Need some help on amount of lumen

[Telvar]

Hi all,

I'm in the market for a decent primary light but I'm unsure what is good in my specific situation. I do 10-20 purely rec dives a year, mostly in the murky and cold Dutch waters. So it's logical to get a more powerful lamp (say >1k lumen) but when is it enough ? Is 1500 better, 2500? When do I start to just blind everyone, including myself and fish/other life? Basically, I have no idea where, between about 1k-2,5k lumen, is a sweet spot.

I'm open to specific brands and types (I lean towards the Mares lamps myself because of the zoom function) but the lumen issue is most important to me at the moment.

Thanks, all help is appreciated.

 

[Boston Breakwater]

Hi all,

I'm in the market for a decent primary light but I'm unsure what is good in my specific situation. I do 10-20 purely rec dives a year, mostly in the murky and cold Dutch waters. So it's logical to get a more powerful lamp (say >1k lumen) but when is it enough ? Is 1500 better, 2500? When do I start to just blind everyone, including myself and fish/other life? Basically, I have no idea where, between about 1k-2,5k lumen, is a sweet spot.

I'm open to specific brands and types (I lean towards the Mares lamps myself because of the zoom function) but the lumen issue is most important to me at the moment.

Thanks, all help is appreciated.

Hello.
Dive light recommendation - daytime, small, warm spectrum
I found the Big Blue TL3500P to be the perfect "Primary." light for me. I'm underground quite often, and the light cuts through silt amazingly. The also, have some video lights with a Red colored beam, which seems to not have any real effect on fish/life.
Bigblue Dive Lights | Underwater LED Dive Lights | Scuba Lights
Cheers.

 

[broncobowsher]

I find the 800-1000 Lumen a good spot. Watch the reviews regarding beam pattern, that will matter.

Usable in the day, not too much for night. Got compliments on the DRIS 1K. The 3 C-cell version is good on battery and you can change them as needed easier then dealing with proprietary batteries and chargers. No Lithium so easy to travel.

 

[dogbone]

 

[Manatee Diver]

This is the light I want:

For rec dives I found that 1,000 lumens was good for poking into the swim throughs of wrecks or looking under rocks. And in murky water too bright will result in a lot of back scatter (light reflected back at your due to hitting particles in the water).

 

[runsongas]

do you need a longer run time or is 1 to 2 hours enough and then swap the battery on the surface?

do you prefer to get something that can double duty as a video light / camera light later on and what is your budget?

the single xm-l2 lights like the dgx and dris are bright enough due to their fairly tight beam, but a larger multi emitter gives a bigger spot while maintaining brightness which makes it easier to light up a larger area to spot things

 

[broncobowsher]

This is the light I want:
View attachment 599356

For rec dives I found that 1,000 lumens was good for poking into the swim throughs of wrecks or looking under rocks. And in murky water too bright will result in a lot of back scatter (light reflected back at your due to hitting particles in the water).

When the light emits enough energy that you get recoil, it might be too bright. XKCD is great.

 

[Lostdiver71]

Check out the Light & Motion Sola lights the 1200 should be good for what you need and the output is adjustable. If you need a little more light you can also go with the 2000. Watch for sales, I have seen the Sola 1200 for as little as $158 and the 2000 for $209 on sale. They are rechargeable, sealed from the factory and come with a goodman handle so that you can still use your hand with the light mounted on it.

 

[Degenerate]

If you are in murky waters you probably won't have a great time with a video light or something similar with a very wide beam (looking at you, Big Blue (also the ****** quality of their batteries spring to mind)).
We dive a lot of really dark and murky quarries here and none of us use a light with more than 10 degrees beam.
A very wide beam will just light up all the murk around you and at times give you even less visibility.
The only dive site around here where a video light would be remotely helpful is one that has a max depth of 12 metres, and even then those lights are only helpful at a very short range due to the spread of the light.

 

[greeniguana]

I am happy with this one for backup and rec diving use

https://www.amazon.com/Underwater-F...hild=1&keywords=volador&qid=1595282543&sr=8-5