HID Light Cannon or not?!?

[Amphibious]

yeah - I'd love to find out more about these "keyman" deal. I used to get prodeals with Kayaking, but I'ven never gotten anything but the normal shop discount. Cost + 15% usually.

Hmmmm.......

Willer

 

[BradfordD]

Has anybody tried the "Kowaski" dive light?? If you want a BRIGHT dive light, I was on a night dive and another diver (from Europe) had one...

I think it had two settings... at the low setting, it was brighter than anything else... on the high setting, it was REALLY bright - think stadium lights! It's too bright for me, but if you're looking for what appears to be the brightest thing out there...

I don't know if they are available here in the States.....

 

[norcaldiver]

ICUROK once bubbled...
That's nice. Its to bad that I did not get offered any when I divemastered for a instructor at a store for two years.

Don't feel too bad, it doesn't happen all the time. Just cause you're a DM or Instr. doesn't mean you can get whatever you want this way and there are restrictions. I've been working part time as a shop for almost 2 years and have only gotten a zeagle flathead VI this way. I could only get 1, might have been able to push for 2 to have one as a backup, and couldn't sell it for 1 year.

Cost +15% is nothing to complain about, a lot of places have retail -15%

 

[CincyBengalsFan]

I love my light cannon...My actually has a very narrow beam. It also came with a filter to dispurse the beam if needed.

 

[Rev. Blade]

I have a "Light Cannon" that usually does not light up when I turn it on. I sent an email to UK, but was referred to call them. I still haven't called their customer service. If they take care of it, I'll only have been without a "main" light for one trip. A big deal, but not a super big deal.

December 5th, I purchased a Light Cannon dive light to take with me to Roatan, Honduras. The light arrived the day before I left on my trip, so I did not really have much opportunity to check it out before I left. I was pleased to find the light had been shipped with batteries in it, but disappointed when I found that the light would not light up every time the switch was actuated. Sometimes it would go on, usually it wouldn't. (Once it lights up, it will light up again almost every time, if I only let the bulb cool the suggested minimum 3 to 15 seconds.) I hoped it was simply a problem with the batteries being run down.

I wrapped the light in my beach blanket. Packed it in my gear bag with 16 new Energizer batteries, and headed off on my grand dive vacation. Once in Honduras, I loaded it up with 8 new batteries. I could still hear the buzzing of the light trying to start, but not even a flash of light. I feared the bulb was broken. After about 20 tries to start the light, I was amazed to see the light building up it's brilliant glow. I shut it down for a couple minutes, and it lit right up again. I was mystified by it's previous misbehavior. I took it out diving on a wreck, and was very pleased with how much light it threw... even on a daylight dive. when I got back to the dive boat, several of my fellow divers wanted to see the awesome light they'd seen me using on the wreck. Imagine my disgust and disappointment when it wouldn't light up again. I tried for several minutes, but eventually gave up. I tried again back at the resort, and again could not get the light to go on. I tried my remaining set of 8 new batteries, but it
still just buzzed.

I figured I must have damaged the bulb, despite keeping the light in my hand through the whole dive. I tried to start it dozens of times over the course of the next few days. It wouldn't go. The only light I had for my night dives, was a little Tec20 from PrincetonTec (and Cyalume sticks)! Once I got home, I tried it
again, before typing this message. I pulled the trigger, and it lit up! I was stunned! I let the bulb cool down for 30 seconds, and lit it right back up. I let it cool down for a few minutes, and now it's back to buzzing helplessly!

Although the light is quite striking when it does light up, I think it's pretty safe to say that none of the other 20 divers at the resort, will be rushing out to buy a Light Cannon.

 

[squidguy]

I don't know if you have gotten anywhere with your Light Cannon problem but one thing stood out in your post....Energizer batteries!! Previous UK designs had problems with
Energizers see: http://www.scubadiving.com/members/gearreviews.php?s=472
oh...btw this fellow had problems with his bandaid solution, see his later post.....

Duracells work well with UK stuff.

