Cavern diving light setup

[rockcityphoto]

Does anyone have any dive light recommendations for caverns? I'm going to be taking a cavern class soon and my buddy who is going to be the instructor told me I should get three lights, two smaller clip on style lights and one brighter wrist mounted one. I've only used a couple lights before, one was a pistol style light I used over a decade ago for general night dive use and the other was a small Intova that I borrowed from said instructor buddy for diving through a hole in a reef. I don't have a set budget, but I'd prefer to keep things fairly frugal.

 

[stano]

I have a Hollis LED 3 wrist mounted light with an Oms strap I bought from dive gear express for 95$. I used it on a recent cave dive as my primary light. I really liked it. The dive I did was short (800 ft in) but even still I believe the battery life is like 4 hours or more. I agree also that a minimum of three lights for cave or even cavern, which is what I had.

Stano

 

[TSandM]

For backup lights, I have been very pleased with the Dorcey Penetrators. I bought mine from Piranha Dive Manufacturing, and I think I paid under $100 for two of them. They are very bright and would be extremely useful for getting out . . . but the beam is too tight to be much good for looking around. I don't have a good recommendation for a hand-held or hand-mounted light that you could use to TOUR the cavern, except for maybe the Sola lights, but for what they cost, you can buy a used can light.

 

[PfcAJ]

The Halcyon XP scout is pretty sweet. It is more than bright enough to be a decent primary, and it will serve as a kick-ass backup down the road. Where are you at in Orlando? I've got 4 different types of lights from Halcyon that I could show you, if you're interested.

 

[jmneill]

I too am interested in this, as I have now purchased a couple lights that turned out to be very high quality but with a beam that was FAR too focased to enjoy cavern diving.

 

[FuzzyNutz]

I JUST got my new Dive Right In Scuba 500 lumen light from the mail, and this thing is beast! Compared to the Dorcy (Penetrator 220), it's brighter and has a wider hot spot and beam, with a more gradual spill - it definitely fills much more of the room with light, and the flashlight itself is about 1.5 times the size of the Dorcy (longer and fatter - which feels nice in the hand, but I can't yet comment on how it feels attached to a rig). I hear they have a 1000 lumen light in the works now, too!!! Supposedly it will be the same size as the 500 lumen with different circuitry.

 

[Teamcasa]

I JUST got my new Dive Right In Scuba 500 lumen light from the mail, and this thing is beast! Compared to the Dorcy (Penetrator 220), it's brighter and has a wider hot spot and beam, with a more gradual spill - it definitely fills much more of the room with light, and the flashlight itself is about 1.5 times the size of the Dorcy (longer and fatter - which feels nice in the hand, but I can't yet comment on how it feels attached to a rig). I hear they have a 1000 lumen light in the works now, too!!! Supposedly it will be the same size as the 500 lumen with different circuitry.

I picked one up at the Long Beach Scuba show and I am impressed. I'll try it out this weekend on the Yukon in San Diego.
DRIS Dive Gear 500 Lumen Dive Light - Dive Right In Scuba - Plainfield, IL

 

[rockcityphoto]

Thanks for all the suggestions. It seems like the two best options for the backups would either be the Dorsey Penetrator or one of the Intova torch models. That DRIS Dive Gear 500 light looks pretty awesome for the price. It looks pretty sizeable though, do you think you could still wrist mount it?

 

[Teamcasa]

Thanks for all the suggestions. It seems like the two best options for the backups would either be the Dorsey Penetrator or one of the Intova torch models. That DRIS Dive Gear 500 light looks pretty awesome for the price. It looks pretty sizeable though, do you think you could still wrist mount it?

I doubt it. I certainly don't plan on a wrist mount but a Goodman style handle could easily work for it.

 

[merxlin]

For a primary, check these out: very compact battery packs, small heads and mega bright. Watershot, Inc.