BigBlue TL3500P or Light&Motion SOLA 2500?

[Vincent Lin]

Considering getting a good dive light. Thoughts on either? The SOLA is nearly double what the BigBlue costs so I'm just trying to see if there is any sensible reason to get the SOLA when it costs more and is rated at a lower intensity

 

[runsongas]

the sola is a better quality beam, but the big blue has a longer run time. L&M has also has accurate out the front ratings on brightness so I wouldn't be surprised if the sola doesn't look a tad brighter even though the advertised rating is lower. but they really should think about going to bigger battery packs to extend the runtimes.

 

[shurite7]

One of the local professors took his TL3500P to Antarctica. It fell off the line, in about 30 feet of water, which he did not notice. A year later another prof found it and returned the light. It still worked. Even the battery still had a charge. At least one can say it is a durable light.

 

[ScubaSteve85]

I would go with BigBlue. I get a discount on Light and Motion gear and I still went with the same BigBlue light you're looking at. It puts out more light than you'll ever need and the runtime is fantastic. I've heard a lot of stories of the light and motion lights having issues with charging contacts and batteries. I like the fact that if the battery runs down, I can replace it myself. You can also swap out the heads on the BigBlue lights so if one day you want a video light instead of a primary light, you can swap it out for half the cost of a new light .

 

[ReadyTo Dive]

Another vote for Big Blue. I have 2x VTL3500P’s and have no complaints. Very happy with my setups results and it didn’t break the bank even with buying extra batteries/a tray/etc all at the same time.

 

[Vincent Lin]

Awesome, thanks for the input everybody! I think I'm gonna go with the BigBlue, given the longer run time and ability of physically being able to swap out the battery

 

[wKkaY]

You can consider the TL3500P Supreme too. It uses a much higher capacity battery than the regular edition (~14400mAh vs ~6000mAh) so you can use it for a triple dive day without swapping batteries.

I'll also note that my TL3500PS exterior has a lot of corrosion. Wrote to Big Blue HQ and they sent me a new light no questions asked. Hopefully the new one won't have the same problem.

 

[ScubaSteve85]

+1 for the Supreme. It's awesome .

 

[Ricardo V.]

@Vincent Lin,
As fellow divers have stated, If it’s just an all purpose dive light, either will work; however, if you are planning on using it for video or photo, the SOLA light spectrum is better.

BigBlue lights will show parallel oscillating bands when you look through an electronic viewfinder. That’s not necessarily a big problem, so long you know that the cheaper light will have this effect. The recorded photo or video should be fine.
That’s not going to happen with the SOLA. It’s stable and that’s why it’s perhaps more money.

Ricardo

 

[Diesel_Diver]

Can’t comment on that particular light, but I do have a couple of big blue lights and am very impressed by the quality for the price.