Caribbean night diving light recommendations

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seaturtles

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Hello!

I'm on my first trip to the Caribbean next month and will be trying a night dive. I already have a gobe 500. I was thinking of getting something brighter as primary and using the gobe as my secondary. I'm looking at the tovatec 1500 to give me something to grow into, and I'd just use it on its dimmest, narrowest setting for the night dives. Does this plan make sense?
 
I find wide beam is best for clear water night dives. Easier to find things and have a sense of what's around you.
And yes, not too bright, or when you find something it will a) be unhappy or b) get eaten by something else.
 
I find wide beam is best for clear water night dives. Easier to find things and have a sense of what's around you.
And yes, not too bright, or when you find something it will a) be unhappy or b) get eaten by something else.

Can you define "too bright" or what an appropriate amount of brightness would be? I have no concept of what lumens are
 
Big blue 1300 wide beam or narrow beam. Hefty price, around $169 but rugged, high quality dive light, has 3 levels of brightness and an S.O.S mode.
 
Big Blue has a light with an adjustable beam (I use an older version) that I chose so I could have wide or narrow. For Caribbean diving, mine's been strong (I need to run it on the longer lasting, lower power setting). I think the CF1200P-II is the current version.
 
Can you define "too bright" or what an appropriate amount of brightness would be? I have no concept of what lumens are
Personally, anything rated more than 600 lumens “out-the-front” (see the light that @rhwestfall linked to regarding “out-the-front”) is going to be too bright, at least on a “high” setting. Many lights that are rated at higher lumens will have 2-3 power settings, ie high, medium and low, and possibly additional strobe/sos settings. So, theoretically, a medium or low setting will get you closer to the brightness you would want. The trick is to turn it on as soon as you hit the water, set it to a lower setting and then leave it there.
I hope that helps and that I explained it clearly enough. Please don’t hesitate to ask for any clarification from anyone. This can all get garbled and confusing quickly.

Erik
 
Trick with the "how many lumens" question is that is lumens given is typically the total light output. So what you get depends on beam width and of course how far it is away from something, and some have hotspots so it's not even across. (I've also heard some lights, probably mostly cheaper ones, may fudge on their lumen ratings.) So it all just sort of all depends. Having something bright is sometimes a good thing in the tropics too, like if you want to use the same light to peek in holes during the day when a dim light will just get washed out. All this makes a light with multiple brightness settings a very good thing. Adjustable beam width is also good and provides dimming as a side effect, as same brightness setting at a wider width will be dimmer.

Some people take advantage of a hotspot, personally I don't like them. Adjustable beam widths seem more likely to have a hotspot over at least part of the range, so something to consider.

I looked up the Tovatec 1500 and it lists 375/750/1500 Lumens, 12-100° Variable Beam Angle. That seems like a pretty versatile option.
 
Ahhh. Unfortunately not located where DGX will ship (without hefty shipping/import fees) :(

In regard to your comment, what about getting it from Dan's and/or DiveTech?

I hope your trip went well.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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