UK Q40 or Q40 eLED or Q40 eLED Plus

[UaVaj]

I am still debating on a primary light. Wanting something super bright yet super portable. However that makes it hard to shell out $300 plus for a light you can't test. So that item will have to wait.


In regard to a backup light. These UK Q40 seem to be a great light for that purpose. Not to mention ecomomical. Again I have never seen one in action so I am not sure which one to buy so I rely on all your recommendations.

Given the prices from leisure pro below. The eLED Plus seem to be the best deal.
Q40 - $20 shipped
Q40 eLED - $33 shipped
Q40 eLED Plus - $35 shipped

 

[Andrew Richardson]

I have UK C4 eLED & had a Q40 LED. I really liked the Q40 attached to the mask strap but pissed off my buddies by blinding them. Now its been flooded and stopped working. The C4 is heavy and certainly does not provide the extra light to justify carrying it. I have been looking at the OMS head / hand lamp. Someone I know just bought one and was full of compliments. Ask the experts (aka GUE / DIR) and they tell you to buy a HID cannister at $1000. Out of my budget but the light provided is awesome.

 

[bperrybap]

I've had a Q40 eLED+ for a couple of years now. I used it as a primary light in Bonaire on a few dives.
It is a great little light. I will say that it isn't very useful during the day. It doesn't have
enough light to use except in low light places.
The other thing I didn't care for is the attachment point for the lanyard. It is up near
the head. I prefer a rear attachment point.

Now, my favorite compact/small light is the UK SL4 eLED light. It is a bit bigger
(not much, same length, a little thicker and wider)
but it is MUCH brighter. It easily works during the day to point out critters to others
or peek around rocks & ledges.
My wife replaced her Ikelite PcA with this because she can now do 1 weeks of dives
on a single set of batteries vs having to replace them after every night dive.
Not quite as bright as the Ikelite but close and still has the narrow hotspot.

If you just need small backup light, get the Q40 eLED+, but if you want a dual
function light that can be used during the day and works nicely as a primary, I'd
spend the extra bucks for the SL4 eLED.

For a lower cost backup, I'd get the eLED+ over the other Q40s.
The eLED+ has a lens on it that focuses the beam which gives it higher brightness
over the non Plus version. Also, I'm just a big fan of LED over non LED especially
for backup lights because it removes any failure do to burned out bulbs.
LEDS also tend to have longer battery life.
The Q40 LED lights are also nice because as the batteries get low, they put
the LED into low power mode to conserve batteries (90% reduced brightness).
This low level can be used for a couple of days. Not alot of light but plenty to
see gauges or close up things at night.

Also, LED lights don't attract the blood worms like the filament lights because
the light is a different tone/color. It has a whiter slightly pale grey/blue tone to it.
It isn't a full spectrum color like an incandescent light.

--- bill

 

[Nismo]

My wife and I use UK C8 eLED Plus primaries and the SL4 LED as back ups.

I recommend LED all the way. Don't get fooled into only going by the lumens or candle power. The color of the light from a LED is better and requires less lumens. The eLED is a circuit that attempts to maintain equal light output. It will not be quite as bright as the regular LED at first and it will not run quite as long as the LED. However you won't notice the light output drop off like a normal light. It'll last hours and maintain about 75% brightness the entire time. However when the batteries get too low to maintain that power, it drops off very rapidly. Expect 4 to 5 hours at 75% from the eLED. The regular LED will be 95% to 90% to start off but will drop off over time.

I was thrilled at how well these two lights worked in Bonaire. Actually did a lot of the dives in the lower output setting with the C8. It has a full and half power position on the switch. Some people do not like the customer service of UK. I bought my lights from Leisure Pro and had an issue with one of the SL4's. Leisure Pro is handling everything.

 

[D_B]

I have the regular Q40 and it's very bright for it's size, carried as a back up in my BC pocket
If I had it to do over, I think I would get the Q40 Plus, it's very bright and it's bluish color will allow you to see better than the lumen output figures would indicate

 

[Scuba.com]

One of our most popular. Excellent back up light. The LED+ is great.
State of the art ultra bright L.E.D. (Light Emitting Diode Technology)
3 TIMES Longer Battery Life 10-12 Hours!
15 TIMES Longer Bulb Life - 5,000+ Hours!
10 times more powerful than the original Q 40 e L.E.D.
High Intensity White L.E.D. light travels farther underwater for maximum visibility and truer colors
Shock and Impact resistant L.E.D. bulb - will not break when dropped
Rubber sheath molded over to bezel to reduce glare and improve impact resistance
Twist actuator (Twist-on bezel) prevents accidental powering on/off
POWER: 2 watts
DEPTH: 500 feet
COLORS: Yellow, Blue, Lime or Black
Buy Underwater Kinetics Mini Q40 eL.E.D. Plus 14512 with reviews at scuba.com

 

[MikeRD03]

Hi,

The BEST of your three lights gives abount 900 lux brightness (Look here: Flashlight Reviews and LED Modifications)

That is far away from what I would call bright.

I personaly dive with this little beast: Fenix Flashlight
It´s much smaller and gives over 3500 lux on high with 60-80min burntime - on low it burns hours over hours with an output of a Q40 ;-)
Regadless of what the manufacturer says I tested it up to 40m (132 feet) and it is dry ;-)

But it´s only my instrument lighting on my mask - for primary I perfer much more light.

greets,
MikeRD03

 

[Gtoph]

I bought myself the UK C8 eled plus along with some rechargable batteries and used it on our trip to Belize. Worked great. On one day someone accidentally grabbed mine so I had to use his regular C8 krypton. I could definitely tell the different, his seemed less bright and much more yellow... couldn't wait to get mine back the next night.

I also bough the wife the OMS head lamp thing. She was looking for something more "hands free" and light as she's a photo bug. All in all it was kinda a pain in the butt. She tried several different places to were it, but finally strapped it around the wide angle lens on her camera and pointed it forward... which still only worked so-so. The thing really isn't that bright and it does eat through the CR2 batteries. We'll have to find another solution for next time.... she might just have the bite the bullet and get a beefier light and just play the juggling game with her camera.

Conclusion:
UK C8 eLed plus: very good
OMS Head light: not so much

 

[peterbj7]

I've had too many UK mini-Q40s flooded to bother with them any more. The light I always carry in my BC pocket is the Ikelite PCa, with 6 AAs. Incredibly bright, ample for most night dives and useful for seeing under crevices etc on day dives. I had two flooded by guests in mysterious circumstances, but my own has been in use for years now.

I have umbilical and other HID lamps but often I don't bother to take them on a night dive. I also keep the 4 C-cell eLED lamps and like them. I've had a few flood for no apparent reason, but so long as that doesn't happen their battery life is remarkable and their light pretty good.

I'd be quite happy with an eLED as my primary and the PCa as a secondary/backup. In poor visibility I prefer a tungsten lamp as the light appears to carry further.

But of course on a night dive be prepared to have your lamp off for significant periods. It's amazing how much natural light there is once your eyes acclimatise, and how many naturally phosphorescent creatures there are.

 

[RAWalker]

I have a UK Q40 eLED+ that I use as a backup it's a great little light that is plenty bright for it's size.
As my primary light I use a Princeton Tec MiniWav LED it's a 4c light with 6 & 9 watt selectable power. As high output primary light sources go it it small when compared to 8c/d lights but is very bright and with LED emmitters battery life is excellent. Most of the 4c lights I've seen are in the 5-6 watt output range so the 9 watt output makes it a better comparison to the 8 cell light and this little 4c unit keeps up to any I've seen