High(er) end canister?

[Berry Ke]

uw light dude 3500 lumen primary light
Halcyon Focus 2.0 (80k lux @ 1m)
Heinrichs Weikamp HW80 (5400 Lumen (Measured in Ulbricht sphere), 9000 Lumen (at chip according to datasheet))
DiveRight HP50 (3500lumen)
LightMonkey 32 VF Led (4000lumen) <- This one looks like a really great piece of art, with a variable focusable beam, multiple brightness level, batterypacks available 10,15,20,25 and 30 amp.

I guess that's a pretty nice list to chose one from. They all are ofcourse great powerful high-end lights, but for me, based on the online research I did, the LightMonkey 32 VF Led is the most interesting one and also the one I got my eye on for now. It's nice to have lots and lots of lumens available but a lighthead that has a variable focusable beam in combination with 4000lumens might just be unique.
I might be wrong or I might just have missed some jewelry but I haven't found a lighthead with variable focus that's as powerful as the LightMonkey. I dive mostly in pretty murky, dark water where a vis. of 1-2 meters is no exception but since I like to dive in good vis. conditions too I think a variable focus is a pretty important feature to have.

 

[lucca brassi]

Your list have lights with total different beam angles ( for instance H focus at total spot ) , mixed with different units. To made usable list must be converted on same parameters another factor is also price.

 

[JohnnyC]

I should probably qualify my choice for UWLD.

The light output really isn't the big draw, anybody can pump out 3500 lumens in a primary can light, it's the other stuff that goes along with it that sets them apart. I'm talking about the Gen5 stuff, and really it's primarily the battery design.

The sealed battery design is fantastic. You don't have to crack the can to charge, just stick it on the dock. This limits failure points, and the battery design is truly airline approved, as opposed to some others that use some tricky design to sort of skirt a grey area in battery transportation. The latchless design, despite being ridiculously simple, makes the design even more durable, with less chance of something simple like a bump compromising the canister.

The modularity of design opens it up to many different configurations based on your need. Need a heated vest, just plug in the controller cap. Coincidentally it's the smartest heating controller on the market. Part of the reason it's so successful is because of the higher voltage of the battery pack and the whizbang circuitry Bobby uses to accomplish the desired functionality out of his design. What about a video light too? Easy to add. Grab the stack cap version and it adds right under your primary.

The light heads and the heat controller use the same piezo electric triggering, so you're missing another penetration through the cap, another failure point deleted. Other manufacturers are finally starting to pick this up.

The quality of construction is fantastic. I haven't had any problems whatsoever from the machining of the can and head, anodization, switches, etc. It's just plain built really really well.

The bottom line is that UWLD as a company is just super innovative. Their design paradigm is way ahead of anyone else in the industry. Sure, you can get a brighter light, they could make a brighter light too, but what are the compromises that go along with that?

 

[joe10540]

https://m.ebay.com/itm/Underwater-1...a-Flashlight-Torch-18650-Charger/391882844632

I’m just gonna leave this here.

 

[tbone1004]

https://m.ebay.com/itm/Underwater-1...a-Flashlight-Torch-18650-Charger/391882844632

I’m just gonna leave this here.

"real" specs for that light. It is possible that it puts out 6000 lumen based on the number of XML's it has in there.
If it puts out 6000 lumen, then it is drawing 50 watts optimistically.
It runs on 3x 18650's which is optimistically 38wh, but really only about 30wh usable.
If it runs at 6000 lumen, on those batteries, it has a max potential of 36 minutes of burn time.
If it runs for 2 hours on high, then it is only able to consume a max of 15w of power, and is going to average 1500 lumens at best.

These are the most optimistic numbers for that light.

edited due to wrong math since I forgot to

@Berry Ke the engineering that is involved in the UWLD vs the Light Monkey isn't even comparable. While the LM does have variable focus, you have to decide if it is something you will ever really use, and if that is worth the compromises that you will have to make on the engineering side of things. Also of note, UWLD has an authorized service center and distributor in Europe

 

[joe10540]

"real" specs for that light. It is possible that it puts out 6000 lumen based on the number of XML's it has in there.
If it puts out 6000 lumen, then it is drawing 50 watts optimistically.
It runs on 3x 18650's which is optimistically 12.6w, but really only about 10w usable.
If it runs at 6000 lumen, on those batteries, it has a max potential of 6 minutes of burn time.
If it runs for 2 hours on high, then it is only able to consume a max of 6w of power, and is going to average 700 lumens at best. Note that this is the same as a single backup light running efficiently.

