Tank lights--what are they good for?

[Bratface]

Glo sticks do nothing for the environment. Once they dim and go out they are trash. Get a tank light with a battery. Mine is about the size of a magic marker and takes 3 watch batteries that last a long time.

 

[USCScubaboy]

Glo sticks do nothing for the environment. Once they dim and go out they are trash. Get a tank light with a battery. Mine is about the size of a magic marker and takes 3 watch batteries that last a long time.

Do you have a link to the tank light that you use? I've gone through two different tank lights (both have leaked and gone bad after 1 dive).

 

[Doc Harry]

A tank light is really useful for keeping track of your buddy on a night dive when you're in a big gaggle. It's easy to see everyone -- they all have primary dive lights -- but which one is your buddy? If everyone has the same color of tank light, then it doesn't help matters. It's nice to have an unusual color, or even two tank lights.

Sometimes in Cozumel another dive group drifts through your dive group, and things start getting really messy. Which dive group do you do off with? And which diver is your buddy?

I agree that tank lights are cheap and don't last long. Although glow sticks aren't good for the environment, buying expensive tank lights that flood after 3-4 dives is neither good for the environment nor good for my pocket book. And glow sticks come a variety of colors. I've bought a variety of tank lights over the years, and all have flooded after just a few dives. No more, it's glow sticks for me.

 

[Skooter]

So you can find the body.

That was the night I began requiring tank lights for night dives. Without a tank light we would have had a very difficult time getting to the victim. Tank strobes can be purchased for @ 10 bucks, cheap compared to the other safety gear we use.

 

[hoopa]

I actually like a tank light stick when night diving... We like to turn off our lights and enjoy the "silence" of the night--at least for little bits of time.. The little light tank allows to keep a eye on each other... Here is the tank light that i just got and love.. Its small but bright enough-- uses two batter yet lasts a good long time. . Buy Promate LED light stick T-03 with reviews at scuba.com ... They sell them all over but i got mine at sports chalet for 20$ish dollars.. If this one broke-- id get another..

 

[Bubbletrubble]

I can understand the reasoning behind a dive op mandating that all divers diving off its boat must wear a tank light. I would be unhappy to have to wear one that was a flashing strobe. Very annoying to have to dive in the water with multiple divers wearing flashing lights.

Tank lights might also be helpful for an instructor or DM trying to corral a large group of divers.

However, I don't get why some divers are suggesting that a tank marker light is a good way to identify a buddy. In my experience diving in 10 ft. vis conditions, it's not a very good way at all. I can identify my buddies from the character/quality of their primary lights. If that's not enough, their tanks and the bottoms of their fin tips are marked clearly. Each diver kicks in a distinguishable way. We are actively and passively communicating with our lights constantly throughout the dive. A tank marker light is dim and can only be seen if the diver is directly in front of you. We only dive in buddy teams of 2 or 3 people. Larger buddy teams create too much congestion and confusion underwater. They simply don't work.

 

[TSandM]

I agree with avoiding the cyalume lights -- they are not good for the environment (and are not particularly cost-effective or dive-effective, either!)

I have a lot of trouble understanding the requirement for tank lights, when you have a group of divers with HID primaries and two backup lights per person, but one of the boats I dive off of has that requirement, and we honor it. Otherwise, if you have folks using hand-held lights, which can be dropped, or not having backup lights, then a tank light at least permits the diver to be located by an instructor or guide.

And I'm with BubbleTrubble -- if you can't identify your buddy underwater, you didn't look at him carefully enough on land. Although when a dozen DIR types in black drysuits, with black Jet fins and black hoods and HID lights converge on an octopus, it can be VERY hard to figure out who you can to the party with!

 

[Shftrdog]

A great secondary light is the Underwater Kinetics ELED SL3.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

Although when a dozen DIR types in black drysuits, with black Jet fins and black hoods and HID lights converge on an octopus, it can be VERY hard to figure out who you can to the party with!

Gear standardization does have its disadvantages, eh?

Doesn't DIR philosophy permit personalization of gear by marking or coloring it in some way?
I mark the bottom of my fins with my name in large lettering.
Moreover, shouldn't a buddy team be operating close enough and actively/passively communicating with lights constantly so that its members can be easily distinguished from other buddy teams?
I generally avoid diving in large groups because it tends to scare away the marine life.

 

[Rainer]

Of course. My fins have smiley faces on them. Most of us also have names + phone numbers marked. We also have our initials in 3" reflective lettering on our cylinders. Many have 1" lettering on their canisters. Coupled with distinctions in drysuits (manufacturer, style, coloring, etc), masks, lights, and general body shape, it's rather easy to tell divers apart even at night.

I never have trouble distinguishing my team members. We don't dive in "gaggles" though. Even if a larger group enters together, at most we'll have two teams of 2-3 divers together. Anything more is just a mess and I'd rather get some distance from others for the same reason you note.

For the type of diving we do (everyone with BIG lights, small groups, limited visibility), cylinder lights would be pretty useless. We don't bother with them.

Doesn't DIR philosophy permit personalization of gear by marking or coloring it in some way?
I mark the bottom of my fins with my name in large lettering.
Moreover, shouldn't a buddy team be operating close enough and actively/passively communicating with lights constantly so that its members can be easily distinguished from other buddy teams?
I generally avoid diving in large groups because it tends to scare away the marine life.