What kind of LEDs do you prefer on dive lights?

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XTAR

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I'm a Fish!
When choosing a dive light with specific LED emitters, you may need to consider what you plan to use that light for. For example, some testers and customers told they like to use the D26 1600S for cave/wreck diving. As this light uses OSRAM CSLPM1.TG LED, it can produce significantly tight spot beam (as the photos show below), characterized by good penetration, far throw, suitable for tech diving, signaling in murky or green water.

To evaluate dive lights’ emitters, there are some essential attributes, such as output, runtime, throw, color rendering... We all want to cover all the bases, high output, great tints, high CRI. In fact, this is very hard to achieve. Some emitters can give parts of what we need, but not all of it. For uw photographers, choosing the light emitters with high color rendition is much important. As for tech diving instructors, they may prefer lights emitting tight and far beam, good for signaling. How about your preference on dive lights’ LEDs, and why? Comment freely!

(professional diver @maxime_underwater explored caves with D26 1600S in Gozo, Malta)
XTAR D26 1200S.jpg

XTAR D26 1600S P1.jpg
 
I like a bright, tight beam. I'm not a photographer so I choose a light that cuts through the less than ideal viz situations I often encounter. Recently purchased 5 of the d26 2500 shorts, for my wife and I, and we're very pleased with the performance. They survived a dive to 110 ffw @ 42°F, staying bone dry and performing great.
 
So glad you like the D26 2500. And thanks for your kind supports.:wink:
I like a bright, tight beam. I'm not a photographer so I choose a light that cuts through the less than ideal viz situations I often encounter. Recently purchased 5 of the d26 2500 shorts, for my wife and I, and we're very pleased with the performance. They survived a dive to 110 ffw @ 42°F, staying bone dry and performing great.
 
It all depends on the use case of the light. But overall i'd like the beam to be as tight as possible.
I mainly dive in murky cold water, a wide scattering beam is of no use in those conditions and will blind you.
The tight beam of the d26-1600s is good for that. Although it does still have some unwanted flooding outside of the corona.
And in clear (tropic) waters in daytime i'd want the same tight beam to light up the dark spots.

Only exceptions are:

Night diving in clear water, then I want a beam that's a bit more scattered but still has a significant corona.

My photo/video lights should have a high CRI and a wide uniform beam.
 
I own 5 different Xtar lights and some other brands. The D26 2500 short is my favorite. Packs a good punch, not too expensive. I wear it on a goodman handle.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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