Interested in a primary light for less than $400, opinions wanted!

[cobbonthecorn]

Admittedly I have little or no experience with quality lights. All of my night dives were with the free to use stuff and it got me by. I've read the threads and most tend to stretch the budget beyond $400 pretty fast, or are fairly dated. Now I am looking to take the next step and buy a good primary light. I don't plan on cave diving, but am considering some light wreck penetration and certainly open water night diving. Any ideas? Thanks in advance!

 

[SandyRobinson]

If you are not planning to do any cave diving, you can probably get by with a lot less than $400. I used my canister light on a night dive once and thought i was blinding every living creature on the reef so I switched to my backup. On a reef night dive, i prefer less light to more light.

By light wreck penetration, I am guessing you mean you can still see natural light through an exit and have little or no silt to worry about. With that said, for night and light wreck, I would carrry a backup and a primary light. For a backup, you could consider a Tec40 or an Intova. For a primary, you could consider a Photon Torpedo LED or a UK LED C-8 or C-4. We own all of these except for the Intova (which I will buy this weekend) and they have all performed well. One of our Tec 40s flooded and it was repaced without questions.

If your wreck diving is more than I described, you may need to get an answer from someone else.

 

[Kydonia]

I really like my P Tec Shockwave LED, and it's around $110
Nice bright light, and no worries about the bulb filaments ever breaking.

Shockwave LED | Princeton Tec


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[cobbonthecorn]

So let me hijack my own thread for a moment because I have seen a recurring theme that needs exploration. That is, how much light is too much light for reef diving at night? Opinions? (Please try to be specific as to what you used and the result.)

 

[ianr33]

So let me hijack my own thread for a moment because I have seen a recurring theme that needs exploration. That is, how much light is too much light for reef diving at night? Opinions? (Please try to be specific as to what you used and the result.)

Not very much. I have a 10W HID and a couple of LED backups (photon torpedoes) For tropical night dives the backups are more than enough. The HID turns it into a daytime dive and shy nocturnal creatures dont care for that.

 

[cobbonthecorn]

I am twisting in the wind trying to decide between the Dive Rite 500, 700, 1000, and the Salvo Rebel 12w. Since the budget is limited I don't see myself owning multiple lights in the near term. So, compromise is the name of the game. All of the above lights are $625 or less so I guess the original $400 budget takes a hit, oh well. To the point of not chasing off local creatures the DR500 is attractive and a reasonable travel light at the same time. But the other lights leave several trade-offs I can not seem to sort out. If anyone has used or demo'd any combination of these lights I'd like to know your impression.

 

[SandyRobinson]

Hey Cobb, I will try to give you some more info based on my experience.

Dive Rite 10w cannister - great for caves but was much too bright for a night dive. My experience was the same as Ianr33.

Salvo handheld 10w -have not used on a night dive but based on my cave experience, it would be too much.

UK C-4 LED (5w) - my daughter uses on night dives, and it is a nice light. Princeton Tec has a similar light.

UK C-8 LED (5-6w)- I use this for night dives and it is fine. If I were to replace it, I would go with the C-4 because it is smaller and lighter. In mt opinion, any extra light from the C-8 is not worth it. Princeton Tec has a similar light.


Photon Torpedo (5w) - I have used this before for night diving and it performed well.

Princeton Tec tec 40 (?w) - I have used this as a backup and primary at night, and it has been OK. Sometimes, I just like a little light especially when others around me have brighter lights. My daughter and I have each had one to flood but they were replaced under warranty. You have to be careful with turning the light on and off. or it could flood or stay on (because of pressure) It only has one o-ring where the photon has two o-rings.

For light wreck, I would use the Dive Rite if in doubles or the Salvo HH, C-8, or Photon if using a single tank.

 

[weeksd]

I got a Brand new diverite led 500 light as a gift. It is a little more light than i need for a spotter light for my photography. Retail is $450. I could sell for $350usd including shipping to canada or the lower 48 of the usa.
SCUBA Diving Equipment for Technical, Wreck and Cave Diving: Dive Rite, Inc - Product Catalog - LED 500 Flashlight

 

[cobbonthecorn]

carobinsoniv- I appreciate the input regarding the subject of "too much" light. I must admit the more diffuse lighting of lesser lights was beneficial at night. I'm just a little surprised that there is not a fold-over light diffuser for bigger lights to mute them a bit for creature chasing. (Just like diffusers for flash photography.)

 

[farsidefan1]

Holy smokes, you are budgeting a lot for lighting. I have a e led plus pistol grip light for a primary. I find most night critters hide in when hit by a sun substitute. My light has a white beam and a red beam (which I love because it makes the little shrimp and some other critters glow so I can find them). I carry a PCm ikelite in my pocket for a backup, I always have it with me so I can look into crannies during the day. I also have a C8 sunlight which has a high and low beam - I like that too. Then I recently got another pocket LED light. All work superbly, non cost over $100. The PCm was around 30 - 40. The LED pocket light about 80. and the pistol grips around 80 - 90. I do want to get a blacklight bulb for one of my lights because I have heard that they really light up some critters at night as well. That's my 1.5 cents