Better primary light - UK D8 or C8?

[jimbo2006]

I'm considering getting a better primary light (but can't spend hundreds now). I'm looking at the UK C8 or D8 Xenon lights. Both are listed on UK's site as 245 lumens even though the C8 stock bulb is 13.5W vice 14W on the D8. I'm puzzled that the D8 isn't a teeny bit brighter? UK's site implies that an optional 30W bulb only works in the "D8R" - which adds the optional rechargeable NiMH battery pack, charger AND the 30W bulb but more than doubles the cost. (I couldn't tell how many lumens this generates). Does anyone with a D8 know whether the 30W bulb will work in a normal D8? I think the C8 stock configuration includes dual 13.5W bulbs while the recharger option provides a 20W bulb. The C8 could later be upgraded to the eLED configuration (again doubling the original price) - but something to consider in the future. D8 allows an optional lantern handle to be used in place of the pistol grip (presently I don't understand the benefits of each grip style). Lots of options to consider but assuming the weight difference is modest underwater I'd love to get opinions and hands-on experience with these lights. To make this purchase worthwhile this light should outperform my UK SL6, which is already quite bright - at 201 lumens (UK's specs) but a fairly narrow beam. Thanks!

 

[jimbo2006]

I never got a reply but I did finally settle on purchasing the UK C8 and am very pleased with the light after my first night dive with it. My UK SL6, which is also great but has a narrower beam, is now strapped to BCD shoulder strap as my backup. Rationale for C8 was that I could upgrade the light with the rechargeable kit (guaranteeing I'd have high or low power settings). I was very tempted by features of the Princeton Tec (which has high and low settings when first purchased) but its single bulb with dual filaments didn't seem as failsafe as the two bulbs in the UK. The UK's size and weight (certainly smaller than the D8) also is likely to be very comparable to the UK Light Cannon - so if I eventually go with a more powerful light this would be something I know I'd be comfortable handling.

An interesting aside is that I think I figured out that scubaboard won't let me search on terms as short as "UK" or "C8". I even tried searching for "UK C8" (since I suspect it may not like 'terms' shorter than 3 characters) but the search utility insists on converting this string into "UK*C8" which still doesn't return anything. This insight came to me later when I was puzzled that lots of other lights seem to have been discussed.

 

[scuba066]

Thanks for the info. I am looking into lights myself.
Happy Diving,
Ray