Best Intova or Innovative small light ?

[idive2]

Been thinking of picking up a smaller dive light for some occasional night diving. I dove
with a guy a couple weeks back and I believe he had a small Intova that threw off almost
as much light as my Underwater Kinetics C8 and it was half the size. Not looking for football
stadium type of power just something a bit smaller than my C8 LED. I saw a small Intova
I think it was 130 lumens in about the 60.00 dollar range. I also saw a light that looked similar
in design made by I think Innovative and it was 300 lumens and priced at around 130.00 dollars.
I also own an Underwater Kinetics with I think six C batteries which is more compact and throws
off a decent light but nothing like this Intova. Anyone had any experience with the Innovative lights
or suggestions on some Intova lights.

 

[diversteve]

His light was probably a variant of a Cree Eled. There's both a wide and narrow beam Intova for around the same $$ - Leisurepro sells them both afaik.

It's not either of those that you mentioned but I use a Dorcy - it's 220lumens for $43. I actually have two of them I like them so much. You can either buy them from Dorcy Direct or Piranha Dive Mfg. - they call it the Penetrator but when you get it it will be a Dorcy. Dorcy charges more unless they're on sale. And they're small, 6.5x1.5"
Dorcy Dive II 220 Lumen Submersible LED Dive Light
Penetrater 220

We dove off a liveaboard a couple years ago - my buddy has a C8 eLed (1st generation) also. His was brighter but not by much. Mine used one set of AAA's (6) all week (5 night dives) with no loss of power. One dive I amused myself by lighting up the bottom 85' below spotting things for other divers. Several people on the boat commented on it later and asked where they could get one.

Comparable Intova's are $59/69 - same 220 lumens.

UK also has a 400 lumen SL4 now but it's $90 Underwater Kinetics SL4 eLED L1 Dive Light

If you want something brighter - Dive Right in Scuba also sells two - 500 and 1000 lumen models - both are just under $100 - Back Up Lights - Dive Right In Scuba - Plainfield, IL - they're slightly longer - 8" also.

 

[ktkt]

Yep, my favorite light is this tiny Intova/Tovatec (Amazon link). It was $50, runs on 3 AAA's, 130 lumen Cree LED. It has a metal housing, so even though it's been tossed and banged around, it's in great shape.

 

[idive2]

I'll have to take a look at the Dorcy as well. I like the compactness and rugged housing on the Intova but the extra lumens
on the Dorcy sounds good as well. I have the SL6 UK as well and while it is smaller than the C8 it is still not real compact and
kind of heavy with the six C batteries. I'm thinking something with either three or six AAA batteries would be a bit lighter.
Thanks for the comments !

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Check this one out before you buy. Its short, fat and ugly... but mounted in the hand sock with 1000 Lumens on 3 AA and it kicks ass.

Use the hand sock/glove to mount the light rather than holding it with you hand is a huge advantage normally reserved for those willing to part with serious coin for a can light. The only down side it it is difficult to turn on/off when mounted in the sock and the 3AA are good for one long night dive, than you need to change.

DRIS Dive Gear 1k Shorty Dive Light - Dive Right In Scuba - Plainfield, IL

Light made from AL are simply more robust the plastic. My UK and other plastic cased wonders are backup or part of my emergency home kit. I seem to have one die on my every year or so.

I still have a nice Intova, its slim and small and a great backup (200Lm), but takes special batteries. I also have the larger DRIS with 3 C batteries (1000Lm). Its has a lot longer burn time, but the size is not as handy since you must hold it. There is another guy on the board making a goodman handle for it if you look.

 

[g1138]

See the Intova Mini or Tactical for a 220 lumen wide beam light. Retail $80
Intova Compact for a narrow 130 lumen beam Retail $40-$60

Both use magnetic tail push switches with variable power (100% & 30%) plus a strobe feature if the switch is held down. Some people have mixed reviews for the tail switches though. I personally think they're maintanece heavy. You have to dunk your light, push the tail switch a few times. Take your light out, push the tail switch with the light inverted to get the water out of the mechanism, then give it a hard shake to loosen anymore that's left in the mechanism. I've been doing this for 2 years of use and haven't had any probblems.

Others who don't do this, or do this in silty or used rinse water have problems where the switch fails to work properly. YMMV
In fact if I don't follow my procdure I can see salt crystals forming out of the switch the next day when it dries. So it really does have to be several presses in water, out of water, then a good shake to keep this from happening.

The slide switches with Intova are prone to jamming shut or requiring an excessive amount of force to manipulate if not rinsed right. I don't have a maintinence procedure for those types because I didn't like how stiff they were out of box to begin with; so never bothered to purchase or demo.

