What's your favorite dive light brand?

[armandowyomong]

Thanks for doing this poll, but I wanted a chance to give both positive and negative ratings. I’ve had horrible experience in use of Light Monkey 12V primary light. Only thing worst than the light was when I asked for help from Light Monkey. Then I got insults for asking for a manual or owner’s guide. Verbatim from the Light Monkey owner: “Perhaps SCUBA does not suit you well and golf may be a safer option for holiday activity.”
Think carefully about whether you will ever need assistance before you spend $700 to $1,700 for a Light Monkey primary light.

 

[bamafan]

Well, JJ would probably find your error even more egregious. Salvo never made Halcyon lights. The subject is too sensitive to even talk about so I'll leave it at that...

And yes, Halcyon should have been included since they pioneered the modern canister light, of which all others are knock-offs.

Lamar English might have something to say about this.

---------- Post added September 17th, 2014 at 11:08 AM ----------

Thanks for doing this poll, but I wanted a chance to give both positive and negative ratings. I’ve had horrible experience in use of Light Monkey 12V primary light. Only thing worst than the light was when I asked for help from Light Monkey. Then I got insults for asking for a manual or owner’s guide. Verbatim from the Light Monkey owner: “Perhaps SCUBA does not suit you well and golf may be a safer option for holiday activity.”
Think carefully about whether you will ever need assistance before you spend $700 to $1,700 for a Light Monkey primary light.

I would like to hear the real story behind this. I have lost a piece to my Light Monkey light and stopped by their store unannounced and they gave me a missing piece. I told them it was my fault and tried to pay them but they wouldn't accept any payment. I have heard numerous stories of them going above and beyond and yours is the first negative report that I can recall. The guys at Light Monkey as well as Bobby at Underwater Light Dude have both gone above and beyond in the customer service department. I don't know how you could expect any more.

 

[TSandM]

There are always two sides to any story. In my almost nine years of experience with the LM guys, I have not only never had an interaction like that, I've never heard of anyone have problems with them, and I know a LOT of LM light owners.

 

[Hatul]

My favorite dive lights are made by XTAR.
Diving Series
I use the D01, D02 and I just ordered a D06. They are all powered by Li-ion rechargeable battery (18650 or 18700) and controlled by a continuous brightness slider and twisty on/off. Compact and fit nicely into the Oxycheq dive sock. I can turn them on and off or in-between with one hand underwater with the slider control. The latest, D06, has a 900 lumen max brightness and costs about $70. The company is based in Hong Kong but has a distributor in Huntington Beach. They also sell first rate batteries and chargers. They beat many of the lights on the market at a fraction of the cost.

I just wish they made a photo or video light.

 

[eelnoraa]

I have LM21W HID and Morph1000 myself. I also have had Hollis LED25 for a while. If what AJ said is accurate, meaning Halcyon Focus is matching a 21W HID, then I can say that Morph1000, despite being claim 1000LM, produce no where near the amount of light 21W HID. This means either Halcyon is very conservative about their light output, or Morph over exegerate their output a lot. I would rate 21W HID is produce slight, but noticeably more light than LED25, both product a lot more light than Morph1000. So don't always believe the lumen claim.

so $1400 for a less than 1k lumen light with 6 hours burn time. $500 gets you a HOG Morph 1000 spot, which has 5-6 hours of burn time with 1k lumen. $1k gets you the UWLD 1500 lumen *same output as 21w HID* with 5.5hour burn time with a head that is easily clipped to a helmet and is nice and small to handhold. I'm not seeing any tighter of a beam angle with the H light than any of the other lights out there. The focus feature I guess is nice, but I still prefer a little laser beam handheld for signalling in murky water than have my primary have focus features. If it was $1k in line with the other 1k lumen lights out there I could see it, but $1500 is a big price to pay for less than 1k lumens and that little burn time this day in age....

