Handheld Primary Light Options (Cave)

[tursiops]

I borrowed a big blue TL4800 on a dive and liked the way it looks so I bought one. It was almost exactly 1/3 the price of my light monkey 20W canister light, which was their latest and greatest. That light head is very powerful but it has lots of back scatter and I just did not really enjoy diving with it. I don't care how many lumens its rated at, or how the circuitry works, all I care about is what does the light look like in the dives that I'm doing, and will it be reliable. We'll see about that last part, but I do have lots of friends using those lights in Mexico and they seem to be holding up ok. It's a $500 light that looks terrific in the Mexican caves. I bought an extra battery so I can do two 2 hour dives on full power, which I don't end up using that often anyways. Maybe this light will fall apart and I'll get pissed off about it, but until then, I'm liking it.

I have a TL4800p also. Rarely use it on High; too bright. Lasts forever.
I'm thinking when I get tired of it or too old to dive anymore I'll donate it to tbone.

 

[Tracy]

i’m just going to have to borrow someone’s EX35 at this point… should have done that while I was down. Next time…

Just ask, you can take mine swimming.

 

[Tracy]

I borrowed a big blue TL4800 on a dive and liked the way it looks so I bought one. It was almost exactly 1/3 the price of my light monkey 20W canister light, which was their latest and greatest. That light head is very powerful but it has lots of back scatter and I just did not really enjoy diving with it. I don't care how many lumens its rated at, or how the circuitry works, all I care about is what does the light look like in the dives that I'm doing, and will it be reliable. We'll see about that last part, but I do have lots of friends using those lights in Mexico and they seem to be holding up ok. It's a $500 light that looks terrific in the Mexican caves. I bought an extra battery so I can do two 2 hour dives on full power, which I don't end up using that often anyways. Maybe this light will fall apart and I'll get pissed off about it, but until then, I'm liking it.

I bought the TL4000 when it came out. I liked the light, but after a few months, it flooded through the switch. They replaced it with no problems. A year later, it flooded through the switch. They sent me a new 4500 for no cost. A few months later, it flooded through the switch, they replaced it and I sold it.
The company was great. They stood behind it and replaced it promptly every time. But I grew very tired of it failing all the time and I was done.

 

[Degenerate]

but is it worth 2x the LX20+? The stowable handle is admittedly really nice for putting in a pocket for a backup primary, but it's an awfully long light

Haven't tried an LX20 so can't say, I got a pretty great deal on my Flare so happy with it.
Will agree on the lenght though, on my old drysuit with stiff Ultima rings it was pretty awkward to use, not an issue with my Santi thankfully.

 

[tbone1004]

Haven't tried an LX20 so can't say, I got a pretty great deal on my Flare so happy with it.
Will agree on the lenght though, on my old drysuit with stiff Ultima rings it was pretty awkward to use, not an issue with my Santi thankfully.

all the big handhelds are awkward to use with drysuit rings, hell the old HID light heads are awkward with some of the bigger ring systems, but the Halcyons are considerably longer than the Dive Rite's which is why I prefer them. I did actually own one of the first gen Flare's and quite liked it, particularly the folding handle design for backup primary use, but ultimately sold it because seeing the charge pins corrode while you're on deco is a bit unnerving.

 

[Dsix36]

i’m just going to have to borrow someone’s EX35 at this point… should have done that while I was down. Next time…

You can always rent one from CCDS ($10 a day) to see how you like it. That is what I did, I bought one from them the next day.

 

[jlcnuke]

While I've gotten significant discounts on stuff, I've never been given a light. I guess I don't rate.

Just gotta be active in the right areas of Facebook. At least, that's how I've gotten 3 lights for free so far (no primary lights yet though...).

 

[kensuf]

Yeah, I hate facebook.

 

[UCFKnightDiver]

What are people's thoughts on using a Dive Rite CX2 light as a hand mounted primary for those getting started? Looks like a pretty sweet light, 1700 lumens at an 8degree beam with a 2.75 hour run time. I've never used one of course.

 

[Marie13]

What are people's thoughts on using a Dive Rite CX2 light as a hand mounted primary for those getting started? Looks like a pretty sweet light, 1700 lumens at an 8degree beam with a 2.75 hour run time. I've never used one of course.

One of the cave instructors posted in a thread on the CX2 that he used it during shorter dives with students and it worked fine. The CX2 are my backup lights. Never tried it in a cave yet. Keep meaning to.