Photon Torpedo Vs Halcyon Mini Scout Review

[Ragnar]

Some of this may be a bit obsessive compulsive, but I looked at this review as if I knew I would be exiting somewhere after the defecation hit the fan and was down to my last light. I wanted one 2 cell and one 3 cell so after a ridiculous number of hours reading the internet I finally bought a Halcyon Mini Scout and a Photon Torpedo.

For the Halcyon I went cheap and bought the parts to build it separately minus an LED with the plan to use the LED from my old trusty SL4. The light worked but I was really not impressed with the brightness. Maybe the new UK LED's are better, but this 3 year old one was lousy in the Mini. To fix that I picked up a Cree R5 from the member jjblomquist - Auctions
and that one rocks!

The Photon I couldn't be happier with right out of the box, awesome light as you'll see below. I read a lot of stuff going back to at least 2007 and people were talking about him making a 2 Cell version which apparently never happened. If he does and it has a beam like this I will buy one tomorrow, I like it that much more than the Halcyon. Not that there is anything really wrong with it, as a matter of fact with the the R5 LED it puts out almost an identical beam pattern and brightness as the Photon, which is damn impressive for a 2 cell light. But again, back to that thought of being on your last light, the Photon is more precisely machined and has 2 o-rings instead of one, that's the one I would want.

Ok, no comments on my manicure huh, I haven't been to Thailand in a while, and show some respect, I swapped stuff around so much I risked cross threading both of these things for you guys

First 2 Pics: 3Yr old UK SL4 LED Left vs Photon Torpedo LED right. You can see the size difference of the actual LED's. Second 2 Pics: jjblomquist Custom R5 left vs Photon Torpedo. Fifth picture, old SL4 bezel, see how it can be pulled away and the rubber is also coming apart?......the Photon DOES NOT do this and is made of a different rubber compound that I think will hold up much better, they look the same but are not.

 

[Ragnar]

First picture: Bezel comparison, Photon left Halcyon right.

Second: C'mon Halcyon, add an O-ring.

Third: Diameter of Photon. Some people are concerned about this but I found it to not be an issue at all, yes it's thicker, but on the harness it feels the same to me, 38.5mm Vs Halcyons 35mm, my arms can't feel 3.5mm. It is very close to the diameter of a D cell Maglite, around .5mm smaller, which goes to show just how thick the walls of the Photon are, an extremely tough light. That said, the inside is a little bigger than the Scout and the batteries fit a bit looser, they can be heard when wiggled. I don't think this is a bad thing at all, they will not hang up in there.....not that the Scout ever had that problem that I've ever heard of.

Fourth: Halcyon Scout Diameter. See also how the groove for the insert isn't machined as nicely as the Photon, it just runs around there where the PT has a notch that it sits directly in, some serious attention to detail there.

Fifth: PT next to a 3 D-Cell Maglite. Nearly identical diameter but the PT is so much lighter it feels nothing like the metal Mag. No comments from the peanut gallery on my non-DIR wire tie eh, I dove it an hour after getting it today

 

[rjack321]

Ummm bit of apples and oranges don't you think? A 2-cell light driven by 3V vs. a 3-cell driven by 4.5V...

BTW I have exited caves from a decent distance using a H mini-scout with a UK SL4 LED module, works fine. Maybe not the best backup to scooter with.

 

[Ragnar]

And finally......the reason for all this, all of these pictures were taken with the lights approximately 8 feet from the wall.

First Pic: The pathetic output of the old SL4 LED in a Mini Scout, unacceptable.

Second Pic: Photon Torpedo Left vs Halcyon Mini Scout with custom 320Lumen R5 LED Right. Very similar brightness and beam pattern. That is a ton of light from a 2 cell! The PT has a slightly bluer color and one heck of a tight beam pattern, I can't imagine any light having one tighter and the Scout isn't far behind, someone is gonna see me waving one of these around if I ever need to. Edit: After further review of this picture my camera really didn't capture the Photon correctly making it look like the Scout is quite a bit brighter, it's not. The brightness is nearly identical but this does show the beam pattern accurately.

