@RTodd but then why buy two decent lights if you can start with 1 great light?
Originally I though people would recommend me to go for hand held lights due to the nature of diving I am planning to do, but clearly canister is the way to go over medium and longer term. So if i am going the more expensive canister way, I dont see a reason trying to save 20-30% on cost today and then spend double down the road.
@happy-diver @Guille G i will go for the bells and whistles
I can't remember if you said you are diving SM or BM, but that will affect your choice of canister light. They are configured for one or the other. I realize some people will use side gland lights in BM but IMO it's not ideal and in general you want a longer cord for SM. So trying to use the same canister light for both is not a good strategy IMO. I'm sure there are people that do it.
I'll give you the rundown of my experience with lights in Mexican caves, and my advice will be different than most of what you're reading here.
I started off with a top gland (BM) 21W HID light from light monkey. I bought it used from LM for about $700 with a warranty. This was maybe 7-8 years ago when I took intro. That light was fantastic in the water and I still miss it. There's something just inherently nice looking about the quality of light from HID bulbs that LEDs still have not yet captured. That's a subjective opinion, BTW. The problem with HID lights is that they're bulky and fragile and prone to problems. My HID light eventually went belly up and LM could not repair it (lack of ballast parts) so they gave me a discount on a new LED light, a 20W that was much more powerful in terms of rated lumens and with longer burn time. I used that light for about a year or two but could never get used to it. It had a focused spot, but there was still too much backscatter for my tastes. I also switched to SM during that time and paid for a SM conversion, which was not cheap. If I added up everything I spent between the original light, some repairs, the upgrades, probably around $2000, maybe a little more.
I sold that light and bought a handheld after borrowing one for a dive. I'm very happy with it, for several reasons. First, I like the way the light looks in the water, mine is a bigblue 4800. People on SB hate them, but I like mine. Second, it was cheap; $500, less than half of what I sold my LM can light for. I don't worry about it traveling, I can get extra batteries cheap (I have one and switch between dives) and the burn time is 2 hours on high, 4 hours on medium, and in the MX caves, the medium setting is generally plenty of light. It's just less to worry about and the light looks decent, pretty focused, it just works and I don't care about banging it around. I also like the fact that it's small enough that you can carry an extra in the pouch or if I ever really need a more powerful light for 6 hour dives, I can use this one as a very bright back up light. It's a matter of practicality.
I have spent some time diving with buddies that have the halcyon focus (I think, it's a small can light with a square yellow spot) and I would not buy one of those. I also did a few dives with a guy using a UWLD light, I don't know which one, but IMO I didn't like the way it looked in the water. This was maybe two years ago, and at the time it was a brand new light. To me it had the same problems as the LM I had sold; too much back scatter, very powerful but just not enjoyable to dive with. And it was pretty expensive, around $2K in Mexico.
So here's my advice. Don't buy an expensive canister light. Get a cheap handheld that will get you through your classes, get some experience, and actually try different lights on dives. Regardless of the strongly held opinions by a few posters on this forum, light preference is pretty subjective. I will never buy another expensive light without trying it on at least a couple of dives. You won't regret having an extra handheld light that works as a primary or back up, or you could sell it and end up being out maybe $200. That's about the cost of one day of guided diving in MX. Plus, the BM vs SM issue is real, and if you're diving BM for your class in MX, be aware that you might be switching at some point. There are real advantages to diving SM in those caves, and I spent years in BM before I switched. If you mentioned that you're already diving SM and I didn't see that, sorry.
I can't believe I wrote that much about a damn dive light! Geez, I need to get on with my life, lol.
