Are Canister Lights Still in Play?

[TheBullfrog]

I am ready to go and get a big boy light, but am curious as to what everything thinks about the canister light still being an option. I mean, I know it's an option as they still make them. But, considering the huge advances in LED's, batteries, etc. should I even consider them?

Do I want to do cave diving? Sure, but I'm probably a little ways out before I'm able to, but then again, who wants to spend that kind of money twice?

Anyway, any opinions and thoughts are welcome. I am grateful to you all for your insight.

 

[NothingClever]

Can lights are still in play for me.

I don’t feel encumbered having a corded light (how I dive now) nor advantageously liberated by a cordless light (how I started).

This is one of those topics that just goes on and on with passionate assertions of personal opinions as if they were the 11th commandment.

Do your homework on both categories of options and forecast your diving trajectory to the best of your ability and make a choice. Everybody wants to buy once, cry once and none of us want to buy something only to discover later we really needed something else. Unfortunately, that’s the nature of equipment intensive activities.

 

[Snusmumrik]

Can lights are still in play for me.

Same for me.
Pros - can lights stays longer, and it's not easy to lose one.
Cons - much clumbersome than cordless lights.
Cordless lights stays less than canister. I see a lot of lost cordless lights,
even if they are strapped to diver.
And you still need strap or retractor to held it when you need both hands.

 

[Badger7]

No question LED and battery technology has significantly improved in recent years. LEDs especially, the output improvement while decreasing the weight, reflector size, and power draw is amazing. Batteries have gotten signifcantly smaller, and much higher density, but even the best lithium ion technology still has some weight to it for any given storage capacity. I'm sure that will change in our lifetime as well, maybe some of this new iron-air technology will become mainstream.

For the near term though - if you want 5 hours of runtime on a single pack of batteries, its really a matter of deciding whether you want a couple pounds of batteries on your wrist or hip. Both are viable. Do you want the weight on your hand or do you want to deal with a cord? I thought I would prefer the former, but after trying both I guess I prefer having the extra weight on my hip - trims better and has the side benefit of having the light tethered just in case its accidently dropped.

 

[TheBullfrog]

Can lights are still in play for me.

I don’t feel encumbered having a corded light (how I dive now) nor advantageously liberated by a cordless light (how I started).

This is one of those topics that just goes on and on with passionate assertions of personal opinions as if they were the 11th commandment.

Do your homework on both categories of options and forecast your diving trajectory to the best of your ability and make a choice. Everybody wants to buy once, cry once and none of us want to buy something only to discover later we really needed something else. Unfortunately, that’s the nature of equipment intensive activities.

True enough. I've had (have) so many interests, I'm used to the gear buying conundrum. Hoping that someone will spark something within in me to help keep/start me on the path to my lighting goals. Thanks for the response!

 

[Badger7]

True enough. I've had (have) so many interests, I'm used to the gear buying conundrum. Hoping that someone will spark something within in me to help keep/start me on the path to my lighting goals. Thanks for the response!

Did you see that DGX 4550 can light? Haven't tried it personally, but it sure looks an awful lot like an orca d630 which I have tried and found perfectly acceptable with only a notable few flaws. For $300, you can get your hands on a reasonable quality can light while you decide whether throwing 5x that at a very high end light in the future is worth it or not. In the meantime, you manage the cord in the same manner, and get an entire day of diving on one charge.

 

[ChrisMBC]

I don't cave dive, just open-water tech in the chilly PNW. I have a canister light and a bunch of cordless lights. I generally prefer the cordless light, especially when there's a lot going on (deco bottles, scooter) for the cord to keep catching on, or if I anticipate needing to clip the light off a lot.

On the flip side, I'll take the corded light if there's a lot of scooting over nothingness and dropping the light would be a problem, or if the runtime could start exceeding the 2hr runtime of most of my cordless lights. I don't like having a bunch of batteries on my wrist, so all my cordless lights are now of the type that take a single 21700 cell.

I will say that not having to manage the cord is only a small quality of life improvement - I'll happily do any dive with any of my corded or cordless lights, and I almost always take the corded light if we're going to do a bunch of drills & skills.

 

[Wibble]

Definitely still going! Main benefit is you can drop the torch and... oh, it's still attached. As the battery is larger than a built in one, there's little worry about it running out of steam.

When I use my hand-held Scurion, it seems really odd that it's not attached to me with a cord. If I clip it off around my rear end then it's always a concern that it'll drop off into Neptune's Locker. Also the hard Goodman handle is much easier to switch hands than a bungeed Goodman handle which needs to be carefully removed and threaded onto the other hand being aware that if it's dropped, that may be the end of our relationship

One small example; want to dump a bit of wing gas, so simply swap hands with the hard Goodman handle then dump with the left hand and swap the torch back onto the left hand. As it's on a cord, no problems. With the Dive Scurion on a softish Goodman handle, it's always one for sliding over the hand and a second bungee around the wrist to ensure it stays put; it's just more faff.

 

[TheBullfrog]

Did you see that DGX 4550 can light? Haven't tried it personally, but it sure looks an awful lot like an orca d630 which I have tried and found perfectly acceptable with only a notable few flaws. For $300, you can get your hands on a reasonable quality can light while you decide whether throwing 5x that at a very high end light in the future is worth it or not. In the meantime, you manage the cord in the same manner, and get an entire day of diving on one charge.

I did! Waiting for it to come back in stock. Thanks for the idea.

 

[eightytwenty]

I love my canister light, and I would say 95% of the divers I know still doing big dives out here are using canister lights. This is also all open ocean diving with runtimes of 100 minutes or less, so cordless lights would work too, but myself and many others find the canister preferable. Long runtimes, less weight on the left hand, and the thing is tethered to your hip so you're only going to lose it if you intend to.

Of course, stowing the cable and long hose deployment adds some difficulty at first, but once you've done the drills a few times it's really no problem.