How many of you divers own at least 1 dive light?

[Byte Me]

1 X highly modified LED Ultrafire W200 brand lights highly modified Li Ion cells. Upto 4 hours @ full output.

Backup - Dorcy brand. LED. 6 AAA. 180 lumens. 8 hours

In the basement no longer used: Princeton Tech 8 c cell halogen (I think) that the Dorcy just kills and the W200 makes seem laughable.

 

[piikki]

1. Salvo 21 W HID (Li-On battery, 5 hrs burn time, list price ~$1400 but who pays that)
2. Photon Torpedo LED (3x C cell batteries, burn time not even exactly sure, been counting on 3-4hrs but claims are it's way longer, price ~$150)
3. Two Princeton Tec Halogens (4x A batteries each, burn time 5 hours, price $12 each)

My personal requirement for primary light at the moment is minimum 4 hrs burn time. For simple OW night dive, I would still not buy even a cheap light that had under 3 hrs burn time. One hour is nothing.

 

[Gombessa]

1. 21W 13.5Ah NiMH HID can light - burn time 6 hrs (not anymore) (~$1k)
2. Photon Torpedo, 3-C, burn time 3-4 hrs, 1W LED upgrade (~$100)
3. Photon Torpedo, 3-C, burn time 3-4 hrs, 3W LED upgrade (~$100)

I carry all three on all dives (recreational, day and night), but typically only use the primary.

I'd say for a primary light, you want at least 2 hours of burntime, but I wouldn't buy anything with much less than 4.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Canister lights ...
- Salvo 18W HID (my main light)
- Salvo 10W HID (reserve light, mostly for loaning out)
- Salvo 12W LED (for traveling)

Backup lights ...
- two Photon Torpedo LED
- two Salvo RAT Jr. LED
- two UK Q40 LED
- two Intova 3W LED (mostly only use these for tropical diving because of the wide beam)

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[mikemill]

2x Underwater Kinestics SL4 eLED Light
Lumens: 116
Battery life: 10ish hours

1x LED 360 Light (Fantasea)
Lumens: 120
Battery life: 30ish hours

Thanks a lot guys for your responses so far... very helpful! We're working on making an MCE Powered 700 Lumen dive light avilable.

Also what would you say the minum required runtime would be for a light? An hour?

If you produced a light that only lasted an hour you are wasting your time. I would say that 3 hours would be the bare minimum.

 

[300bar]

1 UK lightcannon(HID)
1 UK c8 eLed+
1 saekodive 50W

1 3W LED backup

 

[Clammy]

Salvo 21 watt HID, 5 hour run time, 10amp li-ion canister (every dive primary light)
1 intova 3 watt narrow beam, LED, no idea on the run time, 2x CR123 (a backup light and sometimes primary with the oxycheq hand sock.)
1 Diverite 500 LED converts to a pseudo can, no clue on run time, 8x AA (backup light & primary vacation light)
1 Princeton Tec pistol grip 4x C cell battery LED thing I don't use.
1 Princeton Tec little 2x AA battery LED hand light I use sometimes.

 

[ShakaZulu]

Canister lights ...
- Salvo 18W HID (my main light)
- Salvo 10W HID (reserve light, mostly for loaning out)
- Salvo 12W LED (for traveling)

Backup lights ...
- two Photon Torpedo LED
- two Salvo RAT Jr. LED
- two UK Q40 LED
- two Intova 3W LED (mostly only use these for tropical diving because of the wide beam)

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

I think this guy wins.....this would be a good start for your research!

 

[Gombessa]

I think this guy wins.....this would be a good start for your research!

Just wait for the 50W and HMI guys to start chiming in

 

[MSilvia]

At a minimum (and I do mean MINIMUM), I expect two hours out of a recreational dive light. That's sufficient for 2 typical dives without new/recharged batteries. More is obviously better though.

-Please list the lights you have and when / what you specifically use them for.

1. Underwater Kinetics HID100 primary/video light
2. Photon Torpedo backup
3. Photon Torpedo LED backup
4. Underwater Kinetics C8 primary
5. small handheld (unknown mfgr) boating

-What type of bulb / batteries does the light use?

1. HID/alkaline
2. incandescent/NiMh
3. LED/NiMh
4. incandescent (redundant bulbs)/NiMh
5. incandescent/NiMh

- What is the typical runtime that it gets? What type of runtime do you want?

All lights get at least 3 hours. LED gets considerably more.

- Approximately how much do the dive lights you own cost?

[*]$250
[*]$150
[*]$100
[*]$100
[*]$40

- Any other comments, tips, suggestions, or requests as far as the development of a new dive light.

There are great lights out there already, so a new light that wanted to stand out from the crowd would have to be particularly outstanding in some respect. One feature I find sadly lacking in low to mid range lights is the ability to focus the beam. It makes a big difference when diving, as a tightly focused beam can be used for communicating with other divers, where a wide or diffused beam cannot... at least not as easily.