I am not saying morph is not a good light. I use it for travel and like it a lot. But it is no where near what 21W HID can do.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

Thanks for doing this poll, but I wanted a chance to give both positive and negative ratings. I’ve had horrible experience in use of Light Monkey 12V primary light. Only thing worst than the light was when I asked for help from Light Monkey. Then I got insults for asking for a manual or owner’s guide. Verbatim from the Light Monkey owner: “Perhaps SCUBA does not suit you well and golf may be a safer option for holiday activity.”
Think carefully about whether you will ever need assistance before you spend $700 to $1,700 for a Light Monkey primary light.

I'd bet actual money that you're full of , though I suppose you could have caught Corey on a bad day or something. Post up your details so we can ask Light Monkey what your story is For starters, what exactly is a "12V primary light"?

 

[buddhasummer]

Thanks for doing this poll, but I wanted a chance to give both positive and negative ratings. I’ve had horrible experience in use of Light Monkey 12V primary light. Only thing worst than the light was when I asked for help from Light Monkey. Then I got insults for asking for a manual or owner’s guide. Verbatim from the Light Monkey owner: “Perhaps SCUBA does not suit you well and golf may be a safer option for holiday activity.”
Think carefully about whether you will ever need assistance before you spend $700 to $1,700 for a Light Monkey primary light.

Have you had any similar encounters with any other retailers/manufacturers?

 

[tbone1004]

I have LM21W HID and Morph1000 myself. I also have had Hollis LED25 for a while. If what AJ said is accurate, meaning Halcyon Focus is matching a 21W HID, then I can say that Morph1000, despite being claim 1000LM, produce no where near the amount of light 21W HID. This means either Halcyon is very conservative about their light output, or Morph over exegerate their output a lot. I would rate 21W HID is produce slight, but noticeably more light than LED25, both product a lot more light than Morph1000. So don't always believe the lumen claim.



I am not saying morph is not a good light. I use it for travel and like it a lot. But it is no where near what 21W HID can do.

light output is light output, you can't see lumens, you can perceive lux a lot better than lumen, so the more focused the light the more it appears to be putting out. The HOG is not focused quite as well as the UWLD's which actually do hold their own against 21W hid's. If the H light is holding it's own, then it's just focused a bit better than the hog, which it does appear to do in their product video. The question then becomes is it worth paying 3x what it costs for the Morph1000.... Most people don't dive in conditions that really need a 21w HID.

 

[armandowyomong]

Alright, here’s the full version. I bought a Light Monkey LED primary light through one of its dealers. Shipped directly to me from Light Monkey. Came with no instructions or owners manual. When time came to charge battery, I requested manual or info from Light Monkey before attempting to open/charge on my own. Light Monkey sent me pdf of a manual, but with aside that it was not the manual for my model and with no explanation of why or how this other manual could help me. On next request for help told to figure it myself out from inapt manual ("Maybe you just need to read the entire manual I sent you&#8221. Again, how or where in the wrong manual the info I sought could be found was not offered. After trying to do it myself and screwing it up, Light Monkey’s owner had no sympathy or remedy: “Perhaps SCUBA does not suit you well and golf may be a safer option for holiday activity.”
Eventually found where in manual info on another light would have worked for mine. Corey/Light Monkey didn’t tell me this, and left it for me to figure out. And also afterwards found photo on Light Monkey website of my light in open position that showed exactly what I had directly asked for 3 times. If Corey had simply sent photo or said something like, it’s a different manual but look at p. 16 or at the hand-held model.
Instead, I received snarky and insulting responses, and now I’ve a broken $800 light and scared to death to try Light Monkey to repair. Anyone who thinks highly of Light Monkey want to buy it cheap?

---------- Post added September 18th, 2014 at 10:16 AM ----------

Have you had any similar encounters with any other retailers/manufacturers?

No. This situation was exceptional. can't recall ever being insulted and attacked when asking for help. I never complained to Light Monkey; and only requested assistance, so I would not wind up un-screwing a sealed section. That's what I did after 3, I believe, polite request to Light Monkey to show me how to do it.
Why would a manufacturer of a high-end product tell a customer to try another activity, b/c you obviously aren't good enough to use my product.

 

[bamafan]

I just have to ask how you broke your light charging it? Did you reverse the polarity? Red plug in the black hole? I just have to know. Other than that or not plugging the charger in first which is clearly printed on the front of the charger I don't know how it could be screwed up. Please do tell.