Halcyon Helios Light?

[tombiowami]

How much do the smaller ones cost?

Tommy

 

[DNAXdiver]

They are 4/3 A's - an OEM size cell you won't find at radio shack. Very high capacity for its size so just about all the new nihm lites use them. About $7 each for a 4.5 AH so $70 for a 4.5 amp pak and $140 for 9.

If you don't have to have delrin, you can build a Helios clone in a PVC canister for about $110 even if you buy the HID lightehad that's still a big savings.

The little Halcyon lights sure are gorgeous though.

Originally posted by jetblast00


Yes, that is what it looks like, but, no, they are not just AA's

 

[DNAXdiver]

And half the light - the focusable head on the Helios puts out a lot more light for the same wattage as the tiny reflector bulb Sartek uses.

Originally posted by roakey
Nice little package, I'm looking forward to it at half the cost of a Helios.

 

[roakey]

Originally posted by DNAXdiver
And half the light - the focusable head on the Helios puts out a lot more light for the same wattage as the tiny reflector bulb Sartek uses.

I've seen this argument before and it just doesn't make sense to me. I'll concede the point about it not being focusable, but given that all the light is either escapes forward from the bulb or is reflected, the size of the reflector doesn’t have any influence on the amount of light.

The reflector's shape will influence focus, and if a reflector was only intercepting part of the light, different sizes would in fact change the amount of light available.

So we might being splitting sematical hairs here, but I could see you arguing that not as much of the light is usable, but flatly stating that you get “less light” I believe to be incorrect.

Roak

Ps. The flippant answer would be if I only get half the light I could buy two Sartek’s and still be ahead on the price of a Helios.

 

[DNAXdiver]

I don't pretend to understand the science behind it, but it seems to me that there must be a point of dimishing return trying to push more and more light through a tiny hole - if you got the same amount of light regardless of relector size, why would anyone use anything but the smallest size reflectors possible? I suspect the reason is that more rays get bounced about until they are unusable, and more get converted into heat.

But I do own both Dive Rite 10W Test Tube and MR11, and we have tested them side by side repeatedly, with the TT beam adusted to approximate the fixed beam of the MR11, the TT seems to me, and others who have compared them, to be putting our double the light, and informal tests with a lightmeter yield similar results. The difference is that great, enough that no one who has ever seen it disputes it.

The 10W MR11 is a great little light for the money, but anyone who tells you it puts out as much light as a TT version, or a for that matter a 50W halogen, is full of it.

Originally posted by roakey

I've seen this argument before and it just doesn't make sense to me. I'll concede the point about it not being focusable, but given that all the light is either escapes forward from the bulb or is reflected, the size of the reflector doesn’t have any influence on the amount of light.

 

[noshow]

Awesome... what a wicked light. I have just finished my fourth dive with my new Helios 4.5... I love it. Everything about it... (except the price). The light is bright; the first dive we did was at 4:30pm on Friday and by the time we hit 80 feet, it felt like a night dive it was so dark. The light is fantastic and the focusable beam was great for our underwater communication. My buddy said he really like the beam. The HID was so white and natural that the stuff underwater was more natural looking and seemed to bring out the real life color of things better compared to my buddy's halogen. Found a purple urchin shell that was the exact same color above the water than what it was when my helios found it below.

Really pleased. Expecting it to last me a solid decade or two...

And did I say how small and SOLID the unit is.... awsome.