Is a 35w HID obnoxious?

[PerroneFord]

In many dive teams, in an overhead, the guy with the biggest light has to suck hind *** so that everyone can maintain visual contact. Its not always an advantage to own the brightest, but it would be be comforting in diddled vis.

Guy with the weakest light runs the reel..... Nuff said!

 

[PerroneFord]

Heck, my 10w was overkill on Bonaire night dives. At least I didn't lose anyone

Then you can deploy an LED backup and dive that. The point of not losing anyone cannot be understated. I did a dive Saturday in a sinkhole with 3-5ft vis. My buddies smaller lights really limited our buddy distance. At one point we got seperated. I could not see their lights. I did a 360 degree sweep with my light below and above, and they found me. I have a Salvo 21w.

The 35w in a cave with great vis is amazing. But if you were trying to have ANY night vision, it's a PITA. When everyone in the team has a 10w or a halogen, the 35w really can be overkill. But most people I know now are running good 10s or 18/21w lights. And the 35w is brighter but not so much brighter that it causes a safety issue. I did a dive with a 50w halogen last summer, and I felt like I was diving with a candle.

My opinion is to get the 35w light, be courteous to other divers and don't blind them. Cover your light when necessary, and point it away from other divers when signaling is necessary. A bit of forethought removes most problems.

 

[SparticleBrane]

I kinda like the idea of getting a 21w with a larger battery for essentially the same price.

 

[OneBrightGator]

Divin' Hoosier- what do your buddies use? Any issues w/ communicating? To Gator's point, what kind of burn times are you seeing w/ the 35? The salvo site says 4 hours so that should be good for a day's diving.

Yeah, just remember that you have to plan your burntime like you plan your gas in cave diving. (Four hours is enough for the average Full Cave diver to get two good dives in)

There are a few threads around here on the topic of what light is appropriate when and it runs the gamut from "biggest all the time" to "use whatca got and go", but once you bite the bullet on a 35 or a 21, a little more for a smaller travel/night dive light will be nothing

Looking at prices you could probably get a 5 hr. 21w and two Rat lights for the price of a 4 hr. 35w... I say go with the 21w (if money is a concern)

 

[MBH]

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors HID light.
Man, oh man!
I AM a sinner!
I checked out the 35W Salvo at their shop, and to me it looks like a GREAT primary. The only thing I don't like about the 35W is that the light head is so big. I prefer the smaller head on the 21W. Other than that, the 35W Salvo is just way too cool.

 

[DeepSeaExplorer]

I just got my 35w. I burn tested it and got exactly 4 hours on a fully charged battery.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

I just got my 35w. I burn tested it and got exactly 4 hours on a fully charged battery.

Great! Thanks for sharing. I hadn't gone through the trouble yet to do a complete burn test.

 

[mstudley]

I'd save the couple of hundred for something else (like an extra battery maybe) and go with with 21W Salvo. Unless you plan on lighting up for video or something the 21W is more than adequate.

 

[DeepSeaExplorer]

Yeah, just remember that you have to plan your burntime like you plan your gas in cave diving. (Four hours is enough for the average Full Cave diver to get two good dives in)

Agreed... if it had been any less, I would have had to pass. I'm going to keep my 18w as a backup and for that possible third dive of the day.

 

[cmalinowski]

The 35w is not too bad from a buddy perspective unless they accidentally shine it in your eyes. It takes a bit longer to recover from that than an 18 or 21. Other than that, I had no problems on the one dive I did with my buddy and his new 35w.

Time will tell if other issues crop up.

Chris