Best value canister for recreational diving?

[ronrosa]

I paid $325 for my DR HID light. I really see no reason to buy a big halogen light anymore. You can find a good price on a HID by working a little.

And yes, you need the 6 degree bulb with the Wreck 1 MR11 head.

MD

That's a great price. Where did you buy it ?

 

[Grajan]

The Light, C-H10 Head w/Slimline Can, 10W Bulb, 4.5-Amp NiMH & Chgr prices out at $720 at diverite Express.

Even the one with the fixed focus is well over $600........

I paid $325 for my DR HID light. I really see no reason to buy a big halogen light anymore. You can find a good price on a HID by working a little.

And yes, you need the 6 degree bulb with the Wreck 1 MR11 head.

MD

 

[Wendy]

It looks more delicate than the fixed focus head. Have you had any trouble with it?

I have had no trouble with it. I just clip it off when not in use (so it doesn't drop and drag) and I don't smash it against any rocks and keep a soda can coozie on it when traveling and storing it. Just normal care and stuff you should do with any light head that you have.

 

[d33ps1x]

The Light, C-H10 Head w/Slimline Can, 10W Bulb, 4.5-Amp NiMH & Chgr prices out at $720 at diverite Express.
Even the one with the fixed focus is well over $600........

Trucks and speedbumps.

 

[Padipro]

I am (still) looking for a hands free lighting option for general recreational diving. We do a lot of night diving BUT going from $70 to $700 is a little too painful.

Can anyone recommend a reasonably priced canister light for that application?

Thanks for your help.

If you're mechanically inclined and have a few power tools, a home built canister with a 50 watt halogen might be just what you're looking for. I built mine for less then $150 and that was with top of the line materials and parts. Take a look at the light at my MSN Site. The plans are posted in the documents section.

Scott

 

[dsgobie]

Well bottom line is....... You get what you pay for.....

The cheapest light out there is just that.

 

[ronrosa]

Well bottom line is....... You get what you pay for.....

The cheapest light out there is just that.

I agree in general, but there are exceptions. AUL canister lights are much less expensive than Halcyon. Does that make the AUL light cheap ? There are a lot of cave and wreck divers out there happily using AUL lights.

I use my AUL halogen canister light for shooting video. Recently in Cozumel there was another diver shooting video. She was using the slick and expensive Light and Motion video lights. The lights looked really nice, they were small, mounted nicely on the bottom of her video housing and cost over $1800.

In the water I saw her filming an yellow ray. Her lights were not that bright and the spread did not light up a large area. After she was done and moved away, I moved into position and turned on my single 50 watt halogen with 120 degree deflector. Lighting was much brighter and totally filled the area being filmed. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the other divers startled at how bright and wide my light was.

At $400 you can call my light cheap, I'm fine with that. I'll use the $1400 saved over the Light & Motion lights and go on another dive trip.

 

[dsgobie]

I agree in general, but there are exceptions. AUL canister lights are much less expensive than Halcyon. Does that make the AUL light cheap ? There are a lot of cave and wreck divers out there happily using AUL lights.

I use my AUL halogen canister light for shooting video. Recently in Cozumel there was another diver shooting video. She was using the slick and expensive Light and Motion video lights. The lights looked really nice, they were small, mounted nicely on the bottom of her video housing and cost over $1800.

In the water I saw her filming an yellow ray. Her lights were not that bright and the spread did not light up a large area. After she was done and moved away, I moved into position and turned on my single 50 watt halogen with 120 degree deflector. Lighting was much brighter and totally filled the area being filmed. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the other divers startled at how bright and wide my light was.

At $400 you can call my light cheap, I'm fine with that. I'll use the $1400 saved over the Light & Motion lights and go on another dive trip.

10wHID is the equivalent of 50w halogen. BUT you can use smaller batteries and get twice the burn time. Everyone knows this.

If she would have used a 120 degree deflector she would have had the same results and had colors closer to their true color.

HID = better video. Look here

And I wouldn't buy a Halcyon anything if there is another choice... I don't want to pay 10% more for a blue "H".

My .02

DS

 

[WillAbbott]

10wHID is the equivalent of 50w halogen. BUT you can use smaller batteries and get twice the burn time. Everyone knows this.

So if you used an equivalent light and had better results, how'd ya do it? What type of reflector do you have or use?

I'm just talking bulbs/reflector right now... The rest of the light just compliments what comes out of the bulb/reflector....

Well, wattage is all relative, it's Lumens that truely mater... take for example the U/K Light Canon... 10Watt HID, YET U/K themselves states it is equivilent to 25Watt, it also is a 6degree beam... my 24 or 27 (I forget the angle on my light) 50Watt halogen walks ALL over the top of my friends light canon... his is seen farther away because of the narrow spot, but he can be about 5-7 feet away from a rock, shinning his light on it, and I can be about 10-12feet away from the same rock, and my light will make his vanish (totally walks all over it)

Typically a small bulb doesn't put out much light... also halcyon states themselves that a 10watt HID is almost as bright as a 55watt halogen, at "~500lumens" now, the bulb I have in my Halogen light... about 800lumens... the tighter spot halogens are around 850lumens, and the wide angles around 750lumens...

That said, a used halogen canister can usually be picked up around $150+/- that's how I got mine.

HID actually produces around 600Kelvin colored light... daylight is well 5500kelvin (it varies by time of day, but 5500k is what daylight film is balanced for)

Now you can actually get a filtered MR16 bulb that is daylight balanced... or you can get 4700kelvin MR16's basically the difference between halogen and HID on video is not either way going to be per say better, it is dependent... if you wanted to warm the scene Halogen would be an easy way to do it... also it is very easy to filter halogen to 5500kelvin, where as I don't recall seeing a 6000k to 5500k filter, and 500k can make a difference look at how photos taken in the morning compare to noon or evening, the color shift is noticable with minimal change in light color...

Just my 2 cents, you can take or leave it. It's very possible I don't have a clue what I'm talking about... feel free to correct me if I truely made a mistake or typo.

 

[Padipro]

Well bottom line is....... You get what you pay for.....

The cheapest light out there is just that.

Just because it's cheap doesn't necessarly mean that it's low quality. It's all in the craftsmanship.

I built my light for less then $150 but other then the fact that it's a halogen I'll put it up against any name brand light. It's made from nearly the exact same maretial as any light you'll spend $800 on and has worked flawlessly to at least 130 feet. I took my time building it and used the best materials I could find as well as tested every part of the light before it ever went into the water with me on a real dive. I've built stuff such as camera housings, O2 analizers and canister lights and there's really nothing to it. A little common sense and skill with hand and power tools is all that's required to build your own stuff and save thousands compaired to what it would cost to buy name brand.

Just my .02

Scott