Choosing a Canister Light

[adm3745]

I am looking for a Can light to use at Ginnie and Peacock for my cave 1 dives in Jan.

What is the prefered brightness for diving in these types of caves... The brighter 21 w HID lights look almost blinding close up and I think the 10w need just a little more. I'm even looking at 35 Watt but they seem completely unnecesary.

Right now I am running a 700 Lumen LED Can light that is brighter than a 10w HID. It has been fantastic in Caverns but I cannot get it to focus very well. Do I need a tight focus with alot of throw at these sites?

What is the best option from your experiences?

 

[bamamedic]

I've got an old MR11 Dive Rite....it's not focusable, and the light beam isn't as narrow as a focusable 10W. My buddies thought I needed a more focusable light because they were having issues reading my signals..and I thought I needed a better light, but as I became a better cave diver, I learned to slow my signals a bit and make them bigger. On my last cave dive, my buddies commented that they could read my signals much, much better.

I think that there's at least one cave diver in Marianna (Mat Bull) who uses some kind of LED (maybe a 700? not sure) light for cave diving and loves it.

 

[RJP]

What is the best option from your experiences?

Light Monkey (née Salvo) 21w Havoc...

Recessed switch:

Great battery connection system eliminates cords/connectors:

You can read my review of this light at the bottom of this page:

Light Monkey Havoc HID at www.Diveseekers.com

PS - 21w focusable seems to be the sweet-spot for cave lights. 10w non-focusable not always bright enough, easily overpowered by buddies with 21w lights, and often not tight enough for signaling. 35w more than you need and you risk overpowering your team-mates lights.

 

[Hyper-limits]

If you don't get a 21w HID later on you'll regret it.

Another vote for the 21w Light Monkey/Salvo

 

[ucfdiver]

Yet another vote for the light monkey or halcyon 21w HID. You can flood it to light up the whole cave, or tighten it to signal a buddy from across the cave.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

I use the LED LUX(1000 lumen), I really love not having to worry about bulbs. I paid well over the purchase price of my original 10w HID(focusable) in replacement bulbs... ugh.

Its fine for signaling, just make larger signals. If its TOO flooded out to be noticed, you're too far from your buddies to begin with...

 

[Scott L]

What is the case to be made for Light Monkey (Salvo) over Halcyon as I am in the market very soon? Thanks!

 

[TSandM]

I don't know much about Halcyon, but I can tell you that I've had four years of almost unbelievable customer service from the guys who comprise Light Monkey. This included overnighting new latches to me at their expense, when a latch broke shortly before a trip, and finished with the recent rush Saturday service on my light before a cave diving trip. Now, you might argue that the reason I know they have great customer service is that I've had issues with the lights, but with the amount of diving I do, and the kinds of diving I do, the lights take a beating.

 

[adm3745]

$400 and a blue H from today's research. Light monkey has Li-Ion which I like and Halcyon uses Nimh. Ballast on the Halcyon looks larger.

Light monkey can size: 3 * 10.76 5 hr burn time
Halcyon canister size: 3.7 * 11.6 6 hr burn time

Personally I'm leaning towards light monkey and the new Hollis LED can light. I had never heard of light monkey... Is he selling lights now?

 

[Jg1]

If your looking to get rid of that LED I would be willing to trade my h10 that I had upgraded with the H1000 reflector and housing. You can focus it all you want.