Tank Marker Lights

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mig_diver

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For night dives do people generally use glow sticks or the battery powered tank marker lights?
 
Glow sticks seem to be the most popular, but sometimes I see someone with a battery powered light,
 
I use the battery powered ones. I have tried the glow sticks only to find that they don't work some times because someone has allready snapped them in the store. I haven't yet figured it out why someone would do that but they do.
 
I use the battery powered tank marker lights on my first, and only, night dive last week in Costa Rica.

Our group ended up with an addtional diver when we surfaced because the confused diver followed my tank marker lights thinking I was his dive master.

Evidently, his dive master and I had similar blinking red tank marker. It was very funny when the confused diver realized I was a newbie doing my final AOW dive with my instructor and not his dive master.
 
I use a battery powered GloToob.

In fact, it's in a small mesh "surface emergency" bag in my BC pocket, along with a glo-stick, signal mirror, extra whistle and strap.
 
I second the Glo-Toob (FX model).
Just make sure you rinse it in fresh water after diving salt, if this is your choice.
 
I use continuous tank lights. Strobes can be mistaken for guidance beacons and in fact are prohibited on some dive boats because they use strobes to mark the boat and mooring line.

Cyalume sticks are fine in a pinch or if you only rarely night dive but if you night dive a lot it's more cost effective and less wasteful to use a light with rechargeable batteries.
 
I no longer use a tank marker light, but from a buddies stand point prefer a non blinky glow stick. If my dive buddy can not see my HID then we should not be out there. Plus we never separate by more than a few feet. As far as I am concerned carrying a backup light is a requirement for night dives! I actually carry a backup all the time day or night.
 
I use continuous tank lights. Strobes can be mistaken for guidance beacons and in fact are prohibited on some dive boats because they use strobes to mark the boat and mooring line.
It's pretty hard to confuse the tiny weak blinking LEDs of tank marker lights with xenon flash strobes.

I can see boats not wanting divers fire up emergency xenon strobe locator lights they carry to assist a search if they go missing, but concern about blinking tank marker lights being confused for strobes is ridiculous.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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