Black Cat
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Looking for some suggestions for a primary light for night diving and going into the cenotes in Mexico. I'm not too picky, I'd just like something reliable that will last and won't flood, bright, and stay under $200.
Recommendations for Primary Light
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as a cave diver, I will argue 100% that you need at least two lights when cavern and night diving.
You can do it cheap, or you can do it safe, take your pick.
My current preference is the following
You need/want one of these. This is a brilliant hand mount for small lights. @stuartv posted a review a week or so ago with some of his lights. We have a difference of opinion on the lights he uses, but the glove is the same. This is key for not dropping lights as well as having your hand to grab stuff if you need to.
$30, write it down. When you order this, get a pair of small bolt snaps and ask them to throw some cave line in for you.
Cave Adventurers - OxyCheq Raider Light Sock (Raider III) - Marianna, Florida USA - Never Undersold!
Second is the light. Lots of options here. These are all going to be variants of the same light. Single XML LED, multiple brightness settings, 18650 batteries.
Cave Adventurers - Explorer back-up lights - Marianna, Florida USA - Never Undersold!
I have a pair of these, and they are great. Button on the head has a LED indicator, 3 levels of light, uses 18650's etc. They're a bit expensive, but they are really nice. I would recommend getting both in spot versions for poking around. You need multiple light levels with lights this bright for night diving so you don't harm the wildlife.
These lights come with a battery and an individual charger. They work fine, but I'm not a fan of either of them personally. Charger doesn't give any indications on what it's doing other than charging or not, and the batteries I'm not entirely sure I trust... I use them, but they don't last anywhere near as long as my other ones and I suspect they'll need replacing here shortly.
https://www.amazon.com/SecurityIng-...1492784176&sr=8-2&keywords=securitying+diving
I have one of these which is a great little light. Button is at the back of the light, but no battery level indication. Does not come with a battery or charger. Stuart lost one of these to a sharp edge on the end of the light when it sawed thru the cave line. I haven't had this issue, but I did go back and fill all of my lights holes since they were all a bit sharp.
https://www.amazon.com/KeepPower-34...TF8&qid=1492784425&sr=1-16&keywords=ncr18650b
4x high end batteries here
https://www.amazon.com/NiteCore-D4-...d=1492784495&sr=8-6&keywords=nitecore+charger
nice battery charger there.
Total for 2x lights, 4x batteries, 1x charger is ~$140.
1-R105T Handheld Light – ANO Online Shop
I also have 2 of these lights. They come with nice batteries, but meh chargers. Button is on the back, no battery indication, but they're really nice. $160 for those.
With either the Explorer or ANO lights, I would recommend at least getting the nicer charger. The explorers would get a bit of a nod from me due to the battery indication as well as the better domestic support. Those guys will definitely take care of you
bolt snap how-to
rectotec: HOW TO: TIE A BOLTSNAP
You can do it cheap, or you can do it safe, take your pick.
My current preference is the following
You need/want one of these. This is a brilliant hand mount for small lights. @stuartv posted a review a week or so ago with some of his lights. We have a difference of opinion on the lights he uses, but the glove is the same. This is key for not dropping lights as well as having your hand to grab stuff if you need to.
$30, write it down. When you order this, get a pair of small bolt snaps and ask them to throw some cave line in for you.
Cave Adventurers - OxyCheq Raider Light Sock (Raider III) - Marianna, Florida USA - Never Undersold!
Second is the light. Lots of options here. These are all going to be variants of the same light. Single XML LED, multiple brightness settings, 18650 batteries.
Cave Adventurers - Explorer back-up lights - Marianna, Florida USA - Never Undersold!
I have a pair of these, and they are great. Button on the head has a LED indicator, 3 levels of light, uses 18650's etc. They're a bit expensive, but they are really nice. I would recommend getting both in spot versions for poking around. You need multiple light levels with lights this bright for night diving so you don't harm the wildlife.
