Cave gear and light recommendations needed

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Hey lads, i'm planning on doing my cavern, intro to caves and full cave next year and was thinking of getting a new light. [...] the price of the light is outrageous

I feel your pain. Lights are expensive. Some thoughts (do not take me as an authority - just read and think):

1. Your light should be about as bright as the dive light of you buddy. If your light is stronger then you will not see him/her and communication will fail. If your light is dimmer (s)he will not see you. A weak beam of light crossing a strong beam of light cannot possibly be seen. These I do know. I have been forced to use ****** lights because of cost. You might not need a powerfull light yet. Some people may think that a canister light will make you a technical diver but that is not quite true. You thinking is more important.

2. Why don't you spend the money on a really good line reel (and safety spool) instead? That guide line, that reel, that safety spool all guarantee your survival would your lights become useless. A siltout, for example, might render ALL lights useless.

A powerfull light with a narrow beam for communication and a nice halo for viewing the surroundings is a really nice thing to have - but it costs a bit - and I do not think it is the most important thing to purchase. A redundant breathing apparatus, a reel, a spool, etc are more important. But I promise to purchase an expensive canister light this year, or in 2021 :D
 
I feel your pain. Lights are expensive. Some thoughts (do not take me as an authority - just read and think):

1. Your light should be about as bright as the dive light of you buddy. If your light is stronger then you will not see him/her and communication will fail. If your light is dimmer (s)he will not see you. A weak beam of light crossing a strong beam of light cannot possibly be seen. These I do know. I have been forced to use ****** lights because of cost. You might not need a powerfull light yet. Some people may think that a canister light will make you a technical diver but that is not quite true. You thinking is more important.

2. Why don't you spend the money on a really good line reel (and safety spool) instead? That guide line, that reel, that safety spool all guarantee your survival would your lights become useless. A siltout, for example, might render ALL lights useless.

A powerfull light with a narrow beam for communication and a nice halo for viewing the surroundings is a really nice thing to have - but it costs a bit - and I do not think it is the most important thing to purchase. A redundant breathing apparatus, a reel, a spool, etc are more important. But I promise to purchase an expensive canister light this year, or in 2021 :D

Why not both? A quality can light is not really equivalent to a nice reel and spool in terms of cost and you likely need both if you're going to do big cave dives. Take the below light monkey 400 ft reel for instance. It's $128 vs. $1400+ for a really good can light.


Light Monkey Delrin Side Handle 400 Reel | Dive Gear Express®
 
I am still on edge with expensive reels/spools. i am too inexperienced to realise what the difference between a cheap one and an expensive one except for maybe the mechanism and length of the reel :p
 
Why not both? A quality can light is not really equivalent to a nice reel and spool in terms of cost and you likely need both if you're going to do big cave dives. Take the below light monkey 400 ft reel for instance. It's $128 vs. $1400+ for a really good can light.

Light Monkey Delrin Side Handle 400 Reel | Dive Gear Express®

Getting both would be an ideal choice of course, but what if your budget for this years diving gear is $700? Will you get a $700 dive light or that reel + regulator maintenance + something else?

$1400 is an astronomical price for a light. One could get 4000 lumens for almost half the price. I do not know about "big cave dives", but as far as I understand, you only need to see the line. With a weak light you stay closer - and see less of course. Exploration cave diving is a bit different. It is possible with 400 lumens, too, as history has proven us, but in big caves you will want more light. I thought this thread was about introduction to tech diving. No big cave dives then.
 
Getting both would be an ideal choice of course, but what if your budget for this years diving gear is $700? Will you get a $700 dive light or that reel + regulator maintenance + something else?

$1400 is an astronomical price for a light. One could get 4000 lumens for almost half the price. I do not know about "big cave dives", but as far as I understand, you only need to see the line. With a weak light you stay closer - and see less of course. Exploration cave diving is a bit different. It is possible with 400 lumens, too, as history has proven us, but in big caves you will want more light. I thought this thread was about introduction to tech diving. No big cave dives then.

Subcooled, this is the light the OP referred to in his post: Cave Adventurers - 15-32 variable led - Marianna, Florida USA - Never Undersold! It's currently $1500+ and he also talked about doing full cave next year, hence my big cave dive comment. Wasn't really talking about the size of the cave though, more so the length/complexity that comes with that level of diving.
 
Buy your second set of gear first. Not your first or last. What I mean by that is don't buy cheaper stuff that's good for cavern/intro if full is in your future. You'll just end up upgrading. But you also don't wanna go straight to something like a 30ah dual outlet light right off the bat. You won't need it for awhile and it'll be wasted money. I started off C1 with a 15-32. It's a phenomenal light with great support. It served me really well from short no deco cave dives all the way through 4 hour dives. You really can't go wrong with it if it's in the budget. Also, can lights are the way to go. Sucks less when you drop them and the performance will always be better than an equivalent cordless. More comfortable to dive too, especially when you start needing the duration.
 
