Light envy... of the same light.

[StreetDoctor]

I recently purchased a light monkey 21w HID for my fiance. The light is awesome, super bright, tight, etc everything you want in a good cannister light. I dive a salvo 21w HID that is about 2 years old (identical light down to the sealed battery/banana clip connections).

Her light beam is extremely tighter than mine and therefore MUCH easier to see shallow. My light head is adjusted so the beam is as tight as it goes. The only difference between our lights is I always seem to have condensation build up in the glass tube at the end of the dive and the base of the bulb has gotten redish/orange (corrosion from condensation?) Has anyone else ran into this or does anyone have any ideas? The only thing I can think of is there's enough condensation in the tube that it's messing with the tightness of the beam. I've taken it apart and tried to dry it out but no luck so far. I've sent out an email to LM but haven't heard back yet.

-Nick

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

What's your reflector looking like? Compare it to hers. Could be that LM is using better reflectors than what was in the older Salvo lights ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[StreetDoctor]

What's your reflector looking like? Compare it to hers. Could be that LM is using better reflectors than what was in the older Salvo lights ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Looks identical other than the fact the outside says salvo instead of the LM logo. I obviously can't say for sure but it seems to me that my light used to be a lot tighter than it is now. When I get back into the water this weekend with my normal dive buddies I'll get their opinion. Otherwise I'm going to steal her light head when she isn't looking! I'll try and post some images later when I get home from work.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

BTW - I have the same condensation issue with my older (5+ years) Salvo 18W light. I haven't noticed any appreciable reduction in focus ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[StreetDoctor]

That's what I've been told, that it's somewhat normal. I think the only real resolution here is to take her light head.

I haven't actually compared the beams outside of the water I'm going to mess around with them a bit when I get home and see if I can find any other differences.

 

[StreetDoctor]

Well I swapped reflector heads and it's definitely the reflector. They look identical in appearance except for the gap between the glass tube and the reflector. My older salvo has about a 3/16" gap and the new one is probably less than an 1/8". I guess I'll see if I can get a new reflector.