These lights come with a battery and an individual charger. They work fine, but I'm not a fan of either of them personally. Charger doesn't give any indications on what it's doing other than charging or not, and the batteries I'm not entirely sure I trust... I use them, but they don't last anywhere near as long as my other ones and I suspect they'll need replacing here shortly.
https://www.amazon.com/SecurityIng-...1492784176&sr=8-2&keywords=securitying+diving
I have one of these which is a great little light. Button is at the back of the light, but no battery level indication. Does not come with a battery or charger. Stuart lost one of these to a sharp edge on the end of the light when it sawed thru the cave line. I haven't had this issue, but I did go back and fill all of my lights holes since they were all a bit sharp.
https://www.amazon.com/KeepPower-34...TF8&qid=1492784425&sr=1-16&keywords=ncr18650b
4x high end batteries here
https://www.amazon.com/NiteCore-D4-...d=1492784495&sr=8-6&keywords=nitecore+charger
nice battery charger there.
Total for 2x lights, 4x batteries, 1x charger is ~$140.
1-R105T Handheld Light – ANO Online Shop
I also have 2 of these lights. They come with nice batteries, but meh chargers. Button is on the back, no battery indication, but they're really nice. $160 for those.
With either the Explorer or ANO lights, I would recommend at least getting the nicer charger. The explorers would get a bit of a nod from me due to the battery indication as well as the better domestic support. Those guys will definitely take care of you
bolt snap how-to
rectotec: HOW TO: TIE A BOLTSNAP
I totally agree on having 2 lights for any dive where you actually need 1 light.
Only taking 1 light is for dives where you don't really NEED any lights.
I also agree with tbone on the Oxycheq Raider light sock. Now that I finally listened to him and bought one, I am sold that is is the THE TICKET for carrying a regular (i.e. non-canister) light. However, be careful which size you buy. I just got the bigger one (the Raider 1) and it was really hard to get my DGX 600 or Xtar D26 lights into it.
The size info I got from Edd at Cave Adventurers is:
"The Raider I fits the larger backup lights (1"- 1.4") and the Raider III fits the smaller (.75"- 1.1") approximately. "
My DGX 600 is about 1.1" in the skinny part in the middle of the handle and the Raider 1 is tight over that.
That SecurityIng light that tbone linked is a good light for a good price. But, burn time will be limited by having an 18650 battery.
I have switched to using the Xtar D26 light, which is $55 on eBay. It has the same LED emitter as those other lights, but it uses a 26650 battery. It will burn a lot longer on one charge.
Soshine 26650 batteries are available on eBay and I have 8 of them that I bought in 2 separate batches. They have proven themselves to me to be good quality. They all test between 5200 and 5300 mAh of capacity. That will usually be enough to run my light for 2 dives without changing batteries in between.
If you're going to have only one decent battery charger, I would highly recommend getting one that is also a tester. Any battery can be or go bad. Testing them every 6 months or so can save you from getting in the water with a battery that has gone bad and you had no way to tell.
I think the best charger/tester out right now is the Xtar VP4 Plus Dragon. I costs about $90, but it will test, charge, and rejuvenate batteries that have lost capacity. And it will charge 4 x 32650 (bigger even than 26650) batteries simultaneously.
XTAR VP4 PLUS DRAGON Charger
The Opus BT-C3400 is also really good and less expensive. It will charge 4 x 18650 batteries at once, but not 4 x 26650 at once. The slots are too close together. You can charge 2 x 18650 and 2 x 26650 at once, though.
Only taking 1 light is for dives where you don't really NEED any lights.
I also agree with tbone on the Oxycheq Raider light sock. Now that I finally listened to him and bought one, I am sold that is is the THE TICKET for carrying a regular (i.e. non-canister) light. However, be careful which size you buy. I just got the bigger one (the Raider 1) and it was really hard to get my DGX 600 or Xtar D26 lights into it.
The size info I got from Edd at Cave Adventurers is:
"The Raider I fits the larger backup lights (1"- 1.4") and the Raider III fits the smaller (.75"- 1.1") approximately. "
My DGX 600 is about 1.1" in the skinny part in the middle of the handle and the Raider 1 is tight over that.
