Primary light for cave

[PedroPec]

Hi,
I need advice on purchasing a primary light. I live in Europe and intend to acquire a sidemount primary light with a canister that has technical support in Europe, with at least 4000 lumens and a good quality/price ratio. Which brand/model do you recommend? Thank you.

 

[Gerben]

Hello, can you tell me more about the Scaleo lamp and what tou think of it.
Thanks, Gerben

 

[aElliott]

I wouldn't worry about the lumens too much for cave diving. 4000 is too bright in my opinion, and there are other factors like light color etc that matter more. I would recommend big blue 3800

 

[Jens Bölte]

Hello, can you tell me more about the Scaleo lamp and what tou think of it.
Thanks, Gerben

Hello

The Scaleo is very versatile. It can be used as a handheld (4 x 18650) light or with any battery canister via e/o-cord. It has a flood mode and a spot mode. You can use the two modes together or separately. Both modes are independently dimmable and you can choose between two different LEDs. You can test dive it for a small fee. Unfortunately, the complete package, light, tank adapter, battery case and goodman handle is quite expensive.

Best wishes Jens

 

[whynot]

Thanks for your answer. I think Light Monkeys doesn't have dealers in Europe. Nanite it seems good, but unfortunately the canister cord doesn't have the 90º for sidemount (if I searched well)

Proteushop.com , deep-ideas.co.uk, momodive.it, etc, are all Light Monkey dealers. You can always email Light Monkey if you want a full dealer list.

As for service, well, that's usually going to be isolated to the country of (mfg) origin, but that's par for the course.

 

[Germie]

You really don't need 4000 lumens. I have several lights, and a lot of them I never use on the brightest option.

I have a 10 watt yellowdiving. That is enough for in caves. I friend has the 20 watt, that is too wide often.

I also have an IwaveOcean, a brand that has been dissappeared as soon as they came on the market. The light is very nice, but I use it on the half output.

I also have the Orcatorch D530 cable light. This is a more budget option and it works really well. 5 hours burntime on the max. I most times use it on the max. So I would suggest Orcatorch as good option for you.

I also have handheld lights from Bigblue (3500 lumens), use them on half most times.

I have an Orcatorch 730 for the shorter dives or as backuplight. I have a goodman for it and that works really well.

I had a Light for Me from Poland, but this one only lasted 600 burnhours and that is not a lot. I also had to replace every 2 years the battery. And after just 4 years and 2 replacements of battery it stopped working. So I cannot recommend this light.

At the moment I prefer Orcatorch over my other lights.
If the burntime must be more than 5 hours, you have to go to bigger cannisters.

 

[PedroPec]

You really don't need 4000 lumens. I have several lights, and a lot of them I never use on the brightest option.

I have a 10 watt yellowdiving. That is enough for in caves. I friend has the 20 watt, that is too wide often.

I also have an IwaveOcean, a brand that has been dissappeared as soon as they came on the market. The light is very nice, but I use it on the half output.

I also have the Orcatorch D530 cable light. This is a more budget option and it works really well. 5 hours burntime on the max. I most times use it on the max. So I would suggest Orcatorch as good option for you.

I also have handheld lights from Bigblue (3500 lumens), use them on half most times.

I have an Orcatorch 730 for the shorter dives or as backuplight. I have a goodman for it and that works really well.

I had a Light for Me from Poland, but this one only lasted 600 burnhours and that is not a lot. I also had to replace every 2 years the battery. And after just 4 years and 2 replacements of battery it stopped working. So I cannot recommend this light.

At the moment I prefer Orcatorch over my other lights.
If the burntime must be more than 5 hours, you have to go to bigger cannisters.

Thanks for your help!

 

[ELCAM]

Hi,
I need advice on purchasing a primary light. I live in Europe and intend to acquire a sidemount primary light with a canister that has technical support in Europe, with at least 4000 lumens and a good quality/price ratio. Which brand/model do you recommend? Thank you.

I think it depends. I have both a light monkey VF 32 W light head and an Halycon Focus 2.0.

In clear visibility I’d use either no problem. Also depends on if you team oriented or not. Signaling with the Focus 2.0 is easier. I also find the light Monkey has too bright of a corona on higher settings and that makes it harder to see other people’s lights signals.

Overall I prefer my Focus 2.0 light head and my Light Monkey is my backup light head.

 

[Fat old english bloke]

I have two Scurions; one on my helmet, one hand held.

 

[caveandreas]

I'm very happy with my Flare and Flare Exp. I always use them on half power and find that is more than enough in a cave. I think Halcyon say 5h on half power, but you easily get 6h. Even 7h on a good charge. I find the ergonomics of the light to be much more important than max burn time or the amount of lumen. But I do prefer using the exploration handle with this light as that makes it easy to store a Tekna knife inside the Goodman handle.

I do also admit it feel a bit weird using a handheld light when diving back-mount, and if I had spend any significant time in backmount I might have gotten a corded light again.

Highly anecdotal, but during the years I have had my Flare I have had one buddy going trough 4 orcatorch and another one 2 BigBlue. (and I have personally killed the switches on 3 D910 videolights within a year) If that is anywhere near the normal then the Flare has a pretty good price/quality ratio and isn't even in the same league when it comes to quality.

Negatives: The magnetic switch corrode very easily, I don't know how many times I have replaced them. It is quite a few times. For some bizarre reason it seems like Halcyon have not put a diode on the exposed charging ports, at least you get quite a bit of corrosion on the charging ports. I suspect some current leaking out this way when diving. After a time I had no option of starting sandpaper the ports (and then ofc they corrode even faster so you have to continue). But this works and has been working for years, but it is annoying.