Nothing saps your testosterone more than having the weakest dive light.

[SDiverJim]

It wasn't all that but it was funny. I got a call from my instructor/mentor/friend on Friday that he and his wife were going to Dutch Springs on Saturday and did I want to join them for some dives and a night dive. My schedule was full at the office Saturday morning but I split after work and took the 3 hour ride to meet them. We did one dive at the pump house, which I never dove before. Waited till dark and repeated the dive which is classified as a deep dive as well ~ 80 feet +. On the night dive he brings out this tubular aluminum battery pack that he puts in a dry suit pocket. A line runs from the battery pack to an aluminum LED light source that he attaches to his hand. You want to talk about bright!! I take out my Princeton II shockwave from my AOW class and sigh :depressed: Guess who is on the market for a new primary light . All in all great night dive. We saw quite a few fish, fresh water sponge these incredible algae balls (don’t know what else to call them). Amazing how different it looks at night. Also learned that by covering the light your peripheral vision improves vastly. (only my third night dive)

 

[fjpatrum]

Of my 3 night dives 2 have been in shallow waters during a full moon so lights were almost unnecessary. The third was so bright with tons of lights that I could have turned mine off completely and never have noticed.

Sounds like it was worth the 3 hour drive. Good for you.

 

[ScubaSam]

OP - In all the times I've been to Dutch Springs, I've yet to do a night dive there. Sounds like you had a good night dive. The pump house is one of the my favorite dives at Dutch.

I hear you on the dive light, nothing prompts a dive gear purchase faster than gear envy which I've been a victim of many times.

Happy purchases and safe dives.

 

[Diver0001]

My regular buddy and I both bought the same lights... not deliberately... but it sure helps if everyone's light is the same. Differences matter, not brightness.

But it became a problem on a dive (a deep wreck dive where we planned to go 20min over the NDL's) with another friend of mine who bought a .... God, I don't even know what it was... but it was like taking a sliver of the sun with him under water... Crabs and lobsters were running for their lives when he was still 5m away.....

I could literally have turned my light off and it wouldn't have made any difference (I have a 10w HID light).... so I wrote to him on my wetnotes: "See you on the surface at 11:32 - OK?: ". there were two other divers with him so he was ok. He signed me OK and I left and found a corner of the wreck where my 10w HID light actually mattered. Unfortunately my plans to penetrate it at several different points had to be delayed but I enjoyed the dive a lot more once I went solo. (what forum is this? Am I allowed to say this here?)

What that dive taught me is that it's not the brightness of your light that matters... it's how you use it.

but seriously, you could take a 2w LED light with you and as long as everyone else is using the same 2w light it will work just fine....

R..

 

[SDiverJim]

OP - In all the times I've been to Dutch Springs, I've yet to do a night dive there. Sounds like you had a good night dive. The pump house is one of the my favorite dives at Dutch.

I hear you on the dive light, nothing prompts a dive gear purchase faster than gear envy which I've been a victim of many times.


Happy purchases and safe dives.

There you go gear envy! Last year I did a night dive at Dutch and it started to pour and there was a lightning storm off in the distance. Amazing what the surface of the water looks like when it rains. The flashes of light were ominous down below as well.
The pump house is now my favorite spot as well.

 

[Akimbo]

On the other hand, a small light requires the most testosterone. The best part is being able to say “So, you’re afraid of the dark” when criticized. Murmuring “Wussies” is optional.

 

[knotical]

Totally agree with Diver0001. I don't want a bright light. I want one that gives me the minimum I need to get around with, and disturbs the critters the least. On many night dives my light is off much of the time.

I guess there might be a need for bright lights if you're a photographer, but maybe not even then because they have flashes don't they? So what is the purpose of the bright lights?

 

[rongoodman]

Here you go.

 

[SDiverJim]

Here you go.

Nice!! A tad out of my price range though but that is basically what he was carrying.

 

[ClayJar]

What's the viz like at Dutch Springs? In low-viz murk, I like to have lots o' lumens. On the other hand, on most of my night dives, a 4-AA pocket-size light is overkill, so I spend most of the dive with it shining through my fingers (so I can continuously modulate the light output).

Having a light insufficient for signaling or general use in murk is one thing, but outside those conditions, I prefer night dives to daylight dives after dark. :biggrin:

Of course, that doesn't mean I can't gawk at a nice can light, but it's just gear gawking.