Underwater Kinetics Light Cannon HID Dive Light

[tceylan]

I've used mine for about 15-20 dives. All in Southern California at depths up to 120ft
between 70F-52F temp. It only stopped working during a shallow warm day dive where I used old batteries. But the light beam was flickering before I went to this dive...

If you see the light beam flickering, that is the sign to change batteries... If you don't ignore this flickering, it is very unlikely that the light will stop working during the dive.... With new batteries, UK HID will last at least 4 dives... The light will
start flickering after 4 dives. Then you might get 2 more dives out of it or not...

I'm thinking about getting rechargable batteries since it's getting expensive....

But UK HID is very bright, excellent primary light... I appreciate it in murky waters.

 

[Blackwood]

The primary reason we use HID lights is the color, not the brightness.

That said, many LED's are close to HID in color quality and in brightness. Beyond that, they are far more durable and last a lot longer. I've dropped my LED light on concrete. It took a lickin' and kept on... shining. Were it my primary light (Salvo HID), I'd be out a couple of hundred dollars to replace the bulb.

I have no experience with the Light Canon. Personally, I don't like pistol grips. I find them bulky (hard to stow cleanly) and unwieldy. My recommendation is to get a nice LED backup light like the Photon Torpedo from Gulftex (see: http://www.cnsales.net/photontorpedopage.htm). It's bright enough to act as your primary for night diving (though maybe not good enough for light signals during the day), it is far more durable, it will last longer, and it uses standard off-the-shelf batteries (3X C-cell). Easy to stow, easy to use, etc..

 

[MSilvia]

I use the light cannon with NiMH C cells, and yeah... if they don't have a full charge, the light won't strike when I turn it on. The NiMH cells I use have a slightly lower rating than alkaline C cells though, and in any case, if I charge the batteries before I go diving, it'll work fine for a couple of dives.

 

[mfalco]

My light cannon is awesome. A set of duracells lasts for tons of dives. The rechargeable battery is good for 2-3 dives. You are better off buying a charger and some rechargeable C batteries.

 

[mfalco]

The primary reason we use HID lights is the color, not the brightness.


I have no experience with the Light Canon. Personally, I don't like pistol grips.

Maybe you should check out how bright a HID light is. I have never seen LED lights as bright as my light cannon.


Also there is a lantern grip available if you don't like the pistol grip.

 

[Blackwood]

Maybe you should check out how bright a HID light is. I have never seen LED lights as bright as my light cannon.

I have an HID light with me each and every dive.

To clarify, I wasn't saying that HIDs aren't bright, and I don't believe I said that LED dive lights are as necessarily as bright as HID dive lights (it has more to do with power than the method of illumination).

That comment was specifically relating to color, not brightness.

Also there is a lantern grip available if you don't like the pistol grip.

Looks even bigger to me. To each his own.

 

[jarhed]

Have 2 Light Cannons, over 100 dives, still origional bulbs, overall never had a reliability problem.

I get two dives easily out of 6000mA NiMH rechargable C cells.

IMHO, you need to spend twice as much to get a light of better quality.

Take care,
John

 

[mfalco]

I have an HID light with me each and every dive.

To clarify, I wasn't saying that HIDs aren't bright, and I don't believe I said that LED dive lights are as necessarily as bright as HID dive lights (it has more to do with power than the method of illumination).

That comment was specifically relating to color, not brightness.



Looks even bigger to me. To each his own.

Sorry my bad. I assumed you hadn't used one.

I did however by it specifically for how bright it is. The water can be very dark and merky here, and I do a lot of night diving. I actually had to use it on a day time dive yesterday.

 

[DarkCoffee]

The 'black out at depth' has happened twice for me, both times in temps of about 43*F but each time with batteries that were on their third hour of on-time. I just assumed it was the battery chilling out, esp. when moving back up to the thermo seemed to restore functionality.

I'll give UK a shout and see what they say. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Blackwood]

Sorry my bad. I assumed you hadn't used one.

I did however by it specifically for how bright it is. The water can be very dark and merky here, and I do a lot of night diving. I actually had to use it on a day time dive yesterday.

Yah, I always bring mine (Salvo 21 Watt canister light) with me, day or night. We use them for communication. I feel naked without it