Well there ya go. Now we can start with all the usual debates that I was reading forever about, like companies that start with H make the best gear, hey, I'm talking about Heser here, who you thinking of......but for a while I'm done with all that and I got myself two lights that I'm very happy with. With that in mind I have one dive on one and about three on the other so this review is what it is. After my next trip I'll do a burn test on both of these and see just what I really have. hope this helps someone because all my reading from everyone here really helped me. Safe diving, cheers.

 

[lamont]

uhm.

why not compare the PT with the unmodified new high-power LED version of the scout? i tried a on-land test awhile back and the halcyon had about 2x the lux of the PT and had a tighter spot. seriously creamed my old PT on land.

 

[Ragnar]

Ummm bit of apples and oranges don't you think? A 2-cell light driven by 3V vs. a 3-cell driven by 4.5V...

BTW I have exited caves from a decent distance using a H mini-scout with a UK SL4 LED module, works fine. Maybe not the best backup to scooter with.

But that's the beauty of it....the 2cell with R5 has just as much light as the PT! I posted this not really as a review of which is better but simply as one option for people who are like me and want one 2 Cell and one 3. You beat me before I finished, check out the Scout in my later post.....amazing light output for a 2 Cell.

I'm new to DIR and not even cave certified, but I certainly wouldn't want to be trying to get someones attention with the light output of my SL4. For that matter if the Mods would rather see this in the light section or somewhere else, by all means, move it, but most of my reading came either from the Tech section or here so I decided to put it here where the most people are obsessive compulsive

 

[Ragnar]

uhm.

why not compare the PT with the unmodified new high-power LED version of the scout? i tried a on-land test awhile back and the halcyon had about 2x the lux of the PT and had a tighter spot. seriously creamed my old PT on land.

Because I don't have one, they wanted $120US 2X Lux and tighter spot, I'd love to see that. You sure it is the same LED that the PT uses now? That would be approaching a laser.

Well this took way to long to write and it seems may fall on deaf ears, all I'm saying here is that they are both great lights for someone who wanted a 2 and 3 cell instead of two 3 cells. That said, I gave other reasons why the PT is a superior light and if they did make a 2 cell it would be hanging from my harness as well.

 

[HenrikBP]

Thanks for the light details. Interesting to see the differences in manufacturing.

Note: The older SL4 LED insert is not meant to be driven by only 3 volts (- which drops to less almost immediately you turn the light on), hence the dim output. I'm guessing the upgrade you purchased uses a boost converter to deliver the voltage necessary to drive the R5.

Henrik

 

[ucfdiver]

But that's the beauty of it....the 2cell with R5 has just as much light as the PT! I posted this not really as a review of which is better but simply as one option for people who are like me and want one 2 Cell and one 3. You beat me before I finished, check out the Scout in my later post.....amazing light output for a 2 Cell.

I'm new to DIR and not even cave certified, but I certainly wouldn't want to be trying to get someones attention with the light output of my SL4. For that matter if the Mods would rather see this in the light section or somewhere else, by all means, move it, but most of my reading came either from the Tech section or here so I decided to put it here where the most people are obsessive compulsive

Umm, litehedded and I scootered out of a cave for almost a mile on a *xenon* scout. I think you're overestimating how much light a backup light really needs. The diver with the backup light always goes first, so he can turn around and grab the attention of the diver with the HID if needed.

These super bright backup lights aren't really all that important to me.

That being said, the new Halcyon Scout is darn impressive. The guys at Halcyon went through 17 different types of modules (if memory serves me correct) before finding one that was bright enough and had the beam they were looking for. There's a reason they charge so much, TONS of R&D go into even the smallest things over at big blue.

 

[Ragnar]

Well apparently Gulftex is using illegal labor because they too must have done some serious research to build a light this good and don't charge that much. As I have shown the housing alone is WAY better than "Big H". Honestly I'm miffed that people who analyze stuff as much as you guys do would even accept a light with one O'ring.

Probably your skills are such that you could make it out of a cave with a glow-stick from the local rollerskating rink, but we are talking about the best engineered gear here and the only reason I am happy with the Mini Scout is because I can't find a better 2 C Cell light. From practically all the discussions I've read signaling is THE primary reason for a backup light, as you have pretty much said yourself, so explain to me how brightness isn't important for signaling!?