Looking at 1st canister type light

[natedawg4081]

I am looking at getting my first canister type light in the next couple months and was wondering what I should be looking for feature wise. I am not really looking to spend a fortune so even used would be fine. I am not stuck on any particular brand. Most of my diving is at 3000' - 8000' with a drysuit and water visibility is typically around 10' without a light. May venture into cave and wreck diving more and is why I am loowing at getting one.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[tbone1004]

nothing is going to survive to those depths and altitude won't impact anything on the lights if it is altitude

What is your budget? and whta are your burn time requirements?

 

[natedawg4081]

Sorry. That is 3000' to 8000' elevation. Depth is still at rec limits.

Had really thought about burn time but probably an hour per dive or so. My budget isn't really fixed but would like to stay around $500 or so. I would rather pay for quality than spend my money on 2 or 3 different lights to get the right one.

 

[KevinNM]

There are acceptable canister lights in the $150-200 range. Good lights seem to start at the $900 and up range. The acceptable lights are not something I'd want to be depending on beyond the twilight zone, though your backups should get you out when it dies if that is what you can manage.

 

[runsongas]

if you only need a one hour burn time, a handheld led light is much cheaper and gives plenty of light in most instances. dgx and dris both offer pretty decent lights at competitive prices.

only real need for canisters still seems to be long cave dives. wreck dives usually don't exceed 2 hours such that there are handheld lights that still hold their own.

 

[Scott]

For a one or two hour burn time I would use a wrist mount light and forget about canister type.
Big Blue, Sola, Dive Rite, Halcyon and others all have some nice lights.

 

[tbone1004]

for an hour, you're really better off going with a good backup light. Ano R105T with a light sock is what I use for recreational dives. That will give you quite a bit of light for right around an hour on the single battery. If you're doing multiple dives per day, get a couple of extra batteries and swap out during your SIT. When you get to the point that you need the burn time, or need that much more light, you'll be stepping up to a big canister for around the same amount of money as the big handhelds listed above so no point in going that route imho.

The backup lights like the R105T, Cave Adventurers Explorer, Hog Morph, DGX 600, etc have more light than a 10w HID that was the standard 10 years ago, so you won't be limited by light

 

[thatmark]

Nate,

One other option, and one I'm looking at myself, would be the modular/ convertible lights now being offered by UTD and Dive Rite. You buy the head with a can that holds 3 or 4 18650s (depending on the model) and screws right onto the back of the head. When you are ready to upgrade to a longer burn time, you buy the belt-mount battery canister and a cable/fitting for the back of the head to replace the onboard battery can.

I can't speak for the Dive Rite, but I dove the UTD Viz-2 35 light with the belt can for some night dives this summer and it was really impressive. I also like the idea of easily obtained rechargeable batteries if you don't need the burn time of the belt cannister.

Mark

 

[tbone1004]

I wouldn't bother with those convertible options. The light output on them even as full canisters doesn't make sense from an investment standpoint. Has been covered in other threads, but you can get about as much light out of the backup lights and by the time you make the investment to upgrade it to a canister light, your total investment is going to exceed that of a top end canister light and the backup light.

We'll use the UTD light for an example.
the Viz-2 35 costs $490. For that you get a single cree emitter with 3x 18650's. That single emitter can only output about 1000 lumens, and should be able to do so on high for about 2.5 hours with those batteries on high.
To convert to a canister you have to buy the new EO cap at $250, plus the battery with EO at $650, for a total cost of $1400.
They are lying on their burn times for the battery pack, completely impossible for it to get that much light output for 12 hours, that is a load of sh!t, 9 hours if they're lucky unless it doesn't actually stay a flat burn curve, in which case they're telling the truth about the hours, but lying about the output. Big Blue is known for this btw.

Conversely, you could get a UWLD-15 with the Tall canister which doubles your light output of the UTD, does it at the full light output for almost 7 hours *at the same output, it will go for about 10*, and is a much higher quality light, plus buying a pair of good backup lights for the same $1400

Dive Rite math works about the same for reference

 

[natedawg4081]

I looked at the Ano R105T and may go with that for now until I go tec and do some more cave diving.