Ironborn
Contributor
I decided to buy a primary dive light and a backup light for my recent trip to Bonaire. I had found that the cost of renting dive lights can add up over time, relative to the cost of buying one's own, and I had planned six night dives for this trip. I decided that I would choose a light with a rechargeable battery as my primary light and a light with a disposable battery as my backup light.
Lights with rechargeable batteries are usually more expensive than those that use disposable batteries, and Blue Reef's Orca Torch models seemed to be among the least expensive with rechargeable batteries. Another selling point for me was their wrist mounts, which free up one's hand for other tasks if and when one needs it. I choose the D550 because its two adjustable brightness settings seemed the best to me; there is a more expensive model with a third setting so low that it might be impractical for night dives, and that more expensive model did not come with the rechargeable battery that it requires.
I used this light on six night dives in a week on Bonaire, and it served me well, with no malfunctions or other problems. The lower of the two brightness settings (300 lumens) was fine for night dives. It takes a long time to charge the battery completely - 16 hours, according to the manufacturer. I left it charging overnight, and sometimes it had already charged completely by the morning; perhaps I had only used a quarter or so of its battery capacity during my approximately hour-long night dives (the manufacturer lists a run time of 4 hours and 30 minutes on the lower of the two brightness settings). On other occasions, though, I had to leave the battery charging throughout the day and come back for it at night.
The wrist mount was a significant improvement over holding the light with one's hand and enhanced my night dive experience overall. My only concern was that the light might slip out of the wrist mount if I were to point my hand downwards, as the only thing to hold it in the hole is a velcro strap. I addressed that concern by attaching the lanyard to the rear of the light; the lanyard was wide enough that it would not go through the hole if the light somehow slipped out of that hole.
Lights with rechargeable batteries are usually more expensive than those that use disposable batteries, and Blue Reef's Orca Torch models seemed to be among the least expensive with rechargeable batteries. Another selling point for me was their wrist mounts, which free up one's hand for other tasks if and when one needs it. I choose the D550 because its two adjustable brightness settings seemed the best to me; there is a more expensive model with a third setting so low that it might be impractical for night dives, and that more expensive model did not come with the rechargeable battery that it requires.
I used this light on six night dives in a week on Bonaire, and it served me well, with no malfunctions or other problems. The lower of the two brightness settings (300 lumens) was fine for night dives. It takes a long time to charge the battery completely - 16 hours, according to the manufacturer. I left it charging overnight, and sometimes it had already charged completely by the morning; perhaps I had only used a quarter or so of its battery capacity during my approximately hour-long night dives (the manufacturer lists a run time of 4 hours and 30 minutes on the lower of the two brightness settings). On other occasions, though, I had to leave the battery charging throughout the day and come back for it at night.
The wrist mount was a significant improvement over holding the light with one's hand and enhanced my night dive experience overall. My only concern was that the light might slip out of the wrist mount if I were to point my hand downwards, as the only thing to hold it in the hole is a velcro strap. I addressed that concern by attaching the lanyard to the rear of the light; the lanyard was wide enough that it would not go through the hole if the light somehow slipped out of that hole.
