Choice of a new "primary" light: Kraken NR-900 Zoom vs. Tovatec Fusion 530/1000?

[-JD-]

Disclaimer, night diving will be new to me.

I have a (nominally) 1000lm, 18650-powered, spot-beam, light which will be my backup and daytime, crack and crevasse light. (https://www.amazon.com/VOLADOR-Flashlight-Waterproof-Rechargeable-Submersible-x/dp/B01LZLWZWT)

I'm looking for a smallish, travel-friendly, primary light for rec night diving.
. 18650 (preferred for easy compatibility with other equipment and backup lights) or 26650 powered.
. My thinking has run to a zoom head for flexibility and area/poor-man's video lighting.
. I want sufficient punch, but also the ability to seriously tone it down since I'd think most night diving really doesn't need to be turned into artificial day.

That leads me to the Kraken and Tovatec lights .... I've found minimal first hand-information about these lights on SB, and please inform me if I'm missing some other lights in the category.

Kraken NR-900: 900lm max, 3 intensity levels (100%, 50%, and 25%), 10-45deg beam, 18650 power and a push-button switch, $160

Tovatec Fusion 530: 530lm max, 3 intensity levels (100%, 50%, and 30%), 12-100deg beam, 18650 (AAA optional) power and a magnetic slide switch, $100

Tovatec Fusion 1000: 1000lm max, 3 intensity levels (100%, 50%, and 30%), 12-100deg beam, 26650 (AA optional) power and a magnetic slide switch, $150

Question: Is 530lm max enough for OW night use or do i need to bump up to the 900/1000lm category?

Any substantial reports/reviews on these?

 

[tbone1004]

the light you have is good. Just get a video spread light and keep both with you.

 

[EireDiver606]

For a primary, I wouldnt get anything less than 1000 lumens. I have tovatec fusion 1000 it’s good. The wide beam is not necessary. It is big compared to my last light but has a runtime of 3 hrs I think

 

[tbone1004]

For a primary, I wouldnt get anything less than 1000 lumens. I have tovatec fusion 1000 it’s good. The wide beam is not necessary. It is big compared to my last light but has a runtime of 3 hrs I think

remember that quoted lumens don't mean "real" lumens. Most of the less expensive lights do not use constant output drivers and they quote theoretical lumen output. This means that as the battery voltage depletes with burn time, the light output diminishes significantly and they may only reach their "quoted" burn times for a few seconds.

Here is a measurement of your Tovatec Fusion. You can see it only achieves 800 lumen for a few seconds, and realistically can be thought of as a 400-500 lumen light. It is safe to cut the lumen numbers in half for most lights. Big Blue is a particularly offensive culprit in their marketing claims. Pretty much everything running a single li-ion battery will look like this btw. Some of the high end lights *UWLD, Halcyon, Light Monkey etc* use constant output drivers where the light output is flat across the duration of the burn. This is quite nice, but unfortunately makes their lights look bad on paper.
We Test Lights | Fusion 1000 Test and Review

 

[EireDiver606]

remember that quoted lumens don't mean "real" lumens. Most of the less expensive lights do not use constant output drivers and they quote theoretical lumen output. This means that as the battery voltage depletes with burn time, the light output diminishes significantly and they may only reach their "quoted" burn times for a few seconds.

Here is a measurement of your Tovatec Fusion. You can see it only achieves 800 lumen for a few seconds, and realistically can be thought of as a 400-500 lumen light. It is safe to cut the lumen numbers in half for most lights. Big Blue is a particularly offensive culprit in their marketing claims. Pretty much everything running a single li-ion battery will look like this btw. Some of the high end lights *UWLD, Halcyon, Light Monkey etc* use constant output drivers where the light output is flat across the duration of the burn. This is quite nice, but unfortunately makes their lights look bad on paper.
We Test Lights | Fusion 1000 Test and Review

Now that really changes my perspective on can lights and why some of them are so expensive. What are orcatorch like in that regard?

 

[tbone1004]

Now that really changes my perspective on can lights and why some of them are so expensive. What are orcatorch like in that regard?

they'll be similar to all of the backup lights. Again, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the lights just because they behave like that. The companies just chose to prioritize burn time over light output. For high end video lights, you want constant output over burntime, for canister lights, I want the same. The problem is when people new to the sport come in and don't know about this kind of marketing. That cheap $130 tovatec backup lights that puts out 1000 lumen for 3.5 hours makes @Bobby 's $1100 light that puts out 1500 lumen for 3.5 hours look like a terrible decision. Then you have to ask yourself why does Bobby need 5x 18650's to do that when Tovatec only needs 1.5? *26650 holds about 1.5x the capacity of an 18650*. If Tovatec can do 1k lumen on 1.5, you should be able to do 1500 on 2.
Well the difference is Bobby is actually throwing 1500 lumen for all 3.5 hours whereas Tovatec is averaging about 400 lumen. That is when the expensive lights start to make sense

 

[kelemvor]

Some of the high end lights *UWLD, Halcyon, Light Monkey etc* use constant output drivers where the light output is flat across the duration of the burn. This is quite nice, but unfortunately makes their lights look bad on paper.
We Test Lights | Fusion 1000 Test and Review

That's a nifty site, I'll bookmark it. Hopefully they'll add some reviews from uwld, halcyon, lm etc eventually. The site is owned by Lights & Motion, so maybe not.

 

[tbone1004]

That's a nifty site, I'll bookmark it. Hopefully they'll add some reviews from uwld, halcyon, lm etc eventually. The site is owned by Lights & Motion, so maybe not.

they have at least one light monkey in there, but they purchase lights from retail based on requests from customers. I think it'll be hard to get them to go with that expensive of a light to compare, but who knows. Worth submitting a request

 

[kelemvor]

I really dig this part: We Test Lights | FAQ |

Do you know if any of those manufacturers adhere to ANSI FL1?

 

[Rollin Bonz]

I have the Tovatec Fusion 530. You won't likely be happy with this as a primary in my opinion. I was surprised at how "not bright" it is.