Entry-level dive light

[ppatin]

I'm going on a liveaboard trip in October and will be needing a light for night dives. This'll be recreational diving in clear water and am trying to find an affordable dive light that meets my needs. So far I've read a lot of good things about the DRIS 1000 lumen light. Is it "too much light" for my needs? I don't really know how powerful a light I'll want for the conditions I'll be diving in, and while I'm willing to pay for quality I don't want to spend more than I need to.

 

[smorneau]

I have a DRIS 500 and it is very nice for the price. Any more light may be to much in clear water at night. It is also a little large and heavy for traveling. I use a UK SL3 when traveling. Very little weight and a fare amount of light.

 

[diversteve]

It's going to make crabs and smaller fish really unhappy when you light them up for predators....

One of these was very adequate in the Turks/Caicos (really clear water) a couple years ago. In fact it might've been too much at times. I did five night dives on the same set of batteries with no loss of light output. It's also a twist light but uses AAA batteries so it's physically smaller than the DRIS. Once from near the surface I was lighting up the bottom 85' below well enough that other divers could see by my light - they mentioned it back on the boat. Penetrater 220, Piranha Dive Manufacturing - $42.99

One thing I didn't like about the DRIS 1000 is it's either on or off. Some dive lights in that output range offer variable settings.

 

[buddhasummer]

Yes, sometimes less is more particularly when it comes to lights when diving in clear tropical waters. Bright lights simply scare everything away. I've used the Intova wide in clear tropical waters and really liked it, nice wide beam and not too bright. Cheap too, but does run on the spendy CR123 batteries.

 

[JamesK]

I would personally get something with a red light output. I have found its works great for night dives.

 

[ppatin]

Thanks for the advice about the DRIS 1000 potentially being too strong. Would something in the 300 lumens range be more reasonable?

---------- Post Merged at 08:19 AM ---------- Previous Post was at 08:16 AM ----------

One other question, are there any affordable lights out there with rechargeable batteries? I thought that might make more sense than using disposable ones but rechargeables seem to be freaking expensive.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I use a pair of LED Torrent lights mounted on a bicycle helmet for back up lights when cave diving - but they also work really well for night diving in OW. They are rated for 126 lumens each and with a pair of them you can use both, or just one if less light is required. With both, you can get a pleasantly wide field of view without light overkill.

The street price is about $60 and the burn time is also 30 hours on 8 AA cells, so they are inexpensive in actual use.

 

[buddhasummer]

Yes I think something in the 300 range would be more suitable, but get one with a wider beam not a spotlight. I use a 250 lumen light which has a variable focus from 3 degrees up to 25 degrees and find this perfect for travel great in the day time in 3 deg mode and great at night in wider mode. The Intova wide is 220 lumens with a 42 degree beam, like I said in the tropics for night diving it was fine.

Tovatec IFL WA Wide angle waterproof torch | Intova

this looks interesting too:

IFL WA Zoom Torch | Intova

Yes rechargeables are a little spendy but if you end up with a light that uses CR123 then rechargeables would make it hurt less. Good luck with your search.

 

[ppatin]

Does this package seem like a good deal? Underwater Kinetics Sea Turtle Pak Set, Includes the C4 eLED, Mini Q40 eLED and Beacon Lights, all in Yellow

Underwater Kinetics seems to have a great reputation and I like the fact that the C4 LED has two different brightness levels. 4 C cell batteries will also help keep battery costs under control. The price for the package is a little more than I wanted to spend but it would get a me a primary light, backup light and tank light all together.

 

[rhwestfall]

UK SL-4 would fit your needs well. If you go the LED model (instead of xenon), the battery life is really good.

---------- Post Merged at 12:33 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 12:31 PM ----------

I don't find the big pistol grip lights necessary.... there are much better options