Sola 1200 review

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Jorbar1551

Contributor
Scuba Instructor
Divemaster
Messages
814
Reaction score
3
Location
CSU-Monterey Bay
# of dives
100 - 199
I purchased a Sola 1200 from light and motion to use as a primary dive light, not for video or photography. From the first time I opened up the box and looked at the light, its as small and light as advertised. It really is incredible that they can create a light that puts out 1200 lumens that really fits on the back of your hand without a battery pack on your hip and a 3 foot long extension cord.

I turned on the light on land a few times and was amazed at how bright the light was. It produces a very white light that can be adjusted very easy using the controls. I planned on diving with it the next morning, so I took it home and put it on the included charger. 1 huge benefit with the sola is that you do not have to worry about O-rings and such when charging. The charger simply connects to the back of the light. After charging the light to full strength, nothing worked! I tried hooking it up to the charger again, and none of the LED lights lit up. I tried all that I could think of trying to turn on the light, and yet nothing worked. Light and Motion does not have an advertised phone number on their website, so I had to search the internet in order to call the service shop. I finally got a hold of Anthony, a really helpful guy who is in charge of domestic sales and service for SCUBA lights (they make a lot of bike lights as well). After doing what he told me to do, we realized that what I needed to do was to bring it in, so their service technicians could check it out. Because I live close, and work across the street from their location, I dropped it off on a monday afternoon. For whatever reason, the light simply did not work, so they replaced the light without issue the next day.

I took it home, charged it up, and used it for the first time while night snorkeling at hidden beach in monterey. This light is incredibly easy to use, and very bright. I only dove down to maybe 15 feet, and visibility was probably 15feet at best, but this light performed! With the LED's showing how much battery power you have left, there are no surprises. Overall, I am very satisfied. The light didnt seem to have the punch that HID's have, but for a mini light, there is no comparison. I will be doing a night dive on monday, and I'll let you know how that goes.
 
L&M say that this light can do flood/spot, how did this feature work for you? Does it really work as advertised?
 
I bought two of the Sola 1200s. Fortunately (as expected) both worked fine. They even took a tumble out of my golf cart onto the street while attached to my L&M Stingray G2 housing. They still worked fine. Only a bit of cosmetic "damage" to the light housing. The video I get using them is FAR better than what I ever got with my old HID lights... much more even diffusion.

The only "issue" I've had with them is that the top mounted controls that switch them to various power settings and from video to spot can easily be engaged while filming in tight crevices. The solution: simply use the locking mechanism to keep them in the desired setting.
 
L&M say that this light can do flood/spot, how did this feature work for you? Does it really work as advertised?

Yes. The light has a toggle that moves up and down which either adjusts spot/flood when moved to the bottom position; or if the toggle moves to the top, you can adjust the power level (low, med, bright). Either way, its very easily adjusted, and the difference between the two is obvious
 
I have 2 of these lights just about from the first minute they came out for my video rig.
Works great on the video rig but usually I just put on the hand straps and use one as my main dive light.

one of them has died but was replaced quickly
It took a tumble and then didn't work so I suspect that damaged it.
They other one has been going fine.

My dive buddy had 3 of them fail over the course of a couple months and got a refund
I suspect him charging them via a power inverter in his car caused a problem.

Nice lights - I do wish there was a bit bigger model with more battery.
 
I got to use the sola1200 on a night dive last night, and I was really impressed. Its obvious the light is extremely bright, but you dont realize how bright it is compared to other lights until you see what your buddy has! The light performed almost flawlessly, but I would still absolutely recommend this light to anyone seeking a new light.

Pro's: Extremely light, powerful, fits on the back of your hand with no battery pack on your hip or a battery cable going around your body, bright, and finally, its extremely easy to adjust settings and light output.

I'm also in love with the LED battery meter which makes it extremely easy to see how much battery you have left, and which power setting to use to finish your dive.

Con's: I believe the light is pretty fragile. Although it looks bulletproof, it seems like one tiny drop could kill this thing with no way to fix it except to send it back. And although the power switch is easy to play with, I'm starting to think that its the weak point of design. After only two dives, the springs are getting a little soft. Changing power output was fine, but as far as changing the mode goes, the switch would get stuck in the back position and turn off, giving me a brief thought that the battery had died.

The battery is kind of weak, but I guess you can expect that from a light that fits on the back of your hand! On the brightest setting, i went from green LED's to yellow in 20 minutes. I ended up using the lower of the settings for the rest of the dive (which was still extremely bright), and it never went lower than yellow.

Still a recommended buy for a primary light. This light had some power behind its punch on the spot light setting, and when you turn the flood lights on, it looks like you turned a light on in the ocean. It lit up everything!
 
Con's: I believe the light is pretty fragile. Although it looks bulletproof, it seems like one tiny drop could kill this thing with no way to fix it except to send it back. And although the power switch is easy to play with, I'm starting to think that its the weak point of design. After only two dives, the springs are getting a little soft. Changing power output was fine, but as far as changing the mode goes, the switch would get stuck in the back position and turn off, giving me a brief thought that the battery had died.

I would question this. As I wrote above, my two Sola 1200s took a tumble out of my golf cart onto the street when I had to pull over quickly for an approaching vehicle. Although there was some cosmetic damage to them, they work fine. The handle on the L&M Stingray housing broke off (due to excellent design though... only a $35 part needed to fix it) and there was cosmetic damage to the housing a well, but it works fine. I've had no problem with the switches yet. However, in the tight spaces where I often film they can get toggled into different brightness or spot position. Locking the toggle switch while the lights are on eliminates this problem though.
 
I started having problems with one of my Sola 1200s recently. The light on the right side cut out several times and during daylight dives I didn't notice it. Did a night dive Thursday. Charged both of my Sola 1200s for the same amount of time (fully charged). Used both of them on medium power for a 60 min dive. The one on the right cut out about 20 minutes into the dive and I could only keep it on for 5-15 seconds after that. The one on the left worked fine throughout the dive and still had two LEDs on at the end of the dive suggesting it had enough oomph for a second dive on medium power (as they are rated at about 140 min on medium power). Looks like the battery on the other light is not holding a full charge.
 
Have you talked to Light and Motion about getting this fixed? Have they had any other issues with this?
 
Update: I had to send in my other light again for repairs. L&M customer support was, as always, fantastic. They suggested I send both lights in which I did. The second dive I did with them after they were returned, one of the lights shut down after 65 min on a 75 min night dive (using low power). They worked fine the first dive, and last night on the third dive. I'm beginning to wonder if I did something wrong in charging the lights for the second dive, but both were charged at the same time for the same length of time (but using two different chargers of course).

I love these lights for their compactness and uniform coverage with no hot spots. Just hope I can figure out what went wrong on the second night dive. Guess I'll just have to do LOTS of dives with them this month and record the results.

Again, L&M customer support has been great.
 

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