New XHP50 lights from Dive Rite?

[stuartv]

I see that Dive Rite has announced (and released, I believe) a new light system. The XHP50.

HP50 Light System | Dive Rite

The light head is compact with one single Cree XHP50.2 LED emitter. DR claims up to 3500 lumens and 24W output.

They have a cordless battery pack that screws onto the back of the light head. 4 x 18650 batteries all side by side, so the light is fat, but still reasonably short.

And they have cans with a cord that will screw onto the light head. A 100 watt-hour can and a 150 watt-hour can.

Has anyone tried one of these yet?

Also, Cree specs for the XHP50.2 say it has a max power of 18W and a max output of 2654 lumens.

http://www.cree.com/led-components/products/xlamp-leds-arrays/xlamp-xhp50-2

Some quick arithmetic tells me that if the DR electronics are overdriving the LED by 33%, then they would consume 24W and output a max of 3500 lumens. But, even that assumes that output would scale linearly with power, of which I'm skeptical. And I wonder how long the LED emitter will last if they are overdriving it by 33% of the manufacturer's specification for max power.

Anybody know what DR is doing here and how much "real" output these lights have? I.e. how do they compare to other lights in the 2000 - 3000 - 4000 lumen range?

 

[scubadada]

Just got the intro email from Dive Rite today, will be interested to see what users think of it. I see it is on the Dive Rite website and for sale at DGX. Hand held is $699, canister $995, combo $1175.

 

[runsongas]

I wouldn't be worried about the led life as they are rated for 100,000 hrs. even if they only last 10 percent as long, that still translates to a lot of dives before replacement. by the time that happens, you probably are looking at an upgrade anyways.

There is some loss in efficiency as can be seen by the relative luminosity to current chart on page 9. I would put the actual output probably closer to 2900 to 3000 lumens or so based on a 85 percent scaling efficiency.

The 3500 lumens figure also probably doesn't take into account optic losses and since the DR doesn't look to be using a collimator, I wouldn't put the efficiency to be that high.

 

[tbone1004]

I think they originally said it was going to be 2500 lumen so it may well be a typeo.

The new lights are really nice and actually the only other light that I could recommend if you aren't getting one from UWLD. There are a lot of features of the UWLD that make it much better, but it finally has something in the realm of competition.
The argument really comes down to a handheld primary or not. If you are going for the canister version, the UWLD will still be a better light and better value light, but if you get things like dealer pricing on the HP50 it may not make it practical to spend up

 

[Jack Hammer]

I've got a HP50 combo. So far I've only used the cordless head on one cave dive and on a couple of low viz OW dives. I havent touched the can can other than to charge it. It's a nice light overall. There is a tighter hotspot, good for signalling, with a well defined corona to spread useable light outside that. I'm kinda particular and don't like the corona for low vis, though it is kinda nice in clearer water. Unfortunately, many of my dives tend to be in less than stellar visibility. Personal preference plays a big part here for me. What I don't like with this light is the same thing I don't like with my LD35, great light overall, well made, etc, I just prefer a focusable light with less spill. So I keep going back to my much less bright Halcyon Focus (the old one). BTW, all nice lights, again just personal preference for light patterns.

Overall I'm impressed with the light and think most will be happy with it.
Here's a couple of screenshots from some poorly shot video where you can see the beam pattern.

The far diver is using an LD35, the closer one is the HP50. Beam angle and brightness is skewed due to the HP50 being next to the camera.

Here's a really bad shot, but you can see the tightness of the hotspot and the angle of the corona.