Night Dive Personal Strobe/Marker Light Question

[RJP]

just a personal marker light.

Princeton Tec Eco Flare

- Cheap
- Robust
- Doesn't blink (though there is a "flashing red" setting.)

 

[freewillie]

I never understood the idea of those tank valve lights on a night dive... I know that they provide a sense of security to new night divers, but assuming that everyone has a light of some sort, the handheld light is much more visible IMHO than one of those little glowing lights sticks or small tank lights.

I find that there are FAR fewer issues with buddy separation on a night dive than a day dive. Unless the vis is spectacular, you can easily lose track of a buddy a short distance away, even in the Caribbean. At night, no matter how engrossed I am in macrophotography, I just look up and at a glance I can tell exactly where the other divers are.

Especially today, when even relatively cheap dive lights are extremely bright LED versions. Just the reflected light is enough to be seen from far away.

Underwater identification. While on the Manta Ray Night dive in Kona, HI there are literally 4-6 different dive ops in the same area. They have mutually agreed on different color markers for the divers. You have to stay with your DM and that color marker. Follow a random set of flash lights and you may find yourself in the wrong group and then on the wrong boat topside. I've also been along a reef for a local shore dive and had at least 3 separate groups of divers enter the water. As they swim along the reef you may find yourself in the wrong group without a tank marker.

 

[doctormike]

Underwater identification. While on the Manta Ray Night dive in Kona, HI there are literally 4-6 different dive ops in the same area. They have mutually agreed on different color markers for the divers. You have to stay with your DM and that color marker. Follow a random set of flash lights and you may find yourself in the wrong group and then on the wrong boat topside. I've also been along a reef for a local shore dive and had at least 3 separate groups of divers enter the water. As they swim along the reef you may find yourself in the wrong group without a tank marker.

Wow! I guess in that setting it makes sense. Have done a lot of night dives, never seen a situation like that.

 

[DogDiver]

Pretty basic question, but where is the best place to attach a night dive strobe light so that it doesn't get tangled with various hoses etc, but will be prominently displayed?

The best place for these is kept in your dive bag to find things in the dark. These are a major entanglement hazard.


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[RJP]

The best place for these is kept in your dive bag to find things in the dark. These are a major entanglement hazard.

Major?

 

[doctormike]

These are a major entanglement hazard.

I don't think that they are necessary (see above), but they are hardly much more of an entanglement hazard than anything else on a BC would be (just a small light strapped tightly to the tank valve). I guess it's possible to envision a scenario for anything involving entanglement, but most people who are using these are (a) relatively new divers, on (b)a typical night dive sites (i.e. not on a real wreck with cables, drift nets, fishing line, etc..).

But if you are really concerned about entanglement, and you want a light, you could use one of those lighted yoke valve knobs.

 

[RJP]

But if you are really concerned about entanglement, and you want a light, you could use one of those lighted yoke valve knobs.

A yoke valve is a major entanglement hazard.

:shocked2:

 

[tkaelin]

When to use them. Depends on where and with whom. When I did night shore dives with my family with kids in Bon we all had same colored little battery lights attached to the tank. It did help me keep track of everyone especially where you were likely to encounter multiple groups of other night divers. Where to attach. We had no trouble attaching to a the back bc tank strap or by the first stage. High up on the tank seemed to work best for us.

 

[Damselfish]

The best place for these is kept in your dive bag to find things in the dark. These are a major entanglement hazard.

oh, for Pete's sake. Not if you're diving where there's nothing to get tangled in, which is the case for the vast majority of rec night dives done by anyone who would consider wearing one.


We used to have those lighted tank valve knobs and found they flooded pretty quickly. Seemed like a good idea but they didn't have enough room in the short length of threads between on, off, and flood. Unless they have improved the design somehow I wouldn't recommend those, unless you are always going to remove it and replace it with a regular knob when you want to dive with the light off. Also a bit too directional and dim so the angles they can be seen from is even less than the more typical marker lights.

 

[TSandM]

I had an experience a few years back where a dive boat required a personal marker for a night dive. We ALL had can lights and 2 backups, but the boat insisted we had to put the cyalume markers on our tanks. One of the divers was just incredibly funny about it, saying to his buddy over and over again, "Can you see me now?"

I agree with RJP -- please don't put anything that blinks on yourself. Blinking lights demand attention.