entry level cavern primary dive light

[Mariner11]

Yep or down onto the prinz William avoiding the 30 ft of steel hull around it and fall perfectly into a 2 ft porthole and into the darkness inside .
Anyways thank you all for your help , much appreciate it , ended up ordering 2 cx2s for now with the QRM hand mount/striker set up .
When I go back for intro to cave (after I’ve assimilated and practiced the things I’ve learned on the sidemount/cavern course for a couple of months ) then I’ll touch base with you guys again about a canister light for my primary .

 

[Marie13]

I’ve dived the Willie several times so I know exactly what you mean.

 

[Tthame1]

I recently went through the same buying process for my cavern course and, after much research, I ended up with the LX20+. It’s a superb light, and I like it much better than the similar Big Blue’s I’ve seen. I initially thought it would be all I needed even for Cavern, Intro to Cave, Advanced Wreck, etc and, generally speaking, it would be perfectly fine for those purposes…. That being said, I got lucky and found a great deal on a Dive Rite LED can light, so I bought it and now have both. Having experience diving both, I can now see the reason technical divers use can lights. Just as one example, having the hard Goodman handle with just the light head (no battery weight) in your hand gives you a lot more flexibility and if you were to drop your light while switching hands, you can easily recover it. I honestly don’t notice a huge difference in light brightness and don’t dive long enough to worry about the battery capacity at this point, but from a functionality standpoint, the can light is much better and will be my primary. If you’re not in a big rush, you may want to try to find a good used can light or buy the LX20+ knowing it will likely become a backup light later if you keep progressing in your training.

 

[ScuberDuber]

I didn't like the beams of the Dive Rite lights. I was concerned with how they would look on GoPro video footage. I prefer the look of the Big Blue beams. Nice and round with slightly soft edges. Just my opinion. For a cavern dive, carrying a couple of Al1200 or AL1300 should be fine. For something more powerful with longer lasting battery there is the TL3800P-Supreme.

 

[tursiops]

For the cave course which I plan to take in Kate summer / early fall according to their paperwork they seem to require a can light

I'd question them on this. Sounds like an old perhaps outdated requirement. Cans used to be the only way to get duration plus rightness; no more.

 

[tursiops]

I didn't like the beams of the Dive Rite lights. I was concerned with how they would look on GoPro video footage.

Mixed requirements: lights for cavern/cave diving vs lights for video.

 

[Manatee Diver]

I didn't like the beams of the Dive Rite lights. I was concerned with how they would look on GoPro video footage. I prefer the look of the Big Blue beams. Nice and round with slightly soft edges. Just my opinion. For a cavern dive, carrying a couple of Al1200 or AL1300 should be fine. For something more powerful with longer lasting battery there is the TL3800P-Supreme.

Bigblue lights, even their technical lights are horrible lights for signaling. One of my primary buddies dive with some 8,000 lumen BigBlue. He has resorted to carrying a second light on the hard goodman handle with a much tighter beam. But every signal is wait for him to turn on the signalling light, turning off the BigBlue, signal, turn on BigBlue, turn off signal light. Signalling to him is easier as my primary punches through fairly well, but it doesn't always work, because you don't have the fall off to more easily see my primary.

So IMO there are video lights and there are cave lights. There is an exception the Light Monkey Variable Focus, and the Halcyon Focus series are decent video lights in a pinch, but are excellent cave lights. But they are both only good in a pinch, a proper video light is still better.

Now for the OP I suggest getting a pair of CX2s. It would work at the cavern level as primary and back up, and when you want to move to full cave get a good primary light and use the CX2s are your back ups. I personally use CX1s as my back up, and they are super bright.

 

[ScuberDuber]

Mixed requirements: lights for cavern/cave diving vs lights for video.

Y'all might be misunderstanding. I am talking about the beam on the BigBlue tech lights vs the DiveRite tech lights. The Dive Rite has a square beam with some strange artifacts in the pattern and the BigBlue has a nice round spot. I find the BB tech light beam to be more attractive looking when it enters the frame of the video I may be recording. Both beams are the same size, very tight. I am not talking about video lights which have a very wide / diffuse beam.

 

[Tthame1]

Y'all might be misunderstanding. I am talking about the beam on the BigBlue tech lights vs the DiveRite tech lights. The Dive Rite has a square beam with some strange artifacts in the pattern and the BigBlue has a nice round spot. I find the BB tech light beam to be more attractive looking when it enters the frame of the video I may be recording. Both beams are the same size, very tight. I am not talking about video lights which have a very wide / diffuse beam.

I’m not sure which Dive Rite lights you’ve used, but I’ve never seen one with a square beam or “strange artifacts” in the beam. I personally use an LX25, an LX20+, and a BX2 and have been very impressed with each of them. I’m also not a photographer, so I haven’t analyzed it in pictures or videos.

 

[Marie13]

I’ve used CX1, CX2, EX35. I’ve not noticed anything about a square beam. I’ve seen round only.