I am planning to buy the sola 1200 dive light. I don't see really well in low light conditions but I am wondering if this would be to bright and scare the fish away. I have no plans to get into tech diving so I'm not worried about that. This will mostly be used in warm waters like Cozumel and Belize on night dives on the reefs. Is this light just an overkill? I can always use the lower settings I guess. Thank you.
Sola 1200 Dive Light too bright???????????????
- Thread starter Pongo1998
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
Shftrdog
Contributor
I have used this light in Roatan and it was amazing. If did not scare away fish, in fact I was filming an Octopus with a gopro and the octo came up and took the gopro out our my hand. The Sola 1200 did not affect him at all. It is an amazing light, we have lots of them and I can send one to you if you like. Let me know what you think.
Ken T
Contributor
I have the 500 and I am quite happy with it.
Will be bringing it to Hawaii for the Mantaray night dive.
Like you say, you can always use the lower settings and still have the insurance of an extra bright light if needed.
Will be bringing it to Hawaii for the Mantaray night dive.
Like you say, you can always use the lower settings and still have the insurance of an extra bright light if needed.
mikeycanuk
Contributor
We loved our 1200's on our night one, only 1 so far. On the flood setting the sea is lit up!
I've done a lot of night diving with my 21W HID in the tropics. Honestly, I prefer diving on a backup light. Some species are light-tolerant, but a lot of the truly noctural things are gone long before you even know they were there, if you bring too much light.
Where a very bright and focused light comes into its own is in turbid water.
Where a very bright and focused light comes into its own is in turbid water.
Sola 1200 has three levels of brightness. It doesn't seem so exceedingly bright on the lower levels. It is a good and handy light with the wrist strap - like a tec lighthead without an "umbilical". I wish, it had a better battery life.
And yet... The OP reminds me a question which I wanted to ask for some time: when I accidentally direct the light of Sola into my owh eyes, I have to close them immediately. They hurt. Fish do not have eyelids! Are we not damaging their eyesight with our lights and leaving behind scores of blind fish?
And yet... The OP reminds me a question which I wanted to ask for some time: when I accidentally direct the light of Sola into my owh eyes, I have to close them immediately. They hurt. Fish do not have eyelids! Are we not damaging their eyesight with our lights and leaving behind scores of blind fish?
I've wondered about that, too. Getting an HID in the eyes is just plain painful. When I want to watch a critter for a long time, I put my fingers over my light and filter it, so it won't be quite so bright. I really wince when my teammates come with two more searchlights and the poor octo has no eyelids!
I took my Sola 1200 (video) to Curaçao in November for use as a focus light. It didn't always scare critters from afar (especially during the day), but my ability to get the camera up close for macro shots was compromised considerably. It definitely made me wish I had gotten the photo 1200, whose red light is supposed to be less startling to the sea life.
Even if you don't need the full power of the 1200, I'd still get the 1200 and use it on lower power settings as opposed to buying the lower powered Sola lights for a very simple reason, battery longevity!!! If you compare the battery longevity for the different Sola lights you will find that the battery in the higher powered lights will last a lot longer than the battery in the lower powered lights when these high powered lights are set on lower power settings. Think of it as buying a lower powered light but with a much higher battery life!!!
If you are a photographer, do consider the Sola1200 photo light most definitely. If you are going to be diving in turbid waters, then you should consider a light with tighter beam (narrow as opposed to wide angle beam).
F.Y.I. There is no difference between the Sola1200 Dive and Video light except the mounting accessory.
If you are a photographer, do consider the Sola1200 photo light most definitely. If you are going to be diving in turbid waters, then you should consider a light with tighter beam (narrow as opposed to wide angle beam).
F.Y.I. There is no difference between the Sola1200 Dive and Video light except the mounting accessory.
Similar threads
