Construction quality of lights

[bigsnowdog]

At some point I will be buying a light. Not long ago I was asked by my significant other to get one of her lights to work in preparation for a trip. We ended up with several lights on the table. As I disassembled them I was rather depressed at what poor designs they were with respect to switches and battery contacts. Operation of several was intermittent, and that because of the cheap way in which they were built, in my estimation.

What brands are of solid design and construction, and made to be totally reliable for many years?

Discuss....

 

[jtivat]

At some point I will be buying a light. Not long ago I was asked by my significant other to get one of her lights to work in preparation for a trip. We ended up with several lights on the table. As I disassembled them I was rather depressed at what poor designs they were with respect to switches and battery contacts. Operation of several was intermittent, and that because of the cheap way in which they were built, in my estimation.

What brands are of solid design and construction, and made to be totally reliable for many years?

Discuss....

Sartek, Salvo are on top of my list. For the money Underwater Kinetics I believe are better that the other lower priced options.

 

[Blue Quaker]

Hi,
I have found the UK SL4/eLED to be great as a primary light in the tropics and a great back-up light for tech. I have an LED Solus SU 1250 as my primary light and it has been "bullet-proof" diving the wrecks of the Great Lakes.
Cheers,
Norman H.

 

[fdog]

You get what you pay for.

In the $800-and-more range, Salvo, Sartek, Greenforce...all are excellent (although I am partial to Salvo). More generally you're talking $1200+ for the reliability and quality you want.

In perspective, you're asking for something that can take some hard knocks, go underwater for hundreds of feet, produce prodigious amounts of light, and produce light for hours. Hence the cost.

OTOH, you have lights that retail for $60 or so. Suddenly, the quality issues become understandable.....


All the best, James

PS - I can't say I've really seen a difference between UK and Princeton Tec. And the new Intova lights, actually, are really quite good, I have some colleagues that ditched their Scouts and use the Intovas as their backups.


All the best, James

 

[bigsnowdog]

You get what you pay for.

In the $800-and-more range, Salvo, Sartek, Greenforce...all are excellent (although I am partial to Salvo). More generally you're talking $1200+ for the reliability and quality you want.

In perspective, you're asking for something that can take some hard knocks, go underwater for hundreds of feet, produce prodigious amounts of light, and produce light for hours. Hence the cost.

OTOH, you have lights that retail for $60 or so. Suddenly, the quality issues become understandable.....


All the best, James

PS - I can't say I've really seen a difference between UK and Princeton Tec. And the new Intova lights, actually, are really quite good, I have some colleagues that ditched their Scouts and use the Intovas as their backups.


All the best, James

To clarify, I would be a recreational diver, not a technical diver.

Perhaps I am naive. Feel free to tell me I am. I hoped to find contacts and switches in dive lights better than your typical $7.50 flashlight suitable for the glove compartment of your car.

Mag-lite makes some pretty decent flashlights. Not waterproof of course. I was hoping $100 would buy a lot of light, but I am not sure it does.

Not whining. Just sayin'.

 

[Packhorse]

Apart for the switch its really easy to make a mag lite waterproof. Beefier O rings and thicker lens will do it.

At the end of the day you get what you pay for. It costs to make a quality light.

I modify cheap Ultrafire W200 lights and end up with what I think its a top quality product. But it costs. Up to 3 times as much as the original light.