Cave Divers - Light advice, please

[Manatee Diver]

Then he proceeds to look at the batteries and says "These are not Dive Right batteries." To that point I literally laughed and told him that no they were not, these are actually GOOD Panasonic 18650s and not those generic turds that came with my light. But, I can already see the shifting and squirming start at the fact I was not using "Dive Right" batteries (even though Dive Right does not make a single 18650 battery

All my Dive Rite lights, including my HP50, came with high quality Xtar batteries.

 

[Doby45]

All my Dive Rite lights, including my HP50, came with high quality Xtar batteries.

Mine came with some brown "generic" batteries.

 

[Doby45]

Well, I was quick to think and suspect Dive Rite of dodging or placing blame on the customer. Soooo, I have to be equally quick with telling the rest of the story. I got contacted by Dive Rite today and was told “Your light is repaired and ready for pick up.” There was no “You need to pay us this or that” it was simply “We repaired the issue and you are good to go.” Kudos Dive Rite!!

 

[B.Elster]

Well, I was quick to think and suspect Dive Rite of dodging or placing blame on the customer. Soooo, I have to be equally quick with telling the rest of the story. I got contacted by Dive Rite today and was told “Your light is repaired and ready for pick up.” There was no “You need to pay us this or that” it was simply “We repaired the issue and you are good to go.” Kudos Dive Rite!!

I have yet to experience it myself but I hear from others that Dive Rite’s customer service is outstanding. Glad things have worked out for you.

 

[Mr.337]

fwiw i use the Razor Cannister light as my primary and have 2 big blue 10,000lm video lights with 2 tovatec 1000lm backups for my lights when i'm diving. i find myself 99.999% of the time using my video lights as they are more than enough to light up the caves for our group. i keep my razor on medium power and use it for signaling while i'm in there. i've done a test with each of my big blues on high power and they ran around 1hr 50min before dying my razor went around 5hrs on full power during a test. That is MORE than plenty for the basic cave diving i'm doing. I'm not a cave explorer or stage cave/dpv diver yet.

 

[rddvet]

I have yet to experience it myself but I hear from others that Dive Rite’s customer service is outstanding. Glad things have worked out for you.

Yes, Dive Rite has exceptional customer service. The better news is their products have improved in recent years. In the past quality was an issue. I'm still not a fan of their lights. I consider them to be a lower tier than say a Light Monkey or Halcyon focus

 

[Manatee Diver]

I consider them to be a lower tier than say a Light Monkey or Halcyon focus

When the EX35 was $1k for the sidemount version, it was a great starter can light. When they raised the price I was like it wasn't much more for the other brands. That being said being able to drop it off and pick it up makes service a bit easier.

 

[rddvet]

When the EX35 was $1k for the sidemount version, it was a great starter can light. When they raised the price I was like it wasn't much more for the other brands. That being said being able to drop it off and pick it up makes service a bit easier.

Good news is you can also drop off halcyon and light monkey lights. There's even a big blue office in tampa bay. We're pretty lucky around here

 

[UCFKnightDiver]

I personally think that the Halcyon Focus sucks, but perhaps I haven't seen newer versions of it. The one I have seen is adjustable but most people run the light so that all they can see is this pin-point of light with no light spill. Great for signaling buddy, but terrible for seeing any of the cave. It's also not that bright.

 

[rddvet]

I personally think that the Halcyon Focus sucks, but perhaps I haven't seen newer versions of it. The one I have seen is adjustable but most people run the light so that all they can see is this pin-point of light with no light spill. Great for signaling buddy, but terrible for seeing any of the cave. It's also not that bright.

Things have greatly improved in the newer Focus 2.0s. I still personally prefer my UWLD, but there are negatives to it (namely reflection from particulate due to the wide beam and sometimes buddy signals aren't clear to people not used to it). My wife loves her Halcyon way more than her UWLD. It is excellent for signaling teammates. It definitely doesn't come close to lighting up the cave like an UWLD. I think it depends on what you want. I prefer seeing a ton of cave.