 

[Mo2vation]

Never a problem. two quick tales:

While on a night dive at Catalina, a bunch of the divers were on the boat before the dive, spotting their lights on all of the sea lions that we're all around us. About 2/3's of those lights burned out... blazing out of water. The guy with the Light Cannon had no issues.

Second - I was doing a nite dive at Casino Dive park, Catalina. I was walking down the stairs (its a posh stair entry...pretty funny, actually...what, no escalator?!) and I thought my light was clipped to me...it wasn't. Totally bounced off the concrete. The light went out, and visions of an $80 replacement bulb filled my head. I switched it off, waited the 3 minutes, turned it back on and there was light. Its been working fine ever since.

I love 'em. Wifie has the lantern handle, I have the pistol. I prefer the lantern, and steal her's whenever I can.

K

 

[Rev. Blade]

squidguy once bubbled...
I don't know if you have gotten anywhere with your Light Cannon problem but one thing stood out in your post....Energizer batteries!! Previous UK designs had problems with
Energizers see: http://www.scubadiving.com/members/gearreviews.php?s=472
oh...btw this fellow had problems with his bandaid solution, see his later post.....

Duracells work well with UK stuff.

On the plus side, UK ships their light stuffed with batteries... Duracells. On the downside, they indicate in the instructions that the light head can be damaged if shipped without batteries in it. Not a big deal since I have eight batteries... but I usually like to remove batteries once they die, so they won't leak acid in my light. I guess that's one more reason to carry spares. (I'm big into spares. That's why I "only" had two dive lights for my night dive... after three of my lights failed.)

In my previous post, I did not mention the blacklight I brought along. I had found a 12 volt blacklight that runs on AA batteries. (any brand) I zipped it into 2.5 gallon freezer bag, with a little air left in the bag. Then tossed a 5 lb weght in a second ziplock bag, to double seal it... then triple sealed it. The bulb didn't break on a dive to 45 feet, and the inner two bags stayed dry. I also had a super cool filter for my Light Cannon, but as previously mentioned, the UK light didn't light.

Why the blacklight?
http://nightsea.com/steveackleson.htm I spent about $75 on a filter (I found another source for the filter glass, and made my own mount), and didn't get to use it! Now I'm gonna have to go diving again. ;-0 ...at night! ;-0 ;-0 I'll be alright... someday.

 

[JDostal]

Personally, I LOVE my UK light cannon.

A friend of mine has the Dive Rite canister (10W) HID and mine is almost as bright as his.

For me, I don't do a LOT of night diving, nor am I a cave diver. I got the light for $135.00 off of eBay.

I was using my light to light up the bed of my F150 when I was digging some stuff out of it. The light dropped about a foot and a half onto my truck and it went out - it scared the heck out of me, but it came back on after I waited a minute.

I did accidentally bounce mine off the deck of a boat once too and it survived that. I haven't had exceptionally bad luck with my light at all.

However - HID bulbs by their nature are very fragile and very expensive. You do have to care for them a lot, and if you break one you will definitely be paying around $80 for a new bulb.

Don't flick the light on and off a lot! If you turn it on let it burn for around 5 minutes, and then if your turn it off leave it off for a few mins. until you turn it on again.

 

[Rev. Blade]

I finally called UK's customer service. (My team at work had been reprimanded for using the phone for personal calls during the day, so it's been a couple months of me looking at a dead light on a chair when I get home... but I was home sick Friday, and actually took the time to call UK.) They were very polite about the whole thing. The cust. serv. rep. asked if I was using Duracells, but after we discussed how recently I had purchased the light, she said it shouldn't matter. UK seems to have worked out the "only Duracell brand batteries" issue. She asked if I had purchased the light from my LDS, and I replied that I had purchased it mail order. (LP) Cust. Serv. said no problem, send it in, and gave me an RMA number.

Now I just need to get out of this chair to mail it to them. It seems that I have an awful lot of inertia. (A body at rest, tends to stay at rest.) :bonk: