New HID light recs

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

I'd highly recommend Salvo. I dive a 35W remote ballast HID. I see other divers using Salvos on the Great Lakes on a regular basis. If I were buying new I'd go with the 21W. I bought the 35W used for less than a 21W new, otherwise I would have gone with the 21W.

I'd recommend you go with a HID. IMO the LED canister lights are too new and not yet ready for prime time. They don't yet have the penetration power of a HID. Also, being new there are still kinks to be worked out.
 
Sure, LED has some kinks. I bought a new Salvo 21W LED and it had a kink; the overheat shutoff was set too low, so ~20 min into every dive it would slowly dim and then shut off, but a quick flip of the switch and it would be at full brightness again. It really annoyed me that it was doing this so I walked into Salvo, told Bary the story, and walked out with the NEW version of the light head.

Get a Salvo!!!!!!! Very good lights and the best customer service.
 
I'd highly recommend Salvo. I dive a 35W remote ballast HID. I see other divers using Salvos on the Great Lakes on a regular basis. If I were buying new I'd go with the 21W. I bought the 35W used for less than a 21W new, otherwise I would have gone with the 21W.

I'd recommend you go with a HID. IMO the LED canister lights are too new and not yet ready for prime time. They don't yet have the penetration power of a HID. Also, being new there are still kinks to be worked out.

Agreed! :)
 
I love my Salvo 21W HID. The only complaint I have had with the light was the crummy connectors, and Salvo has fixed that with the new ones! I'd be half tempted to sell my current light and upgrade, just to get rid of the dratted Anderson connectors.

I have the remote ballast light. I prefer it, as it makes the lighthead much smaller to carry on the back of my hand.

Salvo's customer service verges upon unbelievable.
 
I love my Salvo 21W HID. The only complaint I have had with the light was the crummy connectors, and Salvo has fixed that with the new ones! I'd be half tempted to sell my current light and upgrade, just to get rid of the dratted Anderson connectors.

I have the remote ballast light. I prefer it, as it makes the lighthead much smaller to carry on the back of my hand.

Salvo's customer service verges upon unbelievable.

I've had no issues whatsoever with the Anderson connectors. What's the matter with them?
 
We use Anderson connectors in a variety of products with no problems. They are good connectors.

I've noticed that wires will break and the connector gets the blame. Many of those battery packs use the wrong wire IMO. A more flexible wire should have been used on the battery packs.
 
A friend recently bought a Sartek 21/13W adjustable li-ion for around $800. It only has 2 hour burn time at 21W setting (~4 hours on 13W), but a smaller battery also means a smaller canister, in case that's a plus for you, and you can always buy a spare battery if you need more burn time. Sartek has nice lights and from what I've read (no first hand experience), good customer service.

That said, I use a 21W Salvo with 6h burn time, and it's nice not to have to worry about it running out of juice or about changing batteries during SI. I had a few issues with it because I flooded it (my fault; forgot o-ring), but as a result I've had a chance to make use of Salvo's customer service, and can honestly say it has been exceptional, and has made my experience with their light excellent. I want to stress the importance of customer service because had Salvo been slow to respond, gauged me on parts and repairs, and so forth, my experience with this same light would likely have been quite negative. Below are some details in case you are interested.

After the flood, Salvo sold me a replacement for the destroyed battery at cost - it was still expensive ~$200, but I think the list price used to be closer to ~300-350 (they've come down recently). A year later the switch developed issues because the wiring had started to rust (guess some salt water got in there during the flood). I sent the light back and this time they replaced the wiring, switch boot and light cord for about $25+shipping. Not a bad price imo - it's nice not to have to worry that they will gauge you or something given how much these lights cost and since you pretty much have to pay what they ask for repairs...

However, they had messed up the repair (it happens) and the light died on the first dive after. At this point you might think I'd be pissed off and would be ripping into their service, but I'm not because they made up for it. Their turnaround was quick, but I still had to go one weekend without the light, which meant exploring very dark water at Bainbridge on a backup (later I found out it was the crap in the water; even a Salvo couldn't cut more than 2 ft into it, but at the time I blamed the backup light). Anyway, Salvo fixed the can light, but they also switched the ballast to a shorter (albeit fatter) one at no additional cost. i.e. my previously huge lighthead shrank, a big improvement imo since that (the size) had been my only complaint about the Salvo so far.

I also have 2 some regs from Salvo, which they upgraded with environmental seals when those kits became available, and replaced springs on the first stages because some divers had experienced issues with the first run of them of which mine came. Both upgrades/fixes were free of charge. The turnaround has always been either same or next day.
 
I've had wires come out of the Anderson connectors multiple times; I've had the wires break at the connectors, and had them come off the batteries. In fact, of all the times I've had a Salvo light not perform as desired, it's been the wires or connectors every time but one. We've fixed a lot of the problems ourselves -- they're not complicated, just annoying, because under some circumstances light failures will cost you the dive. The one time I had a non-connector related fault, the light went back to Salvo and they fixed it and had it back in the mail in TWENTY FOUR HOURS. I have no idea what was wrong with it. They fixed it, and shortened the cord as I had requested, at no charge.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

Back
Top Bottom