FAO Spoon / Pakman / other can light users

[Hammerhead]

Gents,

As you're aware, I'm looking at getting a can light for my trip to Tubattaha. I know I could post this in the "lights" sub-forum, but I'm not keen on getting hijacked by all the manufacturers.

I'd really appreciate it if you could spend the time to explain the decision-making journey you took to get to your current position.

I'm seriously tempted by the Sea Elite 10w - at $500 it's far and away the cheapest & for all intents and purposes it's a Salvo minus $300.

The H (sorry, Spoon) Helios 9/18 is another consideration - I'd have to buy 2nd hand (can't afford a new one)

Also H Proteus 6 10w is a good light, but I'm turned off by the sheer size of it. We all know dive gear weighs some, and I travel with it.

Salvo still seems to be in a similar price range to H - could be wrong (links welcome).

Basically I'm pretty baffled. I can probably swing $700-800 max on this from the slush fund that my wife does not know about. Any more than that & the kids go without shoes for a couple of years. But at least I'd be happy.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

 

[Vie]

Hi Larry,

Sorry, I'm not a PPD but I do have some experience with some of the lights you mentioned.

I own a Salvo 9A NiMH 18W HID and am happy with it. I recently spent a week diving with someone who was using a Halcyon hybrid, basically the latest Helios 18W lighthead with the "robotic" cord connected to a Proteus SLA canister.

I also had the chance to borrow and use a Halcyon Helios 4.5 10W HID (that belonged to my instructor) on three wreck dives.

From my experience (diving non-stop over two weeks, maximum depth: 46 msw):

The 10W light and 4.5A canister were very nice and extremely compact (great for travel) but the beam was rather weak in some conditions that we encountered - on deeper dives and dives with less than optimal visibility; 18W is definitely the way to go.

The 18W lights - we were doing many of the dives from some rather rickety "long-tail" boats, loading the boat from the beach and motoring to the dive sites. My light got banged around alot (others wisely had their lightheads well padded/protected) but kept on working - later on in the trip when we started using speedboats to get to deeper sites, I was afraid that the lights were not going to survive the trips in one piece! Fortunately, they built 'em tough in Florida. I can say that I honestly did not notice any difference between the Halcyon and my Salvo - maybe just a slight colour difference; beam width/focus was very similar. My brand new 9A NiMH battery allowed for five hours of burn time, my buddy's aging SLA couldn't last over two hours.

Overall, I am impressed with my Salvo AND the Halcyons but I must say that I prefer the round ballast on the Salvo and the smaller Goodman handles on the H lights. Of course the biggest difference between the Salvo and the Halcyon was the price, which swayed me towards finally getting a Salvo in the first place.

note: Salvo now offers 10, 21 and 24W lights only (with new "dry lid" design and "remote head" option)- the 18W has been discontinued.

 

[Ben_ca]

I have a 10W Proteus 3 I have replaced the lad acid battery with a DIY NIMH pack of tabbed C cells (10 X) this gives me 200 + mins on my burn test.... (I terminated at 200)

The Lead acid was fine for single dives but then I would worry on my second dive on if it would last thru the whole dive. A second battery was cheap but then again this extra batt cost me about 80 bucks including the charger (Maha 777)

View attachment 29432
Proteus 3 Canister with my DIY Nimh batt pack

View attachment 29433
10 tabbed c cells wrapped in Electrical tape

View attachment 29434
Dollar bill for scale
4.5 batt
C cell pack

View attachment 29435
My pack inside the Proteus 3 Can, There's still some room to pack more cells if you wanted to test other cells/configs but since I got what I wanted why bother.

Bottom Line:
You can get a cann light under 700 bucks and a little DIY skill (Thanks to Airspeed Press). Now whether this will suite your needs in your diving well as always YMMV. I want to upgrade later to a 21 watt (see my midweek scooter dive) and I'm debating on selling this one.... and I will be there in July. The only thing is though I'll probably blow the money there having a good time in the Phils

 

[Spoon]

pm sent, id rather explain in private

 

[pakman]

Well Larry, let's see... where do we start.

1st. What are your needs? I suspect you're NOT doing wreck penetrations on Tubattaha. I suspect the vis is gonna be pretty good. So the can light would be primarily for nite diving around some coral? Are you diving with a bunch of DIR or techie folks who need to signal each other every second even in gin clear waters? If the answer is no to all this, I think a 10W sea elite might be sufficient and definitely a bargain as a rebadged salvo.

Now if your buddies are all diving 18W or higher HID's, this might add to your feelings of inadequacies...

I was tempted to go with the 10W sea elite or even the Salvo 10W initially as I got a major sticker shock when I first began researching HID's. But given my poor record of purchasing something and then upgrading it within a year (and taking a bath in selling it)! I decided to pony up now and go with a 21W 9amp Salvo. That being said, the Sea Elite is so cheap (for a can HID that is) that maybe it might make sense to buy that now, use it for year or so. And when you feel you need something stronger, I'm sure you could get some decent money back ebaying it, and use those proceeds for a new light...

I didn't go with a Halcyon not because I dislike the company (I have a lot of Halcyon gear) but 1) there is just too much of a premium on their lights vs their competitors and most importantly 2) they use Welch Allen bulbs which appear to be pretty fragile versus the Brightstar bulbs being used by Salvo and Diverite.

To give you an idea of the price differential. A Halcyon Helios 18W 9A HID goes for USD1,550. An equivalent Salvo is around USD1,200. If you break a Halycon bulb, that's like $150-$170 for a replacement...

Another issue which you have brought up before is serviceability in the region. In the case of my Salvo, if it craps out, I'm gonna have to ship it out to Florida $$... But as Vie has shown and from my limited experience with my Salvo, they're built tough.

 

[Spoon]

like pakman said the halcyon used welch allen bulb vs the brightstar which metalsub, and salvo. the halcyon lightheads are known to be a bit more fragile as compared to their competitors. also the light output of the welch allen bulbs are pale in comparison to the brightsar bulbs which deliver a cleaner hue to the beam.

also consider the fact that you may get light envy i would opt for the 21w because i also always replace and upgrade gear every so often so the extra cost would actually save me cash on the longrun. was also considering the sea elite because of the price but the fact that it did not have a focusable light-head was a big negative.

this may help
http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=126867

 

[Vie]

If you are going on a long trip and the location/facility/circumstance does not allow you to charge the battery regularly, imho, you should pick the lighthead + battery combination that would offer you a burn time that is adequate for your need(s).

 

[Hammerhead]

Cheers guys,

A lot of input here, almost all helpful.

Most of the people I dive with are regular, but not fanatic divers - most use standard lights, no Cans here at all. For the Tuba trip, Pakman's hit it on the nose - good viz w/ no real DIR / signalling issue.

A 10w could be a temporary option for me to get used to. If I buy 2nd hand, I can try it out, get used to configuration etc and upgrade in due course.

I'm currently considering (among others) a Dive Rite 10W HID canister light...Wreck1 canister and MR11 compact head. Any comments?

Cheers,

 

[clgsamson]

Does a UK lite cannon comes out short?

 

[Vie]

Does a UK lite cannon comes out short?

Have never owned one but have seen a few get broken during dive trips - from my limited experience(s) with them, they seemed rather fragile.