Looking for a good underwater flashlight

[DDteam]

Hey all. I figured you would be the best people to talk with about this.

Hopefully you can help me out. I’m looking for a good underwater light to help find objects at the bottom of bodies of water.

Where at: Primarily in lakes or slow moving rivers
Visibility: I’m not sure if this is helpful or not, but if I had to guess the places we’ll be based on where we’ve been so far, the visibility while swimming on the surface during the day is maybe 1 foot at most. So a light that works well in that.
Depth of diving: 20 ft max
The light doesn’t have to be hands free
If it was under $50 that would be awesome, but I know sometimes you can’t always get good things cheap
A bonus would be if it’s easy to find (say Amazon)

Really I mainly want something that I can see a long distance with so I don’t have to swim as much, or go down as deep. Any help would be great.

Thanks a lot!

 

[TSandM]

So, you want to swim at the surface, and locate things 20 feet deep in water that has one foot of viz? Ain't happening. Even in Puget Sound, where we often have ten feet of viz, you are not going to find anything on the bottom by using a light from the surface, even with the powerful HID lights many of us use.

 

[DDteam]

Maybe I wasn't clear enough, but we plan on diving down to the bottom if necessary. Hence the 20 ft of maximum depth the flashlight would go to. Does that make more sense?

 

[wattsup23]

So your looking for a light that is waterproof down to 20 feet?

Maybe I wasn't clear enough, but we plan on diving down to the bottom if necessary. Hence the 20 ft of maximum depth the flashlight would go to. Does that make more sense?

 

[DDteam]

So your looking for a light that is waterproof down to 20 feet?

That is correct.

 

[TSandM]

Well, in murk that thick, you're going to want something very bright and reasonably focused, which means you can't search a large area very effectively. But in heavy particulate, a broad beam is like headlights in fog -- it doesn't help you see anything. If a bright spot suffices for your purposes, you might look at the Dorcy Penetrator 220 light as sold by Piranha Manufacturing. They're pretty cheap, very bright, tightly focused, and we have used them as backup lights for a couple of years without any issues.

 

[Hatul]

A lot depends on the battery format you like and the type of switch. The Dorcy is a robust light but uses 6 AAA cells.

A nice cheap light is
POP LITE F6 HA-III Cree Q3 2-Mode 160-Lumen LED Flashlight (1 x 18650) - Free Shipping - DealExtreme

this one comes with a rechargeable battery and charger, two light levels, magnetic switch. Not as tough as the Dorcy but gives a brighter beam.

Adam

 

[wattsup23]

The intova compact torch 4.7 led light is awesome. It has a very tight beam and is around 140 lumens. Its constructed of aircraft aluminim and is rated to 400 feet. you can find those for around $30 too!! :victory:

 

[driftwood]

You might try, Web Store - Novae: Your #1 source for HID and LED flashlights! . I have the SST50 and it has worked well for me in murky water. Not under your $50 but it performs as well or better than $900 lights. Quite a number of people have reported reliability problems with the light. I have not had any problems yet.