These are the most optimistic numbers for that light.


Yes on high it burns the batteries dead in about 15 min but on low it will burn over three hours ( I had to turn it off and walk away ). I don’t know what the “REAL” numbers are on it because let’s be honest there is no way that’s putting out 10k lumens. But for $80 I am not heartbroken if it dies and because I can swap out the batteries between dives I don’t care that it will only burn for a few hours without recharging.

 

[tbone1004]

@joe10540 so at 15 minutes on the 3000mah batteries you said you have, it is plausible that it is putting out more than 6000 ish lumen if they are severely overdriving the LED's, but for 15 minutes it's pretty useless and you will be damaging your batteries drawing them at 4c. If it's burning 3 hours on low, then it's only putting out 1000 lumen, and for that I'll spend up for a pair of high quality backup lights to not deal with the cord. Fine if you want to/need to practice with a canister for the sake of having a canister, but not something I'd ever use as an actual primary.

edited because I'm an idiot and only counted 1 battery

 

[joe10540]

@joe10540 so at 15 minutes, it is plausible that it is putting out 4000 ish lumen, but for 15 minutes it's pretty useless. If it's burning 3 hours on low, then it's only putting out 300-400 lumen, and for that I'll spend up for a pair of high quality backup lights to not deal with the cord. Fine if you want to/need to practice with a canister for the sake of having a canister, but not something I'd ever use as an actual primary.

I’d wager it’s more than 300-400 lumens on low it still is bright enough to wash out all the lights in my house but without anything to compare it to I couldn’t wager any guesses. Since it runs on only 3 18650 batteries though I am going to try and replace the tiny battery housing with a real 12v battery pack and see what happens. I really only posted that to not really to suggest it is the best option out there.

P.S. If your ever down this way and want to do a side by side comparison let me know I’d be glad to meet up and see what I actually got for $80

 

[tbone1004]

I’d wager it’s more than 300-400 lumens on low it still is bright enough to wash out all the lights in my house but without anything to compare it to I couldn’t wager any guesses. Since it runs on only 3 18650 batteries though I am going to try and replace the tiny battery housing with a real 12v battery pack and see what happens. I really only posted that to not really to suggest it is the best option out there.

P.S. If your ever down this way and want to do a side by side comparison let me know I’d be glad to meet up and see what I actually got for $80

the lumen output is based on theoretical numbers.
I..e 3 hours with a 30w battery pack is 10 watt consumption. 10*120lumens/watt which is optimistic efficiency is 1200 lumens average output, probably 800 lumen real output. It is highly probably that it is like the Big Blue lights which are not constant output and then it would start high and taper off towards the end *which is annoying*.

A 60w CFL for reference is 800 total lumens, but that is going out everywhere, so the lux of the canister light will be much higher than the lux of the lights in your house so it will wash that out with no issue. 300 lumen is a BRIGHT flashlight on land, just not so much in the water

 

[Berry Ke]

Your list have lights with total different beam angles ( for instance H focus at total spot ) , mixed with different units. To made usable list must be converted on same parameters another factor is also price.

Yeah that's correct but I couldn't find any other data about the different lights so I guess that's what we have to deal with.
If you have other data or know how to correctly Interp these numbers to convert them all to the same unit that would be amazing...

As said before I've no experience with canister primary lights so enlighten me please because I feel like I've a lot to learn before I decide to buy one.
I'm going to do the GUE Fundamentals course and after that I'm planning to go into cave diving so that's important to consider too I think.

@Berry Ke the engineering that is involved in the UWLD vs the Light Monkey isn't even comparable. While the LM does have variable focus, you have to decide if it is something you will ever really use, and if that is worth the compromises that you will have to make on the engineering side of things. Also of note, UWLD has an authorized service center and distributor in Europe

Sounds reasonable yeah, is a variable focus not a must for a primary light in cave diving?