Like ahereng said it's a generic light made to spec I think in China for our LDS here in Oslo. I can't recommend buying it from abroad as Norwegian prices are pretty high.
DIR views on non-canister primary lights
- Thread starter landlockeddivingdoc
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landlockeddivingdoc
Registered
That's good to know. In Dress For Success, it says of canister lights:
"To prepare for use:
• Unclip the light head
• Remove the double ended bolt snap and
stow
• Pass the light head underneath the long
hose
• Grasp the Goodman handle with the left
hand."
Overall didn't seem too intimidating, but the part about the long hose did catch my eye. I guess it's not a terribly complicated task, but tasks add up, which was another reason i wasn't keen to be wrapped up in something else.
JoeTPhilly
Contributor
@landlockeddivingdoc , I believe most or all GUE instructors still want students to learn to use a corded light, the theory being that you don't want to be flustered if you have to borrow one. But outside of the class environment handheld lights are increasingly popular with GUE divers as they are for other tech divers. Personally, I still prefer a corded light because, like others here, I find it reassuring to have that expensive light head tethered to me.
As for handling that cord during, say, an S-drill, it may not seem "intimidating," but it's surprisingly easy to forget a step. It just takes practice. Even after years of practice, I still occasionally mess up, and it takes me a few seconds to fix it.
Taking a step back, I may have overlooked it, but you didn't mention what you plan to use your "primary light" for in the meantime--before you take Fundies. And you said you don't really have your sights set on tech diving. If you're diving locally in low-vis lakes, maybe doing multiple dives a day, then I suppose you would indeed want some kind of powerful, long burn-time light. But for diving in clearer waters, I'd stick with a nice inexpensive light until I really needed something blindingly bright with longer burn time for tech diving or at least for long dive days at low-vis sites. Economical lights like those from Dive Gear Express have more than enough power and burn time for most rec diving. For that kind of diving, I use two identical lights, and whichever one is in my hand is my "primary" and the other one, stowed on my BC, is my "backup."
As for handling that cord during, say, an S-drill, it may not seem "intimidating," but it's surprisingly easy to forget a step. It just takes practice. Even after years of practice, I still occasionally mess up, and it takes me a few seconds to fix it.
Taking a step back, I may have overlooked it, but you didn't mention what you plan to use your "primary light" for in the meantime--before you take Fundies. And you said you don't really have your sights set on tech diving. If you're diving locally in low-vis lakes, maybe doing multiple dives a day, then I suppose you would indeed want some kind of powerful, long burn-time light. But for diving in clearer waters, I'd stick with a nice inexpensive light until I really needed something blindingly bright with longer burn time for tech diving or at least for long dive days at low-vis sites. Economical lights like those from Dive Gear Express have more than enough power and burn time for most rec diving. For that kind of diving, I use two identical lights, and whichever one is in my hand is my "primary" and the other one, stowed on my BC, is my "backup."
Gelirfella
Contributor
Great thread. I have an old 21w LM HID light that I’m planning to use for fundies that I got on here for relatively cheap. The cannister is huge as it’s the old 3.5 inch beast, but I find I don’t really notice it underwater. I assume this will be fine for the purposes of fundies?
Of course that will be fine for Fundies class. Some people even prefer HID over LED for its beam quality or color or something. Maybe it's like vinyl records!
There is a time and a place for both corded and cordless lights. That being said, a cordless light usually doesn't have a sufficient burn time for a full day of diving. Even the 5.2ah focus 2s don't always have enough burn time if you're doing multiple dives in a single day. To get those bigger battery packs on a cordless light, the light head starts to become heavier and becomes more in the way.
Most handhelds have about a 2.5-hour burn time. If you're doing something like a C1 class, you might spend 4 hours in the water daily. Even just doing two 1-hour dives in a single day brings you pretty close to the battery's endurance, and conducting burn tests on the light becomes more important.
Corded lights are also wonderful because you can't drop them, which I've seen people do a few times. Missing the clip when stowing the light, having it come off somewhere when stowed, or the cave line breaking or coming loose from the tie-offs can all lead to loss. It's reassuring to have that $1500 light actually attached to you.
As for soft vs. hard Goodman handle: You engage in a lot of passive light communication where you park your beam next to your team's beams so that you know the team is still all together. Any sort of erratic light motion will draw attention from the team because it becomes atypical. So having it slide off easily is nice to avoid erratic light signals.
You don't use the Goodman handle on your left hand in case you need to donate; you don't want to blind an OOG diver by pointing your light directly at his face. For scootering, you can still look around and signal without coming off the trigger.
But on your right side are all your buoyancy controls and your SPG, so you're frequently transferring the light to the temporary hold position in your right hand to do situational awareness checks and adjust buoyancy. Using a hard Goodman handle makes this much easier because of how easy it is to slip it on and off your hand.
Gone for diving
Contributor
You could use a piece of cord with a loop on it to bolt snap it on, to make it corded like a canister.
I wouldn't recommend it though...
Just a side note / tangent, but this is not current procedure, in GUE at least. The light cord goes outside the long hose. It means there is a slight dance with the cord when deploying the full length of the long hose to an OOA diver, but it prevents mistakenly trapping the long hose when clipping off the light.
If you want an inexpensive light that works extremely well as a DIR-compliant cordless light, the XTAR D26 1600S has an extremely tight beam, runs off 21700 rechargeable cells, and mounts easily to a Goodman handle. The whole setup (light, handle, 2 x 21700 batteries, excellent-quality charger, and bolts for attaching to the handle can be had for ~$120 USD, price fluctuations depending.
If you can find someone with a 3D printer, you can also print the top half of the handle you see below (and attach it to the Aliexpress handle I linked) to get yourself a nice thumb loop and a guard for the power button (which otherwise likes to be inadvertendly pressed).
Picture of the light beam in use last night also attached. It's an absurdly tight beam, with a brighter spot than anything I've seen except a Focus 2.0. A couple of people locally have used the D26 1600S for Fundies, and I use mine more often than my canister light for rec and T1 dives.
If you can find someone with a 3D printer, you can also print the top half of the handle you see below (and attach it to the Aliexpress handle I linked) to get yourself a nice thumb loop and a guard for the power button (which otherwise likes to be inadvertendly pressed).
Picture of the light beam in use last night also attached. It's an absurdly tight beam, with a brighter spot than anything I've seen except a Focus 2.0. A couple of people locally have used the D26 1600S for Fundies, and I use mine more often than my canister light for rec and T1 dives.
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