How much is too much light?

[khacken]

I am in the process of buying a light for my AOW. I plan on doing some non-penetrating wreck dives in the future. However, I plan on mostly doing night dives for now. Would a lower end HID be too much light? This HID seemed nice, but I started thinking I may end up blasting out too much light with this and upsetting others divers on my dive trips. Brightstar Darkbuster

The price seems great (about 270 from LeisurePro) and comes with rechargable batteries, which makes it about the same total price at the Light Cannon.

I guess the other route would be to an LED light like the Princton Shockwave

The leds put out around 170 lumens compared to 1300 lumens, so there would be quite a difference.

 

[Packhorse]

I use a UK mini Q40 uses 4 AAs and a PC lite by Ikelite 4 C cell.
Both give enough light output for most of my diving and are small enough to not be a pain.
I also have a DIY canister light based on a maglite with MR16 halogen bulb. This is great for when I want to blind other divers and also good for using as a spotlight when boating at night.

 

[ChrisA]

I am in the process of buying a light for my AOW. I plan on doing some non-penetrating wreck dives in the future. However, I plan on mostly doing night dives for now. Would a lower end HID be too much light? This HID seemed nice, but I started thinking I may end up blasting out too much light with this and upsetting others divers on my dive trips.

I night dive every week. Sometimes in low viz sometimes it's better. Do not worry about having to much light. just take care not to aim the light at your buddy's eyes. It's easy to do. Almost a natural thing to do when there are other divers around and you can't fgure out which is _your_ buddy even a small light is painfull in the eyes.

If you do get an HID by a very nice spare light, one that you can use for more than reading just the SPG. Those hand held HIDs are a little tempermental. Also the beam pattern matters. The HIDs I've seen through a light saber like pencil beam of very "white" light so they do not light up the whole area. The beam is on the order of 10 degrees wide. So don't worry the light goes only where you aim t even in very low or zero viz conditions where you might think backscatter would be a issue.

I own a LED light too. It is the UL C4 eLed. It's good and the batteries last "forever". well maybe 10 dives. I like the color of the light. It's about as white as an HID.

Last night I used my UK D8. It's a beast and makes an orangish light but it's a wide beam and is ultra reliable and low priced at about $50.

COmparing either my eLED or D8 to the HID lights various buddys use the HIDs allow you to see more and in beter color. but the little hand held ones have problems now and then. Some day I will buy a canister light but I'm not looking forward to my wife asking if a really need a $1,000 flashlight

Bottom line: The little LED light is "good enough" and D8 is brighter and the HID lights are really great but I don't want to have to pt up with a cheap HID. I'll wait and spend the bucks for a first class unit later.

 

[TSandM]

My husband is using my "hand me down" Nite Rider 10W HID light. When we night dove in the Caribbean, his light was just about ideal. My 21W was serious overkill and really too much light . . . anything nocturnal had hidden long before I got there. The nice thing about the 10W HID is that it's a reasonable light in daytime, too, for signalling or poor visibility. The Nite Rider was about $700; I understand you can get a 10W Dive Rite HID for less than that.

 

[PerroneFord]

The Nite Rider was about $700; I understand you can get a 10W Dive Rite HID for less than that.

Skip the Dive Rite. This is the best HID value in diving:

http://www.divers-supply.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=17764

 

[ScubaMike05]

Isn't there a fish that is attracted to light?

 

[David The Gnome]

I am in the process of buying a light for my AOW. I plan on doing some non-penetrating wreck dives in the future. However, I plan on mostly doing night dives for now. Would a lower end HID be too much light? This HID seemed nice, but I started thinking I may end up blasting out too much light with this and upsetting others divers on my dive trips. Brightstar Darkbuster

The price seems great (about 270 from LeisurePro) and comes with rechargable batteries, which makes it about the same total price at the Light Cannon.

I guess the other route would be to an LED light like the Princton Shockwave

The leds put out around 170 lumens compared to 1300 lumens, so there would be quite a difference.

I've got the Princeton Shockwave and I really like it. The brightness is adjustable so if it was too bright you could always dim it. It's a little bulky at first but once you get in the water it's nice and light.

 

[venturediver]

I have a UK Light Cannon 1000, and I love it. It is a little bulky though. I also have a C8 that I use when the light cannon is a little much. If its really good visibility at night, I'll use either my C8 or my C4. I have an eled that runs on 4 AA batteries, but I hardly ever use it except around the house. Obviously I believe in redundancy.

 

[jeckyll]

Skip the Dive Rite. This is the best HID value in diving:

http://www.divers-supply.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=17764

I'm curious as to why you think this one is better...

I'm looking at getting a 10 W HID canister sometime this year hopefully...

 

[H2Andy]

I'm curious as to why you think this one is better...

because it used to be cheaper... a great bargain ... BUT

Dive Rite's 10w HIDs are also $499, and they have awesome customer
support ... so ....

either one's a good buy

at the bottom end of the spectrum, the Princeton Tech Shockwave II
for $50.00 is a good buy:

http://www.scubatoys.com/store/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=Shockwave2

cheaper yet is the UK SL6, for $30.00. i use it as a backup light. it's very bright
and batteries last long:

http://www.scubatoys.com/store/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=UKSL6

you don't want a really bright light for night diving. you may scare the critters
away, and the other divers will HATE YOU. you just need a light that will
light up an area roughly three feet around you. it doesn't take much.