That question again - primary light recommendations

[Rich1280]

I use a pair of Ammonite Ones as back up torches. They are pretty durable and well put together, had mine 5 years and no problems. The wife had a battery leak in one, and she just replace like for like. There's a nice little touch of a am extra O ring in the head where the top battery plugs into the light unit to seal the head a bit mote should the body O rings leak. Never needed it, but feels like a nice design feature.
Rich

 

[Greg_Vic_Diver]

Has anybody used ammonite or has any thoughts on the brand?

Specifically, this caught my attention: Umbilical Dive Light - Led Nautilus

I've now used the Solaris Next Gen and Nautilus LED. Compared them with dive buddies diving Halcyon Flare, Focus 2.0 and 21W HID.

The Solaris Next Gen is very bright but not a very tight beam. Do not believe the 6 degree beam angle, yes the center is bright but lots of extra light spill around it. If you are diving in murky or PNW waters the extra brightness won't help, it will just add the back scatter and you can't see very far away. The light itself is solidly built and they off an E/O direct connection which can work off a Halcyon Li-ion cannister.

The LED Nautilus is pretty much the same brightness as the Halcyon Focus 2.0. The Halcyon focus can adjust the beam to a tighter brighter smaller dot though. Once you open them up to the same beam angle they are pretty close and hard to tell apart. This light is also very well built but there is one issue that is very annoying. It appears the magnetic switch to turn on the light is very powerful and will affect a compass nearby. Scootering with a compass is tricky if you change hands. You can keep it far enough away to not affect the compass when its in your left hand but it's pretty annoying. Compass worn on the left hand would also be affected. I'm going to send a note to Ammonite to see if they have any other switch solutions that won't do this. Great light otherwise, plenty of focused light with little spill.