Anyone familiar with Hawes Lights?

[mwilding]

I did a search and came up with a mix of requests for info (resulting from their great price), rave reviews, and blasting of one guy giving rave reviews (because he works for them...)

Anyone have any experience with them regarding their quality / value?

haweslights

 

[d33ps1x]

The look of the cord between the head and cannister wouldn't give me a lot of faith.

395 for an HID can???

 

[mwilding]

are you basing that on seeing it first hand or a picture?

 

[Boogie711]

other than their dishonest marketing practices is that the batteries are Lead Acid instead of NiMH and that the lighthead isn't focus-able.

 

[wetman]

We got one for one of the guys i dive with. We've have Light Cannons, hawes and helios lights here.

I'd rather have a hawes than a light canon for the little bit of extra money. I'd rather have the hawes than make my own hid. Because the canister is a decent size, you can easily make up your own nimh pack out of C's and use the lead acid as a backup. Or buy two lead acids (they're very cheap) - and switch out at about the 2 hour mark.

The halcyon is a better light all around. But i wouldnt buy one of those again either - far too costly for what it is i think now. I'd likely look at the adjustable dive rites or sartek at this point (maybe even that terkel but i have never seen one).

Problem is, i'm likely going to an 18 watter next year, and the only one of those i really like is a halcyon so that may be my next step.

steve

 

[5615mike]

other than their dishonest marketing practices is that the batteries are Lead Acid instead of NiMH and that the lighthead isn't focus-able.

Are you saying that they advertise NiMH batteries and say they have a focusable head? I have not seen that so I don't know.

Have you seen the new unit on eBay? It's not on the website but they are available. All T6 Aluminum. Was not aware they use lead batteries. I am gonig to email them and ask.

 

[Boogie711]

No, check the date of that post. That was before they brought out their new light.

Their earlier light was basically a beginners HID - it didn't have a focusable light head, and it didn't use NiMH batteries. The new one uses NiMH but still doesn't have a focusable head.

Their dishonest marketing practices stems back to an incident MWilding was referring to - a guy on here was all gung ho about them, and then we discovered he actually worked for Hawes, or was Hawes directly or something like that.

 

[5615mike]

cool. I'll let you know what the response is to all my questions. Thanks for all your info. These things are too damn expensive to make a mistake on your purchase.

 

[nwcoldwater]

I felt as if I needed to reply to this thread.
I am with Hawes scuba accessories. The “dishonest” sales practice was with a friend/employee that was trying to help us out by posing as a customer. He was very embarrassed when it all came out and I’d like to think that it is all old water under the boat and move on. If there is a concern about customer service and quality, I think our customers can verify that we take both very seriously and go overboard to do what we can to help.

Other wise thanks for the interest. It’s always a privilege to talk to fellow divers.
We have the new light ready now; we are a little slow on getting the web site up and running with the new light so if any one would like some pictures I would me happy to email them to you.
Let me tell you a little bit about the light, we are very proud of the upgrades we made.

The new light is called the Explorer, both the lamp head and the battery canister are milled from a solid block of tempered T16 aluminum.

The cord is from Oflex. The cord can withstand lots of abuse and is very flexible. it was specially picked to with stand the conditions of diving.

The lamp is a 10 watt HID lamp (high intensity discharge lamp) it puts out a little more light then a 50 watt quarts. The light color is at 6000 K, this means that the light is a very white to bluish color very close to natural sun light. The color lends it to being ideal for photo and video.

The light also comes with a Goodman style wrist strap that holds the lamp head to make this a truly hands free unit.

The Biggest change is the innovative placement of the on/off switch.
The switch is moved from the battery canister to the back of the small lamp head. The lamp head is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. The switch is activated by a magnet so there is no penetration threw the metal housing.

The battery canister holds a slim line 4500 ma NiMH (nickel metal hayride) pack that will run the explorer for 4 + hours. This is a no memory battery pack that is designed with a thermal overload and a 2 amp automatic resetting fuse built inside the pack to help protect your investment.

The battery canister is milled from tempered T6 aluminum and is designed to mount on a back plate or with a belt strap/camp strap. You have the option to mix and match the D rings to four predetermined notches cut in the aluminum canister underneath the clamps. The clamps also have their own notches they ride in to make them flush with the canister. If you don’t need to use the D rings or the belt strap bracket then the user can remove the unused components of the battery canister.

The canister design allows for modification to fit todays complex BC.

If you have any more questions please feel free to ask.
Thanks
Hawes scuba accessories
hawes@haweslight.com