Buy canister light or design custom light?

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Location
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Question regarding technical dive lights. Currently, I do deep recreational dives and I will eventually be doing tech training. I need to upgrade my lights either way. I want something that I can grow with and use for both tec and wreck. Right now I am between two options. I like Dive Rite's modular HP50 lighting system (can function as handheld or canister). My other idea was to design a custom goodman handle. I was inspired by ISE's Alien Light. I like the idea of it, but I don't want to buy it from them and I can probably design something better (I have access to CAD, CAM, and a machine shop with material). Could use something other than the cheap orca torch. So what do you all think?
 
You won't be able to out-engineer a light like those from @Bobby at Underwater Light Dude for any reasonable amount of money. If you want the best, then don't bother trying because you'll spend so much more and likely come up short.
If you want to fly to travel, be VERY careful with the batteries.

Now, on the HP50 specifically.
Dive Rite does not use constant output drivers, so keep that in mind. As the battery draws down, the output goes down. Constant output drivers may not be important to you, but they are to me.
Dive Rite has a history of wickedly overdriving their emitters. The XHP50.2 is rated at 2654 lumen, and Dive Rite is overdriving it to 3500. Do NOT use it on high at the surface or you're going to cook the thing, and be mindful that it won't get anywhere near the emitter duration that it should because of that. It also means that the batteries will step down output faster because it is drawing so much wattage.
10* beam angle is not particularly tight and if you're diving locally, it may be too wide. UWLD gets criticized pretty heavily for their 8.2* beam angle not being tight enough, and the difference between 6-8-10 is pretty noticeable in penetration distance, especially in ugly water.
QRM is super slick though, I'll give them that.

The alien light and alien light concept is pretty slick and would be incredibly easy to make if you have access to a machine shop and aluminum. It's not something that I see a huge amount of benefit to, especially in OW as I much prefer the small light head and convenience of the cord. Personal preference
 
I have built my own lights. I also have the HP50.

I echo nearly everything @tbone1004 said. I built my own LED light from an old DR HID about 10 years ago. It kicked the butt of any LED you could buy at the time: Crazy Lumens (like brighter than lights that claim 3000 lumens), 10 hour life, awesome LED driver with all kinds of cool features (cutter.com.au). I spent about $400 converting it. Two problems: the battery canister was huge (an old MLS-1) and the light spread quite wide. (It’s actually great in wrecks! But not so much caves.) A different canister would have driven up the cost (and shrunk battery life). Coming up with better optics for the LED would have been difficult and likely expensive.

That was 10 years ago. Today, the commercial lights have caught up, and DIY costs have increased. LiPo/LiFe batteries and chargers cost a lot more than the NiMH I used; and the engineering to do them “right” (including in a travel-compatible way) is much harder, too. Do it for entertainment? OK. But know going in you’ll spend more and get less than just buying a commercial light.

So, given all of that, I bought the HP50 last January. I bought the expedition canister for the battery life. The canister is slim, and the light head is decently-sized, and I really like the QR system (with a couple of complaints, too). I went with the HP50 because at the time they were the only one using that LED, and I paid a couple hundred below list (less than $1000), so it was the best combination of price and capability. I figured within 18 months I’d have a lot to choose from, but I didn’t want to wait.

The light is plenty bright. But compared to the LM and UWLD lights I saw in the caves recently, it’s not really brighter, despite the newer LED. (Light response of the eye is non-linear: it takes much more than twice as many lumens to seem ‘twice’ as bright.) It is noticeably less spotty: to the point I’ve thought about monkeying with a collimating lens... which means it has the same problem as my old one! Not as bad, but I understand why 8 degrees or less would be nice, too.

As for whether the light uses a constant-output driver or not, I’m not sure that’s accurate. I’m not saying @tbone1004 is wrong, I'm just not sure he’s right! I know my BX2 light does not, but I thought the HP50 did. In any case, I can say 2 things: 1) I have not noticed a dropoff in light output over its burn time, and 2) it *will* step down the output when battery levels require. And it will step down earlier than I thought it would, given the battery capacity. I’ve never calculated it exactly, but I think it’s probably like 250 or less minutes on high before step down—nothing anywhere near 10 hours... Long enough for me, but less than I expected. And the step down level is decently bright.

As for overdriving: I’m fine with that. Even 20% life expectancy would be 10,000 hours. If I got 10,000 hours under the water before the batteries wear out I’d be shocked. Literally thousands of multi-hour dives! And seeing as a new canister is over half the cost of a new light... it would mean a whole new light for me anyway. So I’d rather use up that LED with more brightness anyway!

I mentioned the BX2. The two make a decent pair: I can use the BX2 as my backup and simply clip it on my handle. Real nice system in my limited experience so far.

So to sum up: the HP50 is a decent value as part of a light system, including QR and backup working together. But not the “best”, pretty much no matter how you measure. There are cheaper Chinese lights, and there are more expensive LM and UWLD lights.

Oh, one thing I can’t stand: the stupid Hall effect switch. It sticks, and it’s big. (DR needs to do more dives in sand for testing...) Why, oh why could they not use a piezo like EVERYBODY ELSE?!? Ok, it’s not that big a deal, but c’mon, it’s a brave new world, DR... :)

Anyway, let me know if you have any questions about the HP50.
 
@tmassey Dive Rites statement is unclear whether it is linear before the step-down, but either way, it is unlikely you'd be able to notice. For $1k, it's definitely a perfectly valid choice, and when compared to LM it is on par for half the price. LM has a premium price for the name attached to it.
On the optics front, UWLD, Halcyon, and Light & Motion are the only ones to my knowledge that actually engineered their optics
 
Hey thanks for the info I did find them there (the packs) but don’t say there LxWxH specs looking for 5.7Ah 11.1 lipo the small ones for Hollis lights
2x2x3 or 3.5” tight space any info would be great

you'll have to dig thru the site and find them. I would not look at the ah specs right now as the new batteries may be much higher capacity.
 
Question regarding technical dive lights. My other idea was to design a custom goodman handle. I was inspired by ISE's Alien Light. I like the idea of it, but I don't want to buy it from them and I can probably design something better (I have access to CAD, CAM, and a machine shop with material). Could use something other than the cheap orca torch. So what do you all think?

I've been thinking the same thing. The d520s aren't bad lights, a bit pricey for what they are but even so seems for $250 you could build that light. (maybe cheaper if you can convince orcatorch to ship you bare lights)

Really seems like all that is needed is an adapter plate on a standard Goodman handle and you would be set. Wonder if you could 3D print it with sufficient strength to trust it, maybe with metal nut inserts?

Anyways, I personally like the idea. Even cheaper if you consider you can use just one of the d520s as your primary when rec diving. If you want to collaborate I'd be in to try.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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