primary light up until very recently, and realistically still is enough light for most people in most situations. If I was doing intro level dives, I would have 0 issues using a high quality backup light as my primary. I would likely carry 4 lights in this situation, 1 primary for the way in, 1 primary for the way out, and 2 proper backups. I would do this long before I went to something like the Light Monkey lights or the Dive Rite LX20. For the cost, the performance is close enough, and the convenience is quite nice. @stuartv mentioned the Sola 800 vs the DGX600 and it's run time, but the DGX600 will dim over the burn, so yeah it is burning for however many hours longer, but it's not putting out the same light as it was in the beginning. This is good enough for most people, but my backup lights are all multiple light outputs so I can get about an hour of burn on proper high, or I can get however many hours of burn time at a low light level to get out of a cave. That is VERY nice to have.

Now, I think these lights are sufficient for most wreck diving because the duration is a lot shorter than many cave dives in the part where you actually need the light. You don't need lights to function at full power for descent, ascent, deco, etc, so something convenient to turn on and off is nice which removes twisty's for me.
R105T HANDHELD DIVE LIGHT-Technical-A Lighter Ocean with Ano Dive Lights
That is currently the backup light that I'd recommend since Securitying removed the one that I liked from Amazon for some reason. Unsure on why, but @stuartv had bad luck with one due to a sharp edge cutting the bolt snap line.

Realistically, you have to figure out what kind of light you need and why. Do you need eleventysevenmillion lumens to light up the whole ship? Maybe, if you're diving and it's bright out, you need more light to clear shadows than you do at night, but you may not want that. The canister lights still have a very good justification, and the UWLD baby canister is selling like hotcakes for the wreck divers because of how small it is and how powerful the lights are