Review: Xtar D36 5800 Flood/Spot dive light

[hedonist222]

XTAR and @MilesC sent me one to review, too. I'll put my review in this thread because @stuartv dud just a masterful job of doing the hardware description. I have nothing to add. The build quality is first-rate and the UI is really nice.....the LCD screen and two buttons are easy to use.

I'll concentrate on its functionality, for my kind of diving. I just returned from a week of cave diving in Mexico. There were three if us plus a guide. Two of the three had GoPros of one model or another, I had an Intova EDGE, what my wife calls a FauxPro. The game plan was for the guide plus two to swim along in single file, each with a video light shining on the wall beside them. The remaining diver was the photographer trying to video the line of three. Ostensibly the D36 was the brightest video light we had, but it performed no better than the others. When I was the photographer I put it on mode 2 (the narrow beam), but the beam was so broad it was not useful for signaling. I found no occasion when the turbo mode (flood plus "narrow") was useful to me.

Bottom line? Not a good light for my diving. But a very nice light, if it suits YOU!

I didn't understand why it didn't suit you.

 

[tursiops]

I didn't understand why it didn't suit you.

I was using it for caves. it was not a narrow enough beam for signaling, nor a bright enough wide beam for photography, and I found no use for the combined mode. It was big and heavy....so would not be my choice for a reef dive to occasionally look under a ledge.

 

[hedonist222]

5800 (claimed) lumens wasn't bright enough for photography ?

Do you need brighter or is the model exaggerated?

 

[tursiops]

5800 (claimed) lumens wasn't bright enough for photography ?

Do you need brighter or is the model exaggerated?

Perhaps you have never tried to illuminate a cave. 5800 lumens (which is surely an exaggeration), spread out over such a wide beam, is not very bright.
So the answers to your questions are Yes and Yes.

 

[stuartv]

5800 (claimed) lumens wasn't bright enough for photography ?

Do you need brighter or is the model exaggerated?

If you were going to try and use it for photography, you'd likely want to only use the wide beam. So, 4200 lumens, instead of 5800. You want the light to be even and that extra 1600 lumens of spot light would make the light brighter in the middle. Not good for photography.

Additionally, for photography, 4200 (or even 5800) lumens is not as bright as using a strobe. So, really, the vast majority of the time, trying to use this light for photography is not a good fit. I used mine simply as a focus light for my photography. It does work fine for that, but it's totally overkill. A much smaller, lighter, dimmer light is all that's needed for a focus light.

Also, since I'm adding to this thread, I'll note that I let my D36 sit unused for about a year. I just didn't have a dive where it "fit" for me in that time. I tried to charge it after sitting that long and the battery pack is totally dead. It will no longer take a charge at all. Xtar has quoted me $28 for a replacement battery pack, which is not bad at all, but I haven't ordered it yet.

 

[hedonist222]

I appreciate your responses and wasn't being satirical.

Haven't dived caves and therefore could not fathom the darkness.

 

[tursiops]

I appreciate your responses and wasn't being satirical.

Haven't dived caves and therefore could not fathom the darkness.

By the way, Stuart makes a good point about the wide beam alone being just 4200 (supposedly) lumens. many of the Chinese lights seem to actually be about half of what their numbers say.

 

[stuartv]

By the way, Stuart makes a good point about the wide beam alone being just 4200 (supposedly) lumens. many of the Chinese lights seem to actually be about half of what their numbers say.

I certainly will not disagree with that. But, I will say that the D36 with just the wide beam on High is pretty dang bright. It might not be a full 4200 lumens, but then again, it seems like it might actually be that or close. As wide of a beam as it is, even a full 4200 lumens is not going to be like a bright sunny day.

If you look back at page 1 of this thread, at the photo from the boat on the surface, while I was on the bottom with this light, you can get an idea that it is pretty dang bright. Maybe not bright enough to illuminate a big room in a cave, for photography purposes. But, still dang bright.

 

[hedonist222]

Was thinking of pairing it with a sola 2400 flood for day and night dive macro photography.

6500 should be good enough to eliminate needing high ISO and can use a fast shutter speeds.