Scuba Newbie Looking For FLashlight

[driftwood]

UK lights under perform for the price. IMO, the led's coming out of China using the 18650 battery are your best bang for the buck. Between 900-4000 lumens with a very tight beam. Call it $30-40 for the light, $11 for 4 batteries and another $5-10 for the charger.

 

[Andyoak]

UK lights under perform for the price. IMO, the led's coming out of China using the 18650 battery are your best bang for the buck. Between 900-4000 lumens with a very tight beam. Call it $30-40 for the light, $11 for 4 batteries and another $5-10 for the charger.

Your mileage may vary with this option. I bought what I thought was a great 2000 lumen torch out of china ($99). Looked awesome, solid aluminum construction, plenty of O-Rings etc. Worked well for the first 5 dives in up to about 20m of water. Took it to 45m, no it did not implode, but rather the entire case started effervescing as something got compressed and caused electrolysis to begin to dissolve the case! Did not work after that!

 

[dfx]

Your mileage may vary with this option. I bought what I thought was a great 2000 lumen torch out of china ($99). Looked awesome, solid aluminum construction, plenty of O-Rings etc. Worked well for the first 5 dives in up to about 20m of water. Took it to 45m, no it did not implode, but rather the entire case started effervescing as something got compressed and caused electrolysis to begin to dissolve the case! Did not work after that!

I'm with driftwood here, I'm also a big fan of the cheap Chinese flashlights. But you have to be aware that it's always possible to get a loser light and that you waste your money. The trick is to get several different models for cheap (think $20-$30 price range each, free shipping) to increase your chance of getting one good one. I've found that by doing this, I still save money over buying a single more expensive (brand name) one with similar performance. Keep in mind that the lumens rating is likely to be way off if you shop for Chinese lights. (The same applies to Chinese 18560 etc batteries... stick to brand names for those)

If you search ebay for "cree dive flashlight", you get pages and pages of different models. This one is my favourite of all the ones that I bought:
New 1200LUM 25M Waterproof IPX 8 Diving 1x T6 CREE LED Flashlight Torch 5 Mode | eBay

Followed by this type:
HXT Aluminum Diving LED Flashlight CREE XM LT6 1800 LM 18650 Flash Lamp | eBay

Both have been down to ~100 ft without any issues.

Here's one of the losers:
Y70 1800Lm CREE XML XM L T6 LED Cutter Lifesaving Hammer Diving Torch Flashlight | eBay
Looks very similar to the one above, but I had two of them flood and die.

Then there's a whole bunch of the real cheap, plastic yellow ones. I have two of them and they both died within 10 minutes of usage (in a bucket of water only). The problem was that the light head got so hot that the insulation of the flimsy wires inside melted and caused them to short out. I opened them up and replaced the insulation with a heat resistant material. That fixed it and since then I use them as video lights on my camera rig, also without any issues. A bit of DIY comes in handy when going cheap. There's lots of different models of those yellow lights around, so YMMV.

 

[Andyoak]

On the bright (excuse the pun) side I have a $20 plastic Chinese light that seems to handle 50m quite happily!

So as others have said buy a few and see what works, or buy setting from your LDS and pay a bit more but have someone you can take it back to.

 

[Locus]

If you're just diving recreationally in open water, then cheap Chinese torches ftw.

Here's what I use:

XTAR D06 CREE XM L T6 LED 800LM Diving Flashlight Torch Diving 100M Flashlight | eBay

It's $76 shipped with case, charger, and battery. 800 lumens, and under 6" long. That's small. I haven't seen another light that has the same brightness with such a small size. Aluminum body takes hits well and it uses a magnetic switch so the chances of the housing flooding are low. If you just want the light on its own you can pay as little as $65.

I know of an LDS that sells this exact same light "rebranded" (aka someone changed the label on the box and literally just stuck a sticker over the Xtar logo on the light itself) and they charge $180 for it.

 

[crosshairs]

dorcy is not 30$ but 65$

right one Dorcy Dive II 220 Lumen Submersible LED Dive Light

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for starter DRIS 1000 ( low cost )

it always pays to shop around...
Dorcy 41-1467 Dive II Submersible Anti-Corrosion LED Diving Flashlight with Nylon Lanyard, 220-Lumens, Black Finish - Amazon.com

 

[DennisC]

WOW Im glad I read this. I was about to buy an expensive light but I think I'm going to get one of these Chinese lights for now and get a nice video/photo light after I get a good camera!

 

[lamarpaulski]

I really like my Morph back up light. I also own Uk Led which is maybe less impressive but still solid.

Hi
I am not a particularly experienced diver. I am just branching out and getting my own gear. Bit by bit. Not a cheap passtime this, is it?



Next on my list is a good dive torch. I think that LEDs are better, but would welcome your thoughts as to brands etc.

Thanks
Clive

 

[Rustydiver]

If you're just diving recreationally in open water, then cheap Chinese torches ftw.

Here's what I use:

XTAR D06 CREE XM L T6 LED 800LM Diving Flashlight Torch Diving 100M Flashlight | eBay

It's $76 shipped with case, charger, and battery. 800 lumens, and under 6" long. That's small. I haven't seen another light that has the same brightness with such a small size. Aluminum body takes hits well and it uses a magnetic switch so the chances of the housing flooding are low. If you just want the light on its own you can pay as little as $65.

I know of an LDS that sells this exact same light "rebranded" (aka someone changed the label on the box and literally just stuck a sticker over the Xtar logo on the light itself) and they charge $180 for it.

The XTAR lights are really good. You can't go wrong with the rechareable 18650 batteries. I have the XTAR D35 dive light and its bad azz!!

 

[Locus]

The XTAR lights are really good. You can't go wrong with the rechareable 18650 batteries. I have the XTAR D35 dive light and its bad azz!!

Hmm. How long have you had it? Is it worth the $300? I went with the D06 because it was small and cheap, but I wouldn't mind making it my backup and upgrading to something with more oomf.