victorzamora
Contributor
Hey guys, there's been a lot of talk about cheaper lights on here....eBay and Amazon have been a big source for chinese lights, and they seem to be OEM stuff with little US support. Have any of y'all played with ANO Lights?
I finally had a chance to. I'm sure everyone on here has seen them online somewhere. I was diving out of Lake Jocassee Dive Shop and met Brandon Landmark, US Distributor for them. The lights seemed high quality and well thought out. We got to talking, and he offered to loan me some for an upcoming cave trip. I was short a backup light and the charger for my backup canister was MIA, so I figured the timing was great. I borrowed a CL2300X, CV6000X, V70WS and a pair of backups, R105T and SCI501.
First of all, these don't seem to be another brand's OEM stuff. They seem to be on the higher end of quality for the Chinese stuff. They're not quite as yummy to play with as my UWLD, but they're easily on par with other "name brand" lights. The CL2300X was bright, had a decent halo but a strong hotspot. It could signal over a UWLD 35-144, but certainly wasn't as much light. They offer a CL6000X, but it has a much wider beam than the CL2300X. The CV6000X is their video light. It's very bright and even, but I can't speak to the CRI rating as I'm not that good. The V70WS is likely the video light I'd choose over the CV6000X. It's not as bright, but it's handheld and just as even. The backup lights were exactly what you'd expect, 18650- and 26650-powered XM-L emitters with push buttons on the back. They're both in the same ~800lm range all of the XM-L lights are. I couldn't tell a difference in brightness between them.
More specific thoughts: The V70WS I borrowed was a "well-used" demo light. The magnetic ring was a little too tight at depth, but seems to be in no fear of failing the way the rest of my Chinese magnetic-ring lights have failed. The CL2300X seems to be one of the best canisters for the money I've played with. The quality isn't as good as UWLD, but it's really hard to beat for the price. I'll be buying one for the wife and eventually making it backup canister (or, potentially, scooter canister). Most of the lights seem pretty accurate regarding burn times and light outputs and are certainly much, much more realistic than anything else on the market (eBay will sell you 1800+lm XM-L emitters, while you should only expect 700-800 out the glass). For example, the CL2300X I truly believe is ~2300lm. The quoted burn time is 6-12hr, but I can't imagine that that's at full power. Running the math, it agrees with my gut instinct....but the math indicates about 4 hours of burn on high, which isn't bad. If the light kicks down to Mid, I can definitely see a 6+hr total burn. All of the non-backups were sealed. Charging the V70WS was in a chargine base, which is a wildly under-advertised feature. It's slick. You literally set it in the base and it charges. The CL2300X and CV6000X both charge by unscrewing a cap from the canister lid and plugging in a long cable. This is very easy to do with the light on or off your harness.
Overall, I'm pretty impressed. Brandon has told me the canisters are likely getting a couple new options in the future. One thing I'll note is I learned I don't like hard goodman handles. They have a soft goodman that I believe is an option, and one I'll be getting. I'm trying to upload some video, but it seems my GoPro was unhappy with me that weekend.
So, anybody else play with these lights yet?
I finally had a chance to. I'm sure everyone on here has seen them online somewhere. I was diving out of Lake Jocassee Dive Shop and met Brandon Landmark, US Distributor for them. The lights seemed high quality and well thought out. We got to talking, and he offered to loan me some for an upcoming cave trip. I was short a backup light and the charger for my backup canister was MIA, so I figured the timing was great. I borrowed a CL2300X, CV6000X, V70WS and a pair of backups, R105T and SCI501.
First of all, these don't seem to be another brand's OEM stuff. They seem to be on the higher end of quality for the Chinese stuff. They're not quite as yummy to play with as my UWLD, but they're easily on par with other "name brand" lights. The CL2300X was bright, had a decent halo but a strong hotspot. It could signal over a UWLD 35-144, but certainly wasn't as much light. They offer a CL6000X, but it has a much wider beam than the CL2300X. The CV6000X is their video light. It's very bright and even, but I can't speak to the CRI rating as I'm not that good. The V70WS is likely the video light I'd choose over the CV6000X. It's not as bright, but it's handheld and just as even. The backup lights were exactly what you'd expect, 18650- and 26650-powered XM-L emitters with push buttons on the back. They're both in the same ~800lm range all of the XM-L lights are. I couldn't tell a difference in brightness between them.
More specific thoughts: The V70WS I borrowed was a "well-used" demo light. The magnetic ring was a little too tight at depth, but seems to be in no fear of failing the way the rest of my Chinese magnetic-ring lights have failed. The CL2300X seems to be one of the best canisters for the money I've played with. The quality isn't as good as UWLD, but it's really hard to beat for the price. I'll be buying one for the wife and eventually making it backup canister (or, potentially, scooter canister). Most of the lights seem pretty accurate regarding burn times and light outputs and are certainly much, much more realistic than anything else on the market (eBay will sell you 1800+lm XM-L emitters, while you should only expect 700-800 out the glass). For example, the CL2300X I truly believe is ~2300lm. The quoted burn time is 6-12hr, but I can't imagine that that's at full power. Running the math, it agrees with my gut instinct....but the math indicates about 4 hours of burn on high, which isn't bad. If the light kicks down to Mid, I can definitely see a 6+hr total burn. All of the non-backups were sealed. Charging the V70WS was in a chargine base, which is a wildly under-advertised feature. It's slick. You literally set it in the base and it charges. The CL2300X and CV6000X both charge by unscrewing a cap from the canister lid and plugging in a long cable. This is very easy to do with the light on or off your harness.
Overall, I'm pretty impressed. Brandon has told me the canisters are likely getting a couple new options in the future. One thing I'll note is I learned I don't like hard goodman handles. They have a soft goodman that I believe is an option, and one I'll be getting. I'm trying to upload some video, but it seems my GoPro was unhappy with me that weekend.
So, anybody else play with these lights yet?
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