Best canister light for signalling in poor vis ?

[Bobby]

A buddy bought the LM 32VF. I dived with him with that light several times. I was not impressed with the beam or the variable focus. It's "tightest" was not that tight. Wide was not really wide. Then his broke 2 or 3 times. He sent it to LM to fix the first 1 or 2 times, then fixed it himself the last time, then bought a UWLD LD35 because he no longer trusted the LM - and I don't blame him.

I subsequently got a UWLD LD40. I love it! It is true that, on High, it is so bright that you need to be in pretty darn clear water or the spill will blow out any particulate and make it harder to see. But... you can run it on Low or Med.... Where it is still putting out as much light as a Focus...?

The only things I would probably change if I could are:

- I mount my canister on the right side of my rEvo CCR. And, I'm 6' 1" tall. So, the light head cord could be a few inches longer for me to have full range of motion with the light head on my left hand. It's ALMOST long enough, as is. If I'm diving OC and mount it on my right side waist belt, then it's long enough.

- The heat controller cord could be a lot shorter.

- It would be nice if the light head had an additional brightness level. The lowest setting is still brighter than I want, sometimes. The lowest is 1000 lumens. A 250 lumen option would be useful, I think, for night dives and, maybe, as an option for an ultra long burn time.

Stuart,
Thanks for your review and good words.

The cord can easily be changed out (by me) for a longer one. If people know the length they want (measure from gland end to gland end) and order it that way there is no charge for a custom length. To change the cord length after the fact it is $85 which covers my time on the bench and includes return shipping with the continental US.

The low setting is as low as I can go with the Lumens without using pulse width modulation (PWM). I don't use PWM in our lights because if someone is taking high def video it will show badly on the video. I hear what you are saying about a very low light output for OW night diving and such, I have the same issue when taking survey, low it too bright. In the end I wanted to keep our lights as simple and robust as possible, I use a small mask mounted backup light for survey now and have used it once or twice for OW night diving as well.

 

[Bobby]

UWLD LD40 is awful tempting every time I hear about it. @tbone1004 Just so I understand as the site doesn't allude to this but you can customize the length of the cords? Choose different heads such as one for heating, one for lights, one for heating and lights? Wonder if @Bobby would let me purchase one in all black with no blue?

The system is designed to be able to mix and match for the dive plan. With the latchless system and stack cap system you can run the primary light (side gland) and a heat controller (stack cap) and/or a video light (stack cap) either all three on one battery or mix and match any of the the three together. The stack cap comes with a blanking cap, for the top of the stack cap where another cap will mount, so you can run a stack cap on its own. I commonly run a primary, heat controller, and 5K video light on one battery. Some dives I just take the primary and others I'll run the primary and heat controller without the video light. It takes less than a minute to change the configuration.

There is a "Lot Charge" from my anodizer for custom runs. They still need to setup the tanks to meet my specifications on the level of anodizing for a custom color. They have dedicated tanks for me because of the level the anodizing and the color. The lot charge is $350 for the change. I have no problem doing it however the lead time will be long and the customer has to pay the $350 on top of the price of the light, I'm not making any extra money for the color however I can't loose money either. Especially now with suppliers being way behind due to COVID, the wait time would likely be a couple of months. I've more than tripled my inventory to keep orders rolling out the door and I'm still back ordered and often waiting on parts that should have arrived already. My apologies for the long explanation.

 

[Wibble]

Of those options, the focus 2.0.
It is wonderful for signaling.

Hugely expensive and massive investment. Many much cheaper alternatives, especially lower end cheap options which are more appropriate for recreational divers.

 

[Bobby]

FYI the cords (at least on the light head) are now black and very supple, no more blue sheath.

This is correct, I recently was able to get a Mil spec contract on much better cable. This new cable is thicker however easier to bend than the old cable that I had. The blue sheath is no longer needed with the much tougher cable and it won't fit into the gland due to the new cables thicker diameter. I'm confident that the new cable will have far less failures and resist abrasion just as well as the old blue sheath cable did. I did a lot of torture testing with the new cable before I switched to it.

 

[hedonist222]

nanight with spot lens attached

 

[Ulfhedinn]

The system is designed to be able to mix and match for the dive plan. With the latchless system and stack cap system you can run the primary light (side gland) and a heat controller (stack cap) and/or a video light (stack cap) either all three on one battery or mix and match any of the the three together. The stack cap comes with a blanking cap, for the top of the stack cap where another cap will mount, so you can run a stack cap on its own. I commonly run a primary, heat controller, and 5K video light on one battery. Some dives I just take the primary and others I'll run the primary and heat controller without the video light. It takes less than a minute to change the configuration.

There is a "Lot Charge" from my anodizer for custom runs. They still need to setup the tanks to meet my specifications on the level of anodizing for a custom color. They have dedicated tanks for me because of the level the anodizing and the color. The lot charge is $350 for the change. I have no problem doing it however the lead time will be long and the customer has to pay the $350 on top of the price of the light, I'm not making any extra money for the color however I can't loose money either. Especially now with suppliers being way behind due to COVID, the wait time would likely be a couple of months. I've more than tripled my inventory to keep orders rolling out the door and I'm still back ordered and often waiting on parts that should have arrived already. My apologies for the long explanation.

TY. This answers everything. I appreciate the response. I put one of your lights on my list.

 

[San Diego Climber]

Blue is the best color anyway, anyone who disagrees can fight me. :-D

@Bobby have you thought about/found any protective caps for the light head (output side) similar to the rubbery ones H puts on the Focus?
We have a really comprehensive hardware store in San Diego (Marshall's Hardware for the locals, like a Lego bin for adults), I'm gonna wander around there some weekend and hopefully find something comparable to stick on it. I'm not overly concerned it'll get scratched in my bag but might as well be extra cautious.

 

[stuartv]

When my LD-40 is not mounted to my rig, it is in its Apache case (from Harbor Freight).

4800 Weatherproof Protective Case, X-Large, Black

 

[flymolo]

Blue is the best color anyway, anyone who disagrees can fight me. :-D

@Bobby have you thought about/found any protective caps for the light head (output side) similar to the rubbery ones H puts on the Focus?
We have a really comprehensive hardware store in San Diego (Marshall's Hardware for the locals, like a Lego bin for adults), I'm gonna wander around there some weekend and hopefully find something comparable to stick on it. I'm not overly concerned it'll get scratched in my bag but might as well be extra cautious.

does a beer coozie work?

 

[San Diego Climber]

does a beer coozie work?

Your're a genius. It'd have to be the coozie for slim cans... which I've also repurposed as insulating sleeves for an Aeropress

EDIT: the coozie is a little too big, it falls off. The LD40 isn't bulky enough!