DRIS 1000 Lumen Can Light... thoughts?

[Menk]

1000 Lumen Can light - Dive Right in Scuba

My Needs: An entry-level primary light for open water Rec diving, and occasional night dives with a group.

I'm starting out Hog/"DIR" and this seems like a good way to get used to a can light setup i'll be using in GUE.

I know people love their DRIS 1000 lumen lights, but what about in this configuration?

 

[tbone1004]

I'd go with Hog Morph 1000 instead. Get's you out of using C cells which is nice....
Hog Morph 1000 Core ? Spot - - Dive Right in Scuba
Quite a bit more, but gets you into rechargeable which is much nicer to deal with and the DRIS can is pretty long especially for backmount use. Check around The Deco Stop, or Cave Diver Forum, there is usually can lights for sale on there pretty regularly.

Other thing you can do is buy a cheaper used 10W HID or something and then when you get more into it or the bulb breaks, send it to UWLD and for somewhere around $300-$350 he can convert the HID to his LED's and it is a spectacular light.

Don't use DIR anymore with the GUE folks, the UTD guys stole and GUE doesn't use the term anymore.

 

[scubastingray]

You can use 26650s in the 1000 Lumen Can, so you don't need to use Cs.

Look up the Brinyte DIV06, or DIV09. I just reviewed the big brother of this light (the DIV10) and was overall very pleased. You can get it for a bit cheaper elsewhere, but you will wait 3x as long for shipping, and are SOL in terms of support if something breaks. You also get 10% in rewards points from DRIS.

The light itself seems to be well reviewed, with the major complaint being the glands. They can come unscrewed if you aren't careful. These can be replaced by metal ones pretty easily (and inexpensively too).

The LED itself is the same as just about every other "1000" Lumen light out there. If you have their 1K lights it is a similar brightness.

If you are going GUE/DIR you may want to look elsewhere. I love the version I have, but I don't think it's very DIR. Don't they only use one brand?

Additionally, the can is smaller than a lot of other cans so burntime won't be 8 hours like it will with some lights. Probably closer to 5 hours with high quality 26650s. Much lower with Cs.

 

[Menk]

Tbone, i think that's a little more than I need. The other option I was considering was to get a regular DRIS 1000, mount it to my hand, and migrate that to the chest as a backup down the road...

Scuba, I don't think DRIS carries the Brinyte, the only place i can see it is on Ali Baba.

 

[tbone1004]

GUE will allow you to use most any brand so long as it has a goodman handle and can be mounted to the waist strap. If you're going into GUE tech, you almost need a canister light if for anything then to use it to keep the long hose from moving around or having to tuck it in your waist strap which is irritating. If you can put the 26650's in there, then go for it. If anything it will be a good backup later down the road. A lot of us will carry a spare can light with us, or if we have big ones, we'll go to the small ones if dive buddies have smaller ones or are in clear open water etc. The big heavy lights can be blinding to fish and are just overkill, a lot of us will use our backup lights in that situation, but having the extra burn time in the can isn't a bad thing and having it on your harness to keep the hose down is quite nice

 

[scubastingray]

Scuba, I don't think DRIS carries the Brinyte, the only place i can see it is on Ali Baba.

Right, this DRIS "Branded" light is just the brinyte. Look up those models and I'm sure you'll notice the striking similarity. DRIS contracts to have their logo put on them. As mentioned above, DRIS is still a good vendor to purchase from. I certainly wouldn't buy from Alibaba over DRIS. Additionally, the DRIS version has the 3x26650 config, while some are 2x26650. The extended battery life is a good thing.

If you do end up ordering, pick up some quality 26650s and a charger. mtnelectronics comes highly recommended. I ordered from fasttech and regret it. It's going on two months, and the items still don't track in the US. not worth the few bucks i saved.

http://www.mtnelectronics.com/opencart/index.php?route=product/product&path=59_108&product_id=128
These are the cells i ordered from fasttech. They are very highly regarded. There is a recent thread in this subforum regarding chargers also.

 

[eelnoraa]

I have one of this bought from HK. The only difference is the head has 3 LED instead of 1. The canister, it seems long, but it is actually just a little longer than Light Monkey 9A canister. It looks long because it is very skinny.

I use this light in Thailand Live Aboard. Overall, I like it a lot. Being able to reduce brightness in tropical water night dive is definitely a plus. Charging 3 26650 can be tough. A 4 26650 charger will be very big. My charger can only fit 2 26650 at once. So I have to charge them in 2 pass. So in my vacation, I will charge them at night, and use them for the first 4 dives in day time. The battery will last more that than. In the last dive of the day (night), I will put in C cell while the 26650s are being charge. I only need about 25% for night dive, so Cs last me a long time.

The down side: 1) Yes, the cord and gland looks cheap. I will pay attention to them as I use it. So far, I haven't had issue. 2)The mounting location is too low on the canister even if I move it to the highest point. This make the switch very high on my side. In water water, I have no issue operating the switch. But in cold (home) water, I can't reach the bottom consistently. If they can make a p-switch on the head like UWLD, it will be a very good light.

I am trying to modify this light to work with my LM 9A canister. I am thinking I will go with E/O cord. But I will lose the ability to change brightness. I am still looking for best method.

I also had Morph and just sold it. My 3LED version is a lot brighter than the Morph at. I would say 25% on my 3LED head is about the same as Morph at 100%. Morph's canister is also too short to tugging in long hose under.

My recommendation is this. If you are going into GUE training, just keep saving for now and get a "try and true" canister light as your main light. GUE classes are expansive. If you go down that road, the cost of a canister light is a smaller portion of the over cost. And their classes are also very demending, the last thing you want is to have to fiddle with your gear in the class. It is just not worth it. This can light and Morph, they make a good backup can light or a good travel can light.

 

[Menk]

thanks guys!
Found the DIV10 (3000 lumens) on the bay with free shipping... with 1 year warranty. Might have to go for it. DRIS only has the 1000.

Eelnoraa, have you tried removing the mount entirely and rigging up something custom in the position you want?

---------- Post added October 9th, 2014 at 07:56 PM ----------

oh... how did you guys go about doing a gland replacement? Where did you get them from?

 

[hroark2112]

I got the 3000 lumen version, then bought a charger & 10 batteries. No issue now with only being able to charge 2 at a time!!

 

[Alfawolfje]

Where can you order the metal glands?