Halcyon can light help

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fraserpenny

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Location
owen sound, ontario
hey, diver on a budget looking at two different halcyon canister lights. Looking for suggestions between the two;
a) 10 W HID with spare bulb $400
b) 12 W LED $700

Prices are in Canadian funds..
thanks in advance for recommendations
 
Get the 12W LED, It'll last forever and is much brighter than the 10W HID.
HIDs, although rated for 1000 hours don't usually last longer than 250 starts, are delicate and currently it's impossible to get a replacement bulb.

Michael
 
@fraserpenny which 12w is it? If it's an EOS, then it'll be comparable in brightness to a brand new HID bulb, but will last considerably longer. The EOS is however fairly wide in beam angle compared to some of the other options so if you are diving in murky water you may get a lot of backscatter
 
Get the 12W LED, It'll last forever and is much brighter than the 10W HID.
HIDs, although rated for 1000 hours don't usually last longer than 250 starts, are delicate and currently it's impossible to get a replacement bulb.

Michael

Thanks Michael, I wasn’t sure how hid held up on scuba, although completely different, I had them on a truck and had nothing but problems with them.. lol
 
@fraserpenny which 12w is it? If it's an EOS, then it'll be comparable in brightness to a brand new HID bulb, but will last considerably longer. The EOS is however fairly wide in beam angle compared to some of the other options so if you are diving in murky water you may get a lot of backscatter

It is EOS, majority of my diving would be cold, ‘clearer’ water.. not so much murky..
 
The 10w focusable lights were really good, but you can't get the bulbs anymore.
 
@fraserpenny HID conversion kits on trucks are often problematic because they can't get enough starting amperage to strike. The higher end kits come with relays that connect directly to the battery to prevent a lot of those issues. Many of them were cheap sh!t bulbs and ballasts as well which didn't help.
That all said, like was said above, you can't get new bulbs for the 10w lights anymore which is an issue. You can get the heads replaced by someone like @Bobby at UWLD, but it is likely that the battery packs are also getting near end of life for the 10w's.

The EOS beam angle shouldn't be an issue for most open water, but it's really comparing apples to oranges when looking at the HID's due to the 13* beam angle.
 
Since the 10w has a replacement bulb I would go with that, but perhaps try to bargain the price down to $350cdn. And just know that its a light for the next ~5yrs. The EOS is good, but it's $300 more, and it's comparably bright so as more and more people get better and better lights the value 10yrs from now wont be anywhere close to $700 even if it lasts decades. So net I suspect that you'll be looking to upgrade the EOS at roughly the same time as the 10W. So why not put the $300 towards other scuba stuff.
 
had both.
I started with 10W HID - then sent to Halcyon to replace with EOS LED lighthead.

EOS is by far better then 10W HID in Mediterranean diving (low vis green water ^^).

I have the 10W HID light head with cord and bulb for sale.
but for sure recommend LED.

or buy a focus which is what I have now.

thanks,
Matan.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/
http://cavediveflorida.com/Rum_House.htm

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