Dive light from E-Bay -- Great buy!!!

[Derelict]

I bought two of them last year. They're still working. Your mileage may vary.

Went for this one instead http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=351218325481&alt=web

 

[CuzzA]

I bought a bunch of these lights in both white and UV. The smaller single LED/battery lights for my camera rig and soft grip. The larger 3 led double battery as my backup light. I've had them down to 100' and they have always came out bone dry. Teflon tape or pipe sealant may be a good idea on the head threads as there is really no reason to open that side for normal operation. I always put a little extra silicone grease one the orings when I swap the batteries.

The fluorescent light diffuser mentioned earlier has worked well for video. I secured it with inner tube. I simply asked the guy at Home Depot if I could have a piece of the broken scrap diffuser laying behind the box and he gave me a big chunk so now I have a lifetime supply.

Good value for the price. Shipping from China took about a month.

 

[robstrash]

So I got one of the lights from China before I realized I should have used the seller in California. Anyway, if I turn the light on it's full strength and then I turn it off. I wait 30 seconds and turn it on again and it's only at 75% (or whatever) strength. Keep doing this and it goes to 50% then 25% before back to 100%. I thought people said earlier that if you leave it off for a bit it comes back on at full strength. Does mine do something weird or did I misunderstand what others said?

When I use these during the day to look into crevices and such I turn it on for a bit then turn it off and swim over to next crevice. When I turn it on again I want it to be at full strength. Not sure if that is possible but would appreciate if anyone could tell me how theirs works.

 

[Derelict]

From what the others have said, you sort of twist it back towards off and then back on and it changes the light settings. Yours might have a bung switch in it that retains the setting.

 

[Derelict]

So another update. A friend of mine bought one of these, and when she got it, it wasn't working. I had a look at it and the positive wasn't soldered to the board. As small and fiddley as it was, I managed to solder it back on and get the torch working, although the sequence of brightness was in the wrong order. But then I opened it again to clean away some metal, and it stopped working. Had a bit of a play around and got it working again - but it was regular lights under the sos settings and the flashlight setting wasn't working. Had another go at it, and now it's a paperweight.

Hopefully she can contact the seller, or make a PayPal dispute. I took a photo of the loose connection.

 

[Reku]

So basically what you all are saying is that these are mostly mediocre lights and it's probably not a good idea to bet your life on it?

 

[Derelict]

So basically what you all are saying is that these are mostly mediocre lights and it's probably not a good idea to bet your life on it?

Well, I decided to have another play with it. It turns out that the switching mechanism is magnetic (explains the half turns to change settings). So the reason why mine was not working was that the chip was housed in the incorrect position (once again, explains why the switch was operating incorrectly).

I probably wouldn't risk my life on these, considering how poor the overall build is, but for general diving, you can't go wrong with a bright light for $25.

 

[CuzzA]

I would probably stay away with from the model that requires rotating the head to operate. The ones I bought are just the simple magnetic slider that ramps up from off to on.

 

[dberry]

I would probably stay away with from the model that requires rotating the head to operate. The ones I bought are just the simple magnetic slider that ramps up from off to on.

I'm not sure if you're talking about the same torch that started this thread, but you don't rotate the head to to operate it... The magnetic switch is a ring mid-way along the length of the tube, but it has nothing do to with unscrewing the head or tail.

I've taken my 2 lights on ~30-40 dives now, including 1 to 130 ft, and they both just keep working with no problems. I'm curious if everyone commenting on this thread has bought the same dive light recommended back on the first page. There are quite a few chinese import dive lights. The endorsements by several of us were about a specific light from a specific vendor. Of course that vendor may have changed to a cheaper supplier by now <shrug>. YMMV, etc etc.

 

[robstrash]

So I got a 2nd light (one from China, one from US) and they appear to be exactly the same with the magnetic ring as described above. The main reason I bought this light was because I want it to always turn on to highest setting and neither of mine do this. Mine always go from 100%, 75%, 50%, 25% even if I put switch to off and wait 2 minutes to turn back on. Anyone have any idea if I can do anything to get it to be 100% every time it goes on from off position?