Dive lights questions

[SapphireMind]

I have been debating which lights to buy for my night class and am having lots of indecision!

I am debating between buying a GoBe 800 as a primary and then something cheaper as a secondary or just sucking it up and getting the Solas 1200/GoBe 500 package

The 800 is ~150, and I could get a cheaper decent secondary light for 80ish. The package is 400.

I lean towards getting the nicer lights. I don't know how much night diving I'm going to do, but I have a hard time justifying skimping on stuff for diving, just because the importance of equipment in diving.

Opinions? Thoughts? I know the solas has a hand mount which looks cool, but I don't know how I'll work with it underwater. So many options!!!!

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

I'm a big believer in good dive lights, no matter where you go, and even if you don't dive at night. The reason for this is that the light you carry will bring back the color of what you see underwater at depth. Otherwise, everything is very blue (or where I am, very green).

I find Big Blue lights are hard to beat in terms of performance (brightness/burn time) versus price for recreational diving.

 

[JackD342]

There is a school of thought that lights are getting too bright, especially for night dives. Too many of us running around blinding creatures, almost frying some of them. So at the least, If you get a really bright light, get one with adjustable output. I am starting to think my brightest lights might be used best for daylight photo and video, and that I need to tone it down at night.

 

[SapphireMind]

There is a school of thought that lights are getting too bright, especially for night dives. Too many of us running around blinding creatures, almost frying some of them. So at the least, If you get a really bright light, get one with adjustable output. I am starting to think my brightest lights might be used best for daylight photo and video, and that I need to tone it down at night.

The gobe/solas lights are all adjustable, and my instructor went over that concern, especially where we dive - apparently the seals/otters/sea lions have learned to look for diver lights for snacks, and so to not overilluminate (and not for long) if I want my sea creatures to not be immediately eaten!

 

[fmerkel]

Night dives.....where? Makes a huge difference if it's tropical/clear vs. cold water/cloudy.

I just got back from 2 weeks of muck diving at Lembeh using 2 cheap Chinese lights ( under $20) and they were fine for day or night. More was not necessary or desirable. The dive guides were using Solas and GoBe's and they had no big advantage. A huge advantage of my these lights were cheap price, cheap batteries, plus batteries replaceable between dives if required. If you use the Sola stuff on high, many will not go 2 dives without charging. They are VERY expensive. If you don't KNOW how much night diving you are going to do I wouldn't invest that kind of $ in Sola products.
If you go cheap it makes a big difference which light to go for. Some are great, some are junk.

I have a Sola 1200....It's nice, versatile and I never use it, should sell it since most of my diving is cold with poor viz and I use a canister.

 

[kelemvor]

I bought an expensive light the first time out as well. Later I bought some cheaper ones. I've not found the $700 "can" light I bought to be significantly better than the $7 1000 lumen light I got on ebay. Although I do still use the expensive one on occasion as part of a gopro videocamera rig.

Things I consider are:
Price: More expensive is not necessarily better - but maybe it could be in some cases. I could buy 100 of those ebay lights for what I paid to get the HOG light. Then I could just throw the light out after each 2 tanker (just kidding, but the price difference is that significant).
Batteries: A good dive light should accept a variety of options that can be easily removed. If you have to plug the light in directly, imo you should not consider buying it.
Brightness: As you've already figured out, brighter isn't better in all situations. But in some situations you want all you can get. Owning more than one light will solve this both ways. Although adjustable output on lights is more the standard than the rule these days.
O-Rings: No matter what light you get, lubricate any o-rings before you take it diving the first time.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Solas and GoBes are, in my opinion, needlessly expensive for night diving. Also, as someone else mentioned, if your night diving goal is more to see fish than wrecks, it is easy to find yourself with too bright a light. Sure, some lights have adjustable power settings, but if you don't see yourself diving in a wide variety of conditions, that may not be an important feature. If you will be diving with the light mostly at night and/or in clear water (say, Caribbean, Southeast Asia, etc.), I would recommend a pair of identical, inexpensive flashlight-style lights, one of which stays in your hand and the other stowed as a backup. For example, these are great lights and even borderline too powerful for night dives in clear water: DGX 600 TWIST Handheld Light Kit. All but the cheapest of the cheap lights are reliable and should last many years.

Not to be cynical--okay, I am cynical--but if your instructor is the one advocating the Solas/GoBes that are sold at the shop your instructor works for, well, just keep the possibility of bias in mind. Also, one thing I love about dive gear as opposed to gear in some of the other activities I'm involved with is that some of the lowest cost dive gear is of great quality. With LED and battery technology where it is today, it's amazing what kind of dive light one can get for $60.

I have been watching this other interesting lights discussion today: What price a torch?

 

[SapphireMind]

Instructor isn't advocating any particular light - she has said the cheaper ones I've found are fine too

Diving in Monterey, so cold, murky water. I know too bright, especially with a wide beam will make it impossible to see, so I've only been really looking at spotlights. It's good to hear that the cheaper lights work ok. I'm just worried about getting down and having it flood, or issues with not being able to turn it off/down/on when needed underwater.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Instructor isn't advocating any particular light - she has said the cheaper ones I've found are fine too

Diving in Monterey, so cold, murky water. I know too bright, especially with a wide beam will make it impossible to see, so I've only been really looking at spotlights. It's good to hear that the cheaper lights work ok. I'm just worried about getting down and having it flood, or issues with not being able to turn it off/down/on when needed underwater.

I'm in the Puget Sound. Viz is about the same. You definitely do want a wider beam, depending on conditions. And bright helps for a beam, or wide angle at night or when it is clear.

You always start with it on when you start, off when you finish, so that shouldn't be an issue underwater.

 

[SapphireMind]

I'm in the Puget Sound. Viz is about the same. You definitely do want a wider beam, depending on conditions. And bright helps for a beam, or wide angle at night or when it is clear.

You always start with it on when you start, off when you finish, so that shouldn't be an issue underwater.

Wait, I do want a wider beam? Because I was told it is like fog - wide bright beam means everything reflects back. And isn't your secondary light off when you start?