Intova Searchlight

[Jak Crow]

The Intova, and probably the DRIS , are most likely versions of a number of dive lights coming out of China using the latest CREE high output LEDs, which can do between 800 and 1400 lumens. The generic lights can be found on ebay starting at $35 and use rechargeable 18650 li-ion batteries for the most part, which will probably give them much longer battery life than Cs. It's disappointing that both companies are rebadging these lights and marking them up 200 to 300%.

 

[Jorgy]

Jak - do you have a link to the China light?

M

 

[chrpai]

I think this is what he's talking about:

TrustFire TR-J1 Diving 1000Lm CREE XM-L T6 LED Flashlight Torch Waterproof 100m | eBay

Makes me wonder if I shouldn't just give it a try.

 

[Bhtmec2]

Last weekend we went through this drill. What light to buy.

AOW student needed a light for the night dive. Price was the factor. He finally got a Plastic light for $80.00 (PR prices are high) and we dove that night. Well when we got out and back to the hotel I got all my gear ( lights, regs, camera, ) and cleaned them. Well they asked why I was doing it and I told them so they last. Well the next,morning getting ready in the parking lot the new light had flooded. If he had done post dive maint... He could have saved the lite possibly. I tried to explain that I clean my light after each dive. Take them apart and remove the battery's. If he had done it the night before he may have discovered the flood and saved it. When we opened it we poured out some salt water. We flushed it with fresh water and out poured the soldering from the board.

Moral to this story going cheap will cost more. I told them how many plastic lights I have gone through and saving up for a better one will cost less in the long run..... Second point was preventative maintenance from out of the box to each dive.

I would highly recommend going for something better than the e-bay 30-40 dollar light. The DRIS 500 lumen light is a good one and will not break the bank.

 

[chrpai]

Good logic except, 1) I'm not an inexperienced AOW student and 2) we aren't talking about plastic lights.

You might want to read this review:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/lights/419285-trustfire-tr-j1-review.html

FWIW, I have a DRIS 500 on back order and Mike has said that he has a new 1000 coming in a few weeks that he'll send me instead.

From what I've put together, companies *like* DRIS are *probably* (don't want to ruffle feathers here) working with chinese manufacturers to import lights very similar to what was reviewed above.

From emails with Mike he's mentioned that he has placed an order of 500 lights and that he's very picky about details such as the length of the light and ability to use a boltsnap. So my impression is that he effectively uses the same supply chain but OEMs and imports in bulk. He then sells for twice the price. Note that I don't consider twice the price a bad thing. After all he's put in effort to spec the light, order large quantities and put his own reputation on the line for this house brand OEM light.

That said, everything I've read gives me confidence to source one of these lights directly from Hong Kong and take a $40 chance. But I'll also be keeping my order with DRIS. After all, I need 2 lights.