Purchasing First Light
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WetBoy101
Contributor
Good question!! For day dives (low vis or not) you want a narrow beam like the three patterns above. The Intova has about an 11 degree (220 lumen) concentrated beam with a little bit of light in a wider area.It works well for day dives. Night dives are a lot more enjoyable with at least a 60 degree beam. But since you are dispersing the light over a larger area you need a brighter light. I use the Intova Super Nova (500 lumen) for my primary light on night dives and the Mini as a backup.
I just lost my pistol grip 8 C cell light. It was my primary light and fine for what diving I do (cave entrances, wreck swim throughs, night dives in clear water, etc). From posts I have read the Intova Ultra seems like it may be a slight improvement. Is my take on what I read correct?
WetBoy101
Contributor
Let me say it a little differently: If you have some ambient light and you want to highlight a small area or peer into the shadows like under a ledge or something then the Ultra Nova's narrow beam works well. If you are in a dark environment such as a cave, or at night, then you would want a wider beam, such as the Super Nova. Visualize in a cave the Ultra Nova would light up a spot on the wall a foot or so in diameter and the Super Nova would light up half the wall.
johnboywalton
Contributor
Is this murky water in the daytime or murky water at night? If it's the latter, I don't think your are going to find any solid, reliable dive lights for under $100. Don't get me wrong - some great dive lights are out there for your budget. But these are all in the category of pocket or secondary lights more or less, and if the water is murky and its dark, none of them put out a strong enough, big enough beam.
Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with the company that I will recommend except as a customer.
I would recommend going just a little more, say $130 or so, and consider the Novae SST-50. Novae lights advertises on these forums.
The light is rated 300' and has 1200 lumens. I have bought 2 and they are my primaries. They are just unbelievably bright and I fully believe their 1200 lumen rating. They are brighter than 10W can lights I have seen. I can guarantee you that they will be brighter than anything you can touch for under $600.
They are machined aluminum, with magnetic switching. They are the size of a standard flashlight using double D cells but have proprietary LiOn batteries.
I have done burn tests and gotten 3 hours of burn time in "high" and they have two lower power settings. I actually have to dial it down at night or else it scares some of the critters.
The beam is, for me, pretty much ideal. It has a relatively tight and very bright spot, good reach for signaling your buddy on day dives and looking under ledges, but still wide enough to light up fish, coral and such, and a bright halo that is really nice for night dives.
if Novae is are out of stock, you can find these same lights on egbay under the magicshine label, or sometimes from a seller called custompaintings. Basically, these lights are made in China and sold by different companies. Their quality seems quite good, however. I have used them on night dives and day dives down to 90' with flawless performance.
One caveat, my diving is in Fla with vis 30' at worst. I do not see any reason, though, why these would not work on more limited vis.
However, the service from Novae is excellent and so I recommend them. I had one light come with a bad battery and they replaced both batteries with no problems whatsoever.
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