Primary Light for cave diving?

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CAPTAIN SINBAD

Contributor
Messages
2,997
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Location
Woodbridge VA
# of dives
200 - 499
How many Lumens do you prefer? There are some 15000 beasts out there but are they popular?
 
I have both the 8000lumen Big Blue, the 4800lumen Big Blue, the 3500lumen Underwater Light Dude, The 21w HID Light Monkey and the 4000lumen LED Light Monkey....

I prefer the 4800 Big Blue the most. Oh, and it's the cheapest by far of all those I listed.
 
It depends on the water quality and conditions.

Air clear water? A bright light is awesome. Something with particulate or tannic, maybe not because of back-scatter.

I rotate between a LM 32W Variable Focus (great in clear water!), a Halcyon Focus 2 (great in dark water), and an older 21W HID (great in dark water) depending on the dive and conditions. I'd throw the new Dive Rite 35W beast into the mix if I had one too.
 
How many Lumens do you prefer? There are some 15000 beasts out there but are they popular?

I've never seen an actual 15,000 lumen light. 12,000 yes, but I've never actually seen one bigger than that. Anything big blue claims, just divide it in half.

I dive a UWLD35 and keep it on high whenever I can. Drop it down if there's high particulate. I like lots of light....
 
It really depends on the size of the cave and the water clarity. A light cannon isn't really needed. Within reason your eyes will adjust to softer lighting. I find the Halcyon Focus a nice overall light that adjusts well for most conditions and prefer it over the other lights I've had.
 
It really depends on the conditions for under $400 the Big Blue 4800 handheld is hard to beat. They easily do 3 hour dives and you could swap batteries out between dives if you felt like it.

Dark caves really suck up the light.
 
I have the BigBlue TL4800P, which I usually use on the medium setting. Nice color temperature for clear water, the battery seems to last foreeeeever, not too heavy. I'd like it to be about 1" shorter so that it doesn't bump my wrist seal wrings, but I'm a small-framed woman and bigger people probably do not have this problem.
 
I've never seen an actual 15,000 lumen light. 12,000 yes, but I've never actually seen one bigger than that. Anything big blue claims, just divide it in half.

I dive a UWLD35 and keep it on high whenever I can. Drop it down if there's high particulate. I like lots of light....

I don't know,.I've yet to see a light brighter than my 4800 and between me and my shop, we're a dealer for everything. It might not be 4800, but it's still brighter than anything uwld and lm have.
 
Trying to find the Big Blue light and the model I'm finding doesn't appear to be a canister, I've been able to find the other mentioned lights. Is there a canister version of the BB or is a non-canister primary acceptable for cave usage? Looking for a light with longer run-times for wreck diving and would like to get something that would be compatible with cave if I ever decide I have an interesting in pursuing cave.
 
http://cavediveflorida.com/Rum_House.htm

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