Hey all, thanks for the comments. I have budgeted that amount for gear purchase so 1500~ is about all i'd want to part with for the time being considering shipping and taxes will also cost a fair sum. servicing of gear is not of my concern as my overall budget has accounted for it.

I get some of the points you guys are getting on in regards to buying something useful now instead of overkill lights that may or may not serve me in the future but lets just leave it at i am open to the idea of purchasing said light at that price, its just a matter of if its justified.

cheers
 
Well, my opinion is that many divers getting started preparing for cavern/Intro spend way too much money on a primary light that is way beyond what they will need for their first year of cave diving.

You should be aware that many of the people who will give you advice are far from unbiased. Not that their opinions are invalid, but they are either supporting themselves by selling gear, or get sweet “keyman” pricing for themselves by pumping up certain brands to new divers. ....just an FYI..

So about that light.. I don’t own a light monkey light, but have several dive buddies who do. Here is some general concepts that I think are relevant.

Light monkey, UWLD, and Dive Rite all make excellent products, are US based companies, and seem to do a great job with support, after the sale. People seem to have their preference, but I don’t think you could go wrong with any of them.

you will also see a log of Big Blue lights. They are manufactured offshore, and sold by a distributor out of the Tampa area. Some people really like them, and they seem to be a decent value.

For a prospective cavern/intro student, I would suggest you hold off on buying a $1,000+ light for now. You are months or even years away from really needed a light with 300m burn time. There are some divers who fast track training and get from cavern to advanced cave dives in <6 months, but that is rare and unless you live near divable caves, logistically very difficult.

My recommendation is to prepare for cavern class by purchasing gear on a more conservative budget, that will offer you extended usage down the road. Cavern training requires one Primary light and one backup. At Intro you will need two backups. There are several lights available now that would make a very good “Primary” for a 30-45m cavern dive, and will carry over great as a backup at the next level. Just one example is the Dive Rite CX1. It has easily a 1.5hr burn time on high, and is a great light. It’s also small enough that I carry it as a backup to full cave dives. It makes a very competent “backup primary”. This saved a dive on a recent Mexico trip when a buddy had a primary failure early in a dive. This was a third backup for me, so I could pass it off to a buddy, and still had my min 2 backups, That turned out to be a 170m dive.

another point, is: do you really need a corded “can” light. If you are going the GUE/ DIR route, then probably yes. But that is for training standards, NOT because you really need a 300m+ burn time light. If you do not really need the can light, than you should really consider a handheld “primary”.

Big Blue and Dive Rite are the two most common brands you will see in HH primary lights. I really don’t know much about Big Blue, accept that they seem like an ok value proposition. I have more experience with Dive Rite who makes both the LX20 and HP50. These are both great lights and can easily handle 3hr+ dives. Even longer if you step down from the high setting.
One thing I really like about Dive Rite, is they seem to break away from the concept of forced obsolescence. They are constantly testing new components and improving their designs. My LX20 was purchased with their “first generation” led chip. And for a very decent feel they were willing to upgrade my light to their latest generation chip.

I do own several canister primary lights, including an EX35 (which is a great light too), but I would never recommend that to a brand new cavern student. I use the can light for longer CCR dives, but for most 60-200m cave dives, the HH. LX20 works very well.

save yourself >$500 on the cost of a primary light. Spend that money on training, or a Shearwater. :wink:
Hello. Very well written reply........Just saying..Thanks.
Cheers.
 
I'm not an expert by any stretch, but I bought a Dive Rite HP50 because my instructor at the time was using a LX20 but I also wanted to have the option to go to a can. It was like $700. As my dives got in the 1+ hour range, and I was diving with people with can lights I found it lacking. So I priced out the can upgrade it was like $700, but the EX35 had a price drop to $1,000. Now my $700 light gathers dust as a back up while my EX35 is my primary. So if I were buying again I would take @helodriver87 advice and purchased my second light first, as I am sure that I will upgrade at some point, probably to a Gen 7 UWLD when it comes out in a couple of years.

As a general recommendation I can say I am very happy with my EX35, I've taken it on a couple of days of 4 hours of diving. It didn't notice it ramping down compared to Roger's LM 15-32, but his light was definitely brighter most of the time. So if your budget is $1,500 for lights and reels, it might be a good option, as it leaves room to buy a couple of reels in that budget.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/
http://cavediveflorida.com/Rum_House.htm

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