Purchasing First Light

[al248005]

I am looking at purchasing my first dive light. I want to stay under $100 if possible. I will be diving mostly in murky water with low viz. Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I went thru a number of lights from $20 up to $500. I found that you get what you pay for. There are recreational lights light the Under Water Kinetics C4 and C8 Xenon's that come in under $100 most places. They work fairly good in decent vis but in murky water the beam was just too wide and quickly washed out or reflected back. I;d advise you look at an LED type that has a tighter beam and unless you want to light up a wide area a narrow beam will be more useful and if you go with something like the Dorcy 220's from Piranha you can get two for around $100. If you are going to carry a light in the first place it's just good practice to carry a back up as well. On night or low vis I have 3. My Salvo 12watt can light and two of the Dorcy's. Now the can light retails from light monkey now for around 750 so that is way above your range, but if for a primary you were willing to go as high as say 150 you could get a decent LED pistol grip light that would have enough balls for your conditions.

 

[kotik]

You should take a look at the Intova Ultra Nova-- very bright, good burn time, solidly built. I own several and am very happy with them.

 

[Jorgy]

I agree with the Nova - more "usable" light.....less tight beam.....

It is larger than the Dorcy 220.....

M

 

[Jax]

+1 . . . try Cave Adventurers.

 

[WetBoy101]

+1 for the Intova Ultra Nova...Under $70 bucks and I use rechargeable AA's.

 

[k ellis]

Plus 1 for the LED lights. Typically they cost alot more but provide in return so much more then traditional bulbs. They last virtually forever requiring no bulb changes at all. Secondly they have sometimes up to 2 times the battery life making it much more cost effective in the long run and also the beams tend to always stay a true white to where halogen bulbs eventually turn yellow beams.

100 dollars is not going to get to many brands of main line lights but they can get alot of good secondary lights (Yes guys there are a few primary lights that are under 100 dollars I know) Get a princeton Tech as I have had one for a while now and it is virtually indistructible.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

Talk to more experienced divers in your area who dive the same sites you do.

For my local water, the Princeton Tec Shockwave LED (8C battery) light works well.
If I had to buy a good-enough "primary" light tomorrow, I'd probably go with the Princeton Tec Miniwave LED (4C battery). You can find both of these LED lights on sale for under $100.
I have an inexpensive Princeton Tec 40 ($10?) that's used as a backup.

My local water, however, is probably not quite as murky as yours. Perhaps one needs a more powerful light to brighten up the walleye, school bus, or whatever else was sunk in the quarry or lake. Just make sure whatever you get is strong enough for buddy signaling.

 

[Jorgy]

To help put some more context to this thread......

Pic 1 - compare the size....Intova Ultra, Dorcy 220 (Penetrator 220), Tusa TUL-300 and Intova Nova.....

Pic 2 - Ultra on left and Dorcy on right.....

Pic 3 - Ultra on left and Tusa on right......

All with new batteries......

Hope this helps.....M

 

[Hatul]

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