New to Night diving, and I have some questions

[stussy]

I have yet to do a night dive, and currently looking for a good light. I have scoured the boards for reviews and info., and with my tax return that came in last week I'm leaning towards a Salvo light. I don't mind paying an extra buck for a quality product. And from what I read salvo stands by their lights. I don't want to buy a low watt light, that might need an upgrade later. I want something that I can use for a long time.

Now what is a good amount of light? I was leaning towards the salvo havoc 35 watt HID. After looking closely at the 50 watt havoc the battery canister is the same size as the 35. Now is 50 watt like to much light ? Does to much light scare away wild life and critters. Does it effect other divers around you upsetting them do to a bright light? And after realizing how large the battery canister is 3.5"x11.5" where does this get mounted? Now don't make me look like to much of a noob haha

 

[Packhorse]

IMHO the 21watt Salvo would be a much better light to consider. It produces a ton of light.
I cant really see the need for a 35 or 50watt HID for recreation or most tech diving. Unless you want to play one up with your dive buddies. In which case just get a 200watt HID.

 

[Jasonmh]

I agree with Packhorse.

A 21 watt HID is a huge amount of light.

...
Now what is a good amount of light? I was leaning towards the salvo havoc 35 watt HID. After looking closely at the 50 watt havoc the battery canister is the same size as the 35. Now is 50 watt like to much light ?

Honestly, for most night dives 10, 18, or 21 watt is a crapload of light. Everyone is different, and if you are a "I have to have the biggest light" kind of person, then the choice is yours. From my experience, lights like the 50 watt are best for specific applications. IMO, yes, for most uses (esp. your average night dive) the 50 watt is waaayyyy to much.

...Does to much light scare away wild life and critters.

YES

...Does it effect other divers around you upsetting them do to a bright light?

YES. I will get some sour looks and comments when I use my 10 watt, to give you some comparison.


If it were me, I would go with the 21 watt, get a decent backup light(s), and use the extra money you save for other gear, training, diving, etc.

 

[foglesre]

I personally think that in most cases (clear, tropical water, night dive), a 10 watt HID is too much light. There's no need to turn night into day. If that's what you want, just do a day dive. Critters cower and flee in fear, basket stars crumple back into a ball. There's just no need.

Unless I'm just playing around or trying to swim longer distances in deeper water or in open water (like the Flower Gardens in the Gulf), I will always take my Intova Wide. It has a wonderfully uniform, perfectly adequate, bright beam...I think.

Bob

 

[stussy]

alright so i was gunned downed on the high wattage, saw that coming. So looking into the 21 watt HID and there are several battery sizes ranging from 5.7/10.4/20 amp with light time of 2.5hrs/5hrs/10hrs. Isn't 2.5 hours more than enough time? Why and when would one need more than 2.5 hrs of light time? ALSO where would I mount the battery canister? Is it something that would fit on my BC? thanks for all the help guys.

 

[TSandM]

Where do you mostly dive, stussy? And what do you see yourself doing in the future in your diving?

If you dive where the viz is typically very good, a 21W HID light is overkill for night diving, in my opinion. It will frighten away many nocturnal creatures. A less powerful and more diffuse light is excellent for tropical night diving (like the Salvo Rat, Jr.).

If you are diving in low viz, as is typical of the Pacific Northwest and sometimes Northern and Central California, a 21W HID is excellent for daytime diving, as a method of keeping teams together, and is also useful at night, although it still drives away some light-sensitive animals.

Burn time is dependent on what your dives are like. I bought the 4.5 aH light from Salvo, on the theory that having two batteries meant that, if I flooded one, I'd still have one that worked, and the 2 hour burn time was more than any single dive I would do. I don't regret making that decision, but now that I am cave diving, I wish I had longer a longer burn time, because sometimes we go out and do one leg of a cave, come back and recalculate gas without surfacing, and do the other; 90 minutes or so, which is what my batteries are down to after 3 years, is not enough.

So there are pluses and minuses to each approach, and a lot depends on where you see yourself going.

I would highly recommend Salvo lights, though. They're very good quality, and the customer service, on the rare occasions when you need it, is fantastic.

 

[stussy]

TSandM I do a majority of my diving in southern california where viz is anywhere from 5'-30' majoirty of the time (10'-20') and 50+ in the channel islands where I dive 5 times a year. As far as the future of diving I plan to travel a lot with my dive gear. As well as start spiny lobster hunting this season 09-10. So in my case a rat jr. would be a better back up than a rat ? The rat is more of a beam and the Jr is more of a diffused light right? With the conditions given you think a 21 HID or a 10 HID will do for me. And no one can tell me were you mount the battery canister. Also what is a backplate? and what is it used for. Once again thanks for all the help.

 

[TSandM]

Stussy, almost all of the canister lights are set up to slide onto 2" webbing, which is what the harnesses of the rigs that backplate divers use are made of. Most traditional BCs don't have a strap like that that you can slide a canister onto. When I bought my first can light, I bought a Nite Rider 10W HID, because the canister has a large clip that will slide onto any sort of strap or cummerbund that you might have. The Nite Rider is not a bad light, either, although the beam is simply too diffuse to use for signaling, and gets dim very fast if the water is really murky.

You CAN do other things with a canister, if you aren't using a backplate system. Some people mount the canister on their cambands, but that requires your buddy to turn your light on and off for you. With the small canisters on the new LED lights, you can even put the canister in a BC pocket.

A backplate and wing is a modular BC which consists of a metal plate with 2" webbing threaded through it to make a harness, and a flotation bladder which is sandwiched between the tank and the plate. It's kind of a very minimalist back-inflate BC. Backplates were originally used by tech divers for mounting doubles, because you bolt the tank assembly to the plate, but they've become increasingly popular with cold water recreational divers, because the steel plate becomes part of your required ballast. http://www.deepseasupply.com is a website where you can see some photographs of backplate setups (and btw, DSS is the manufacturer of a lot of my and my husband's gear).

At any rate, if you are diving Southern California, I think you would want at least a 10W HID -- but you might actually ask the question in the SoCal forum, and get answers from people who are doing the diving you're going to do, in the conditions where you are going to do it.

 

[farsidefan1]

If you are going to be traveling (airlines) take weight into consideration. Some of the connecting flights are incredibly stingy regarding weight. Worst I have experienced was 40 lbs for dive gear and 17 for EVERYTHING else. As to power my favorite light has 2 bulbs, one red one white. I use the red to spot stuff (doesn't scare off fish and lights up the shrimp and crabs) then use a medium beam white light to observe in more detail. Set me back about $90.00 Just my .02 cents.

 

[rongoodman]

For night dives in clear water, the Salvo 12W LED is very nice, and compact too. If you look into it, ask for the rigid Goodman handle and plan on putting a hose clamp on it to keep the head from popping out.