Need to get first dive light.

[texdiveguy]

Ryan.... of course next time we hook-up you are always welcome to try any of my lights. If you hit Travis this weekend as you might....I would def. recommend some form of basic u/w light.....vis is down and makes it nice to have one.....with several divers down there you can probably barrow one for your dives if you need to, just a thought.

[RoyN]

Originally Posted by CODMAN

Damn I hate budgets! Especially my own!!!

Yep yep yep! That sure spoils everything doesn't it.

[Ryanh1801]

Originally Posted by CODMAN

May I suggest the UK light Canon? I know it's not within your buidget... It's not LED, but pumps out a wallop and is HID! Other than a Canister light ($$$$$), this thing seems to be the best for low vis diving like you are doing! I've seen them for less than 200$ on special... It's probably the best non-CAN light for your conditions...

If you can't afford that, I'd go for the most powerfull LED light you can afford. I like UK lights. Th C8 eLed plus could do the trick, but once again is slightly over budget... But then again, you need the power of these lights for the condition you are in! If you settle for less, just for a few $$Well, if your budget is tight, I understand...

Damn I hate budgets! Especially my own!!!

Yup budgets suck, I could spend more, but don't really want to right now, have other places money needs to be spent. Although looking on Ebay it seems that UK HID light can be had for a decent price Used.

Ryan.... of course next time we hook-up you are always welcome to try any of my lights. If you hit Travis this weekend as you might....I would def. recommend some form of basic u/w light.....vis is down and makes it nice to have one.....with several divers down there you can probably barrow one for your dives if you need to, just a thought.

Thanks for the offer. Might take you up on that. This next weekend is what got me thinking that I might need to get a light if I dive Travis.

[RoyN]

Ryan, is this night dive for a class or just for fun?

[Ryanh1801]

Originally Posted by RoyN

Ryan, is this night dive for a class or just for fun?

Well I have a night dive planed in a few months, for a class. but its kind of for both I suppose.

[bperrybap]

Here are some other really good threads on this topic:
Dive Light - Help me chose
(in this thread I did a long post about several lights)

Primary Light

My preference is LED. It ups the battery life and the current generation
LED lights are bright enough to use during the day. Also, you won't
ever have to worry about a bulb burning out or going out just because you
accidentlaly dropped the light while entering/exiting the water.

There are some other things to consider.
- Grip style (pistol grip vs flashlight style).
- Beam pattern (narrow vs broad)

Depending on your use, you may or may not want a pistol grip.
For example, if you want a light that you take with you all the time
and can use it during the day as well as night, a pistol grip is not optimum
because it is much harder to store and pistol grip lights often don't fit
in BC pockets.

As far as beam pattern. Some times I find its nice to have a broad beam and
sometimes its nice to have a spot. Its kind of personal preference.
Narrow beams tend to go further than broad beams and are better
for pointing out things to other divers.

I have a PT mini-wave LED light and a UK SL4 eLED.

For general purpose day/night "carry it with me all the time", I think
a light like the UK SL4 LED is a better option. It is very bright can be used
during the day as well as night. It is compact and stores easily in a BC
pocket.
If money is tight the UK SL4/SL6 non LED lights are great lights. Simple
yet tough. Often they are used by the dive shops for rental lights.

On the pistol grip lights, I prefer the 4 C cell versions to the 8 C versions.
(PT miniwave LED & UK C4 eLED vs their 8 cell big brothers)
The reason is that, for me, I do my night diving while on dive trips.
The 4 cell lights are the same, except for battery life.
The 4 cell lights have enough battery power for a weeks worth of
night dives. Since I use new/fresh batteries for each trip. Having an 8 cell
light is overkill. For me, it adds uncessary size, weight, and expense for the
diving I do.

When you boil it all down, most of it comes down to personal preference
and budget. There is no single right answer.

--- bill

[Ryanh1801]

Originally Posted by bperrybap

Here are some other really good threads on this topic:
Dive Light - Help me chose
(in this thread I did a long post about several lights)

Primary Light

My preference is LED. It ups the battery life and the current generation
LED lights are bright enough to use during the day. Also, you won't
ever have to worry about a bulb burning out or going out just because you
accidentlaly dropped the light while entering/exiting the water.

There are some other things to consider.
- Grip style (pistol grip vs flashlight style).
- Beam pattern (narrow vs broad)

Depending on your use, you may or may not want a pistol grip.
For example, if you want a light that you take with you all the time
and can use it during the day as well as night, a pistol grip is not optimum
because it is much harder to store and pistol grip lights often don't fit
in BC pockets.

As far as beam pattern. Some times I find its nice to have a broad beam and
sometimes its nice to have a spot. Its kind of personal preference.
Narrow beams tend to go further than broad beams and are better
for pointing out things to other divers.

I have a PT mini-wave LED light and a UK SL4 eLED.

For general purpose day/night "carry it with me all the time", I think
a light like the UK SL4 LED is a better option. It is very bright can be used
during the day as well as night. It is compact and stores easily in a BC
pocket.
If money is tight the UK SL4/SL6 non LED lights are great lights. Simple
yet tough. Often they are used by the dive shops for rental lights.

On the pistol grip lights, I prefer the 4 C cell versions to the 8 C versions.
(PT miniwave LED & UK C4 eLED vs their 8 cell big brothers)
The reason is that, for me, I do my night diving while on dive trips.
The 4 cell lights are the same, except for battery life.
The 4 cell lights have enough battery power for a weeks worth of
night dives. Since I use new/fresh batteries for each trip. Having an 8 cell
light is overkill. For me, it adds uncessary size, weight, and expense for the
diving I do.

When you boil it all down, most of it comes down to personal preference
and budget. There is no single right answer.

--- bill

Thanks for that post.. very good info.

[rox@ucf11]

If looking for a regular flashlight grip the Princeton Tech Torrent is a pretty good xenon light. I have it and the beam is pretty good in a cavern. sigh wish I had a can light hid those things are friggen bright as heck. or the 500 lumen dive rite led light. I also have a UK Q40 eLED plus it has a 2 watt led with 40 Lumens tho not quite as bright and a wider beam than my Torrent. I like that I can abuse it a bit and not worry about it. Would like a higher lumens led.

There was a good post somewhere comparing the different lumens of LED and Xeneon and baiscly it said LED's and Xenons are oranges and apples and cant be compared because of the heat of the light and what range each has in the visible light range. (ie an LED has more visible light 95% in the visible light rnage, a xenon puts out around 30% of its in the non visible infra red light range and 70% in the visible part)

That said if you do the math the Torrent Xenon with a Lumens of 115 is still a fair amount brighter than the UK Q40 eLED Plus with 40 Lumens ( tho the plus to the UK Q40 is that the bulb is much sturdier and impact resistant)



By the way this was just an example on two of the lights that I have

[Ryanh1801]

Well Just got an HID Light Cannon off Ebay for 120 bucks!!!! Im excited.

[texdiveguy]

Originally Posted by Ryanh1801

Well Just got an HID Light Cannon off Ebay for 120 bucks!!!! Im excited.

Nice score Ryan...way to go!!!