Anyways I chose the mag switches because I'm afraid of flooding twist on/off lights due to my own stupidity. Haven't had any problems yet, but it is maintinence heavy by comparison.

 

[idive2]

Check this one out before you buy. Its short, fat and ugly... but mounted in the hand sock with 1000 Lumens on 3 AA and it kicks ass.

Use the hand sock/glove to mount the light rather than holding it with you hand is a huge advantage normally reserved for those willing to part with serious coin for a can light. The only down side it it is difficult to turn on/off when mounted in the sock and the 3AA are good for one long night dive, than you need to change.

DRIS Dive Gear 1k Shorty Dive Light - Dive Right In Scuba - Plainfield, IL

Light made from AL are simply more robust the plastic. My UK and other plastic cased wonders are backup or part of my emergency home kit. I seem to have one die on my every year or so.

I still have a nice Intova, its slim and small and a great backup (200Lm), but takes special batteries. I also have the larger DRIS with 3 C batteries (1000Lm). Its has a lot longer burn time, but the size is not as handy since you must hold it. There is another guy on the board making a goodman handle for it if you look.

I'll take a look at that 1K shorty. Yeah, I want to stay away from those special batterys. I just pitched a red flasher marker for my dive flag
last night. Want to stay with something with standard batterys. While I like the super compact lights trying to find a balance between slightly longer
use from one set of batteries yet not a big 8 C battery type lite. Gonna take a closer look at that dorcy 6 battery light.

---------- Post added January 11th, 2013 at 09:55 AM ----------

See the Intova Mini or Tactical for a 220 lumen wide beam light. Retail $80
Intova Compact for a narrow 130 lumen beam Retail $40-$60

Both use magnetic tail push switches with variable power (100% & 30%) plus a strobe feature if the switch is held down. Some people have mixed reviews for the tail switches though. I personally think they're maintanece heavy. You have to dunk your light, push the tail switch a few times. Take your light out, push the tail switch with the light inverted to get the water out of the mechanism, then give it a hard shake to loosen anymore that's left in the mechanism. I've been doing this for 2 years of use and haven't had any probblems.

Others who don't do this, or do this in silty or used rinse water have problems where the switch fails to work properly. YMMV
In fact if I don't follow my procdure I can see salt crystals forming out of the switch the next day when it dries. So it really does have to be several presses in water, out of water, then a good shake to keep this from happening.

The slide switches with Intova are prone to jamming shut or requiring an excessive amount of force to manipulate if not rinsed right. I don't have a maintinence procedure for those types because I didn't like how stiff they were out of box to begin with; so never bothered to purchase or demo.

Anyways I chose the mag switches because I'm afraid of flooding twist on/off lights due to my own stupidity. Haven't had any problems yet, but it is maintinence heavy by comparison.

I am still considering the Intova. I do prefer a more simple single switch and certainly don't want a missed rinsing to cause any problems.
I used my UK SL6 last night with 6 C batteries and found it very acceptable. It is a more yellow beam but not real yellow but not as white as
the newer lights. I'll probably end up with the Intova Tovatec three AAA battery light or the Dorcy 6 AAA battery light for longer use between
battery changes.

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

I'll take a look at that 1K shorty. Yeah, I want to stay away from those special batterys. I just pitched a red flasher marker for my dive flag
last night. Want to stay with something with standard batterys. While I like the super compact lights trying to find a balance between slightly longer
use from one set of batteries yet not a big 8 C battery type lite. Gonna take a closer look at that dorcy 6 battery light.

The shorty uses 3 AA side by side in a cartridge, making it short and fat. The standard uses 3 C in-line. Thus the radically different profile. The day of the 4-6 battery light is gone, all the new designs seem to use 3 standard batteries or 2 specialty batteries to achieve the voltage needed for state of the art LCD's.

If you do end up with the specialized batteries for the Intova, buy them off the internet in lots of 20. Locally you will pay 3X the internet price because they are considered a specialty (camera) battery and the few retailers who carry them mark them up like crazy.

 

[g1138]

If batteries are an issue, for the more powerful Intovas, I overcame that by getting bulk packs of 123A's from Surefire.com. They have have their own brand batteries in 12 & 72 bulk packs that comes out way cheaper than buying the Intova 2 packs.

Bulk packs from other sites can be a hit or miss depending how long they've been sitting on the shelves.

 

[divad]

Get the Dorcy. It uses regular batteries and twists on and off so it has no switch, per se, to fail. Just the same o-rings that they all have. I gave away an Intova because I hated the self-actuating sliding switch and the expensive 123 batteries.