That SecurityIng light that tbone linked is a good light for a good price. But, burn time will be limited by having an 18650 battery.
I have switched to using the Xtar D26 light, which is $55 on eBay. It has the same LED emitter as those other lights, but it uses a 26650 battery. It will burn a lot longer on one charge.
Soshine 26650 batteries are available on eBay and I have 8 of them that I bought in 2 separate batches. They have proven themselves to me to be good quality. They all test between 5200 and 5300 mAh of capacity. That will usually be enough to run my light for 2 dives without changing batteries in between.
If you're going to have only one decent battery charger, I would highly recommend getting one that is also a tester. Any battery can be or go bad. Testing them every 6 months or so can save you from getting in the water with a battery that has gone bad and you had no way to tell.
I think the best charger/tester out right now is the Xtar VP4 Plus Dragon. I costs about $90, but it will test, charge, and rejuvenate batteries that have lost capacity. And it will charge 4 x 32650 (bigger even than 26650) batteries simultaneously.
XTAR VP4 PLUS DRAGON Charger
The Opus BT-C3400 is also really good and less expensive. It will charge 4 x 18650 batteries at once, but not 4 x 26650 at once. The slots are too close together. You can charge 2 x 18650 and 2 x 26650 at once, though.
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regarding the 18650's, each battery will go for about 45 minutes on high with the 3.4ah batteries, several hours on medium *I know they'll do at least 3 from experience*, and a million years on low.
The 18650's will go about 1.5x as long. Choose what you deem best based on burn time.
I'm firmly in the 18650 camp due to the size/weight/profile, especially for backup lights, but that's just me. The 26650's don't really bother me size wise, but the batteries don't really give me warm fuzzies. I haven't tried the soshine's yet, but don't have any 26650 lights and don't really intend on buying one anytime soon
The 18650's will go about 1.5x as long. Choose what you deem best based on burn time.
I'm firmly in the 18650 camp due to the size/weight/profile, especially for backup lights, but that's just me. The 26650's don't really bother me size wise, but the batteries don't really give me warm fuzzies. I haven't tried the soshine's yet, but don't have any 26650 lights and don't really intend on buying one anytime soon
OP
Black Cat
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Thanks guys. I already have a secondary light. Just replacing my primary that flooded on me after only a few uses.
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what is your secondary light? and what was your primary light
OP
Black Cat
Registered
Secondary is a Sea Elite Mini 315. Primary was a UK C8. I'd like to get away from the big pistol grip primaries anyway and go with something like you were recommending with a hand mount.
Outside of the realm of tech diving where very long burn times may be important, "primary" and "secondary" don't mean a whole lot since the development of powerful yet compact, hand-held lights that are as bright as huge pistol-grip lights of 10 years ago, or even some tech canister lights. As I see it, I could have two identical lights like that with me on a dive and call whichever one is in my hand the "primary" and whichever one is stowed in case the primary fails the "secondary." Theses lights are so relatively economical--$30-$100--that there is no longer any need to budget for a "big" light and a "small" light.
I think of light batteries kind of like scuba cylinders. There is a point where, after which, bigger is NOT better. But, up until that point, more capacity is better. To me, the 26650s are not enough bigger to tip past the point of not being better. And 50% more capacity could easily be the difference between needing to buy and carry extra batteries and having to change a battery between dives, versus having 2 batteries and not ever having to change batteries between dives. Plus, good 26650 batteries seem to be as cheap or cheaper than good 18650s.
I have the Explorer light and am very happy with it, the OxyCheq Light Sock, not so much. It doesn't stabilize on my hand without making it uncomfortably tight. I purchased the soft goodman handle from DRIS and it works great for me:
The key difference is there is a opening in the handle that you put your thumb through, keeping everything in place (and it is about 1/2 the cost)
And FWIW, I left the "keeper" strap on the light and thread my arm through it before putting the handle on my hand. Call me paranoid, but it makes it much more difficult to lose a light
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