Are corded lights a thing of the past?

[grantctobin]

My light has a tendency to point up and not down

Where is the boltsnap or the rear attachment point tied?

 

[Aquabot]

Where is the boltsnap or the rear attachment point tied?

Behind the light head on the cable, about where the cable gland stops. When I owned a LM12 watt it wasn't the case and the light would fold down, but my UWLD cable is stiffer imo.

 

[Rayk]

Behind the light head on the cable, about where the cable gland stops. When I owned a LM12 watt it wasn't the case and the light would fold down, but my UWLD cable is stiffer imo.

Double ender bolt snap can solve that issue and you can mount your light both temporarily (pointing down/turned on) or permanently (pointing up/turned off) as you wish.

 

[Aquabot]

Double ender bolt snap can solve that issue and you can mount your light both temporarily (pointing down/turned on) or permanently (pointing up/turned off) as you wish.

It's not an issue and I keep a double ender free specifically for stowage of the light head, when I intend to stow it. I've been diving SM for nearly 10 years now and tried numerous variations in that time. I am doing exactly as I wish and so is the light head. I came here in response to the OP's headline not to debate how I dive my kit with the internet.

For me and the tasks I am doing it is far less efficient to stow the light head with a double ender every single time I reach a station to take 15 sec of survey data, than it is to simple lay it over the back of my neck to be quickly retrieved without any wasted movement.


Safe diving!

 

[halocline]

Maybe it's not an issue for sidemount? I have no idea. But for backmounting in a DIR-ish way, after the long hose is extended to the OOG diver and the reg is in the OOG diver's mouth, you have to remember that the rest of the long hose is tucked under the light canister. At that point, if you want to give the OOG diver the full length of long hose, you have to take the light head from your left hand, pass it under the now-extended long hose, and put it back on your left hand.

It's been a while since I've dove BM, but I pretty sure I never had to do that. For me, the light cord goes under (meaning against your body) the long hose from the get go. One of the pre-dive checks is making sure the long hose is free to fully deploy. Right hand passes the regulator over the head, extends it, then once it's handed off (for the pre dive check I transfer it to the left hand, but for S drills and air sharing it goes to the OOA diver) then the right hand reaches down and pulls the LH out from under the canister.

It's in SM that there's an issue if the corded light is stuck on your helmet, because then the light hose is restricting the long hose. That's usually only an issue during the pre dive check, because during a dive the light head is usually on your left hand. But I remember constantly during the checks having to remember to unclip the light from the helmet, then deploy the hose, then re-stow the hose, then re-clip the light.

This is all assuming that someone is not using a helmet in BM but is in SM, which is what I do, but I'm sure there are all sorts of variations.

 

[halocline]

For those that DIR, you would clip the light to the right chest D-ring, which is the same regardless of cord/less. In the working position it’s pointing downwards and would help with whatever task you’re dealing with.

It's a perfectly accepted and common practice to drape the light cord around your neck in BM doubles to do quick tasks. It works great for writing notes on your slate, for example.

 

[grantctobin]

It's a perfectly accepted and common practice to drape the light cord around your neck in BM doubles to do quick tasks. It works great for writing notes on your slate, for example.

While that was definitely the case fifteen and even ten years ago, I’d assert the practice has fallen out of favor and even actively discouraged among more modern or with-the-times cave instructors, particularly in backmount.

 

[Lorenzoid]

It's been a while since I've dove BM, but I pretty sure I never had to do that. For me, the light cord goes under (meaning against your body) the long hose from the get go. One of the pre-dive checks is making sure the long hose is free to fully deploy. Right hand passes the regulator over the head, extends it, then once it's handed off (for the pre dive check I transfer it to the left hand, but for S drills and air sharing it goes to the OOA diver) then the right hand reaches down and pulls the LH out from under the canister.

See the link at the end of my post to a thread where it was debated whether to route the light cord under or over the long hose. I was taught the light cord goes over the long hose--maybe a GUE thing?

 

[rddvet]

While that was definitely the case fifteen and even ten years ago, I’d assert the practice has fallen out of favor and even actively discouraged among more modern or with-the-times cave instructors, particularly in backmount.

This is accurate. About 13 years ago I was taught the draping around the neck. Nowadays it is a no-no in class (with good instructors) because it negatively affects your ability to rapidly deploy the long hose. If my buddy drapes the cord I honestly could care less, but I do agree with the instructors that teach people not to. A temporary stow is always a better choice even if its just a couple seconds slower than a neck wrap. Biggest thing to remember is on the temporary stow don't tuck your light cord into your waistband too aggressively or the light won't shine down. I temporary stow, put light cord loop through waist band and pull it down tightly so there's no slack, then pull it out enough that the light sits where I need to see. Easy peasy.

 

[Nemrod]

My favorite light is a corded can light from DiveRite, NLA. It started out as 500 lumen and I sent it back and they upgraded to 750 lumen. Now, you say, 750 lumen, what good is that! Well, it also throws a very wide evenly lit beam that can light an entire reef at night, like a super moon but the light is soft so it does not burn the eyes out of critteres. Then using knowledge gained on the Flashlight Forum (there is or was a forum for everything) I bumped it up to about 1,000 lumen. And it will run an entire trip on eight AA batteries. And as such lights go it is very small and lightweight. I sure wish they would bring it back. Oh, I forgot, it can be switched over to a single unit configuration with no cord.

James