Have you been diving with this light yet?
No, I decided to trash it. I don't recommend it for diving. I never took it in the water, but after taking more time to look it over, I didn't think it was worth testing.
- The design incorporating the o-rings around the head section -- doesn't look like something intended for diving. More like an after-thought.
- The glass lens was something like
1.6mm thick. Most people seem to think that is too thin - should be more like 3mm. In fact, I found a post from someone that said they took this light on a dive and the lens cracked.
- I don't think you could simply add a thicker lens - one of the o-rings in the head section seems to only make a water tight seal when the lens is 1.6mm and the o-ring next to the lens is the thickness as supplied. So, you mess with the lens thickness - you prevent one of the o-rings from sealing. It's a little hard to put into words.
- This light has that characteristic called 'parasitic drain'. With the battery installed and the light turned off, the battery continues to drain. Frankly, it won't drain a newly charged battery over-night, but I'd rather not have this kind of an issue with a light that I might take on a night dive.
I wanted a light that I could use for both day dives and night dives. Recreational open water, warm water, Mexico. Wanted to be able to turn it on and off easily with one hand (for day time use). Wanted to use 18650 batteries. For me, T6 is bright enough for night dives. I like a light that has a little 'spill' when night diving - this one is fine. Feature wise, this light ticked all my boxes - but it has all the problems mentioned above.
If you are looking for a cheap bright light..
You might want to consider the one second from the left in my group photo. They are all over ebay. They are very bright, very light, and cheap. You do have to use 18650 batteries (which I kinda like - just make sure you get the best quality 'protected' batteries and follow the safety guidelines. I suggest that if you buy one of these on ebay, don't buy something that includes batteries and chargers - you're likely to received cheap unprotected batteries, I speak from experience).
The downside(s) of this light,
- You need two hands to turn it on-and-off. You have to twist the head module to turn the light on
and it can be rather stiff. Not a problem for night dives, can be a PIA for day dives if you carry something in your other hand.
- It has 3 modes. If you quickly turn the unit on-and-off, you will have to go through each of the modes. PIA if it's day time and you're looking under a ledge and suddenly your light is flashing when you just wanted it turned on solid / bright.
