UW Light Dude vs Light Monkey Primary for Cave Class

[PfcAJ]

Mechanical switch supremacy.

 

[Wreck(ed)Diver]

Thanks all for the help! I ended up being able to get a 2000 lumen UWLD light with a 160W battery. I can already see what y'all mean about the switch on the light lol. I do have a question about charging, since the light and charger are slightly older and I'm not sure how to tell when its charged fully. I'll make a post asking about it later.

Thanks again!

 

[tbone1004]

Thanks all for the help! I ended up being able to get a 2000 lumen UWLD light with a 160W battery. I can already see what y'all mean about the switch on the light lol. I do have a question about charging, since the light and charger are slightly older and I'm not sure how to tell when its charged fully. I'll make a post asking about it later.

Thanks again!

The charger will automatically stop charging when it's done, the light on the charger will change colors *which colors depend on generation of charger*. Important note though that you shouldn't put it on the charger until the color ring switches to orange and also don't charge it before putting it in storage unless the ring is red. @Bobby has some good youtube videos up on the subject and his resource section on the website is quite good.

https://uwlightdude.com/support/

 

[Wreck(ed)Diver]

The charger will automatically stop charging when it's done, the light on the charger will change colors *which colors depend on generation of charger*. Important note though that you shouldn't put it on the charger until the color ring switches to orange and also don't charge it before putting it in storage unless the ring is red. @Bobby has some good youtube videos up on the subject and his resource section on the website is quite good.

https://uwlightdude.com/support/

Oh perfect!! Thank you! The charger was covered in warnings so I didn't want to **** around and find out lol.

 

[tbone1004]

Oh perfect!! Thank you! The charger was covered in warnings so I didn't want to **** around and find out lol.

pretty idiot proof, plug in until it changes color, most are to solid green, then take off charger. Do it the night before you dive. You have the new generation with the color indicators which are ~100-60%=green, 60-30%=orange, 30-0%=red, I say approximately because it's voltage based vs. a shunt so it's an "ish" kind of thing. If you get out of a dive and the ring is still green, don't charge it unless you are doing a real big dive the next day that you intend to need the full burn time, wait until it's been in the orange for a while until you charge it to maximize cycle count, try to keep it out of the deep red but if you get it to the point that it kicks down to low it won't hurt anything.

 

[Wreck(ed)Diver]

pretty idiot proof, plug in until it changes color, most are to solid green, then take off charger. Do it the night before you dive. You have the new generation with the color indicators which are ~100-60%=green, 60-30%=orange, 30-0%=red, I say approximately because it's voltage based vs. a shunt so it's an "ish" kind of thing. If you get out of a dive and the ring is still green, don't charge it unless you are doing a real big dive the next day that you intend to need the full burn time, wait until it's been in the orange for a while until you charge it to maximize cycle count, try to keep it out of the deep red but if you get it to the point that it kicks down to low it won't hurt anything.

Oh, where is the indicator on the light? The only indicator light I can see is a small one on the charger?

 

[tbone1004]

Oh, where is the indicator on the light? The only indicator light I can see is a small one on the charger?

which generation of light head do you have? The current generation has a LED ring around the piezo switch when you turn it on. Not sure how old that one is. Post a picture of the whole light where we can see the light head and the top of the canister

 

[Wreck(ed)Diver]

which generation of light head do you have? The current generation has a LED ring around the piezo switch when you turn it on. Not sure how old that one is. Post a picture of the whole light where we can see the light head and the top of the canister

I'm not too sure which one I have, I can send a pic when I get home later but the light head just has a solid black piezo switch and that's it. It seems pretty well used (but was serviced this year) so I'd assume its an older model.

 

[Sol]

I own a Light Monkey 20ah dual output 10-32 VF. The VF is kind of a joke as it just adjust the deflector about 1/8 of an inch and really doesn't make much difference. I have sent the light head back to LM twice, both times for flooding. From what I understand my head was made during a bad batch where it was just ever so slightly out of spec and would not seal, as a result it would flood if I went below 100'. The first time (it was a few months after initial purchase) they 'repaired' it and sent it back, in the mean time I had started using my BigBlue more and didn't really bother w/ the LM (I bought it for winter use to run my suit heater as well). The second time the light was out of warranty and I tried several times to contact them via email/phone no response. Via phone I was told to 'send an email'. I finally got fed up and just mailed it to them w/o an RMA. A couple weeks later a LM box showed up on my door w/ my light head in it and a letter basically saying they replaced everything, NO CHARGE. I have taken it to sub 150' a few times and so far no more leaks. I have owned the light for almost 3 years and used it less than 15 times....I do plan to use it more now that winter is coming, mostly as a primary backup and to heat my suit.

So, I don't have much good to say about the light, the beam isn't very tight, lots of spillage and not much center beam. My BigBlue is much tighter and way better for signaling but much heavier on my hand. I like the corded light b/c if I need to drop it for whatever reason I'm not going to lose it and it fits on my hand much nicer w/ my SiTech wrist seals and doesn't wack into my Petrel like the BB.

LM service, while they could have been more responsive, was good, they fixed the light quick and no charge, I get it, it's a couple guys that like to dive trying to run a business, but I expect more from a $2,000 product. If I were to spend that amount of $$ again, I'd spend it at UWLD, I've heard nothing bad about them. Sorry LM, love you guys, but just not getting the ROI I expected out of the purchase.

I think I have exactly the same LM setup -- 20ah, dual output, 32 watt LED VF, yada yada yada. I agree with you about the adjustable focus not really amounting to much and the inability to tighten the beam.

I've just had the light suddenly go out on me without warning. Turned it on -- no problem, it's shining brightly -- and then it went out after about ten seconds. Very suddenly. I didn't touch the switch. When I looked at it, the element seemed to be glowing very faintly, but a minute or two later it wasn't glowing at all. (NB I think there may be some moisture inside the unit, but I have no idea how it got there.)

If you don't mind my asking, how did you get them to fix it for no charge given that it was out of warranty? I've had mine a little over 2.5 years, I'm in the midst of filling out the online RMA, and I'm dreading what I might get hit with.

 

[InWay2Deep]

If you don't mind my asking, how did you get them to fix it for no charge given that it was out of warranty? I've had mine a little over 2.5 years, I'm in the midst of filling out the online RMA, and I'm dreading what I might get hit with.

So I had sent it in under warranty once already, with the whole RMA thing. The second time I just boxed it up, stuck a note in there and sent it in (just the head), not knowing if I"d ever see it again. The light was useless to me anyway and nobody at LM was responding. A few weeks later it came back fixed and has been fine ever since. In fact I've been using it as my primary light on almost every dive (some to over 200ft) and just mounted my big blue's on my DPV.