What's your favorite dive light brand?

[armandowyomong]

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.

Sorry, thought I had covered that, but see that I didn’t.


I was trying to find out from Light Monkey the most basic thing possible: how to open it correctly, so that I would not open a sealed section, such as the canister. And in the end, and without assistance, I mistakenly twisted open the screw at base of light, and after a quarter turn, snapped apart the two cables. I did exactly what I was trying to avoid: open the wrong section.


My model is 12V LED. No obvious latches to open. Flush sides on light and canister, and it turned out, with the correct closure under wrist strap. Only direction from Light Monkey was a curt and condescending, “unscrew the light head from the tail piece and pull the two apart from each other.” With no photo or further info, I interpreted that mean unscrew the tail piece connected to rear, base of light. Wrong. It meant the unscrew at middle of light, and separate the head of light from the base of light.


Cables are now snapped at the base, almost nothing sticking out to solder to. Will need to be taken apart and new cable.


Even I feel stupid explaining this. But I was upfront with Corey/Light Monkey, asking 3 times for help, so I wouldn’t make the basic mistake I did.

 

[tbone1004]

If you don't want to deal with LM, call up Bobby Franklin at Under Water Light Dude. He got started repairing lights for people and I think cable replacements are like $60.
Underwater Light Dude
He might be willing to help you. Should be a simple fix.

 

[bamafan]

Light Monkey like alot of other small dive equipment manufacturers are a 1 or 2 man operation. They have alot to do between building their product, selling it and shipping it out. Somewhere along the line they invent new products and squeeze in a dive or two. You probably caught them on a bad day as anyone I have talked to as well as including myself have had nothing but them going out of their way to take care of the customer. Now because they are a small operation and guessing that paperwork is way down their priority list I could believe that their manuals are behind. Have you spoke with Light Monkey about this? I will be suprised if they don't fix it. They are some good guys with a great product.

 

[Locus]

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 love my xtar D06. I use it as a backup but it's bright enough for a solid primary. Not to mention it's small, tough and cheap.

Xtar's newest light is actually the D26, "the whale". Skip this one. First off, it isn't appreciably brighter than the D06 yet it is more expensive. Furthermore, the switch is a hassle to use (instead of a slider it has a push button that cycles through brightness levels in no particlar order), and it has a bulkier body than the D06 so it's less comfortable to hand-mount. My buddy bought a D26 and it died within the first couple of dives. She ponied up $40 (half the cost of the light) to mail it back to China for repairs. Our D06s are going strong after a year so far.

 

[armandowyomong]

If you don't want to deal with LM, call up Bobby Franklin at Under Water Light Dude. He got started repairing lights for people and I think cable replacements are like $60.
Underwater Light Dude
He might be willing to help you. Should be a simple fix.

Thanks. I needed something construction.

 

[Hatul]

I love my xtar D06. I use it as a backup but it's bright enough for a solid primary. Not to mention it's small, tough and cheap.

Xtar's newest light is actually the D26, "the whale". Skip this one. First off, it isn't appreciably brighter than the D06 yet it is more expensive. Furthermore, the switch is a hassle to use (instead of a slider it has a push button that cycles through brightness levels in no particlar order), and it has a bulkier body than the D06 so it's less comfortable to hand-mount. My buddy bought a D26 and it died within the first couple of dives. She ponied up $40 (half the cost of the light) to mail it back to China for repairs. Our D06s are going strong after a year so far.

I'm waiting for my D06 the second updated version. Another one of theirs that interests me is the D18
D18 L2 U2
it's a small light that puts out 300 lumens and can be powered by either a CR123A primary battery or two different types of small Li-ion rechargeables, and would be a nice backup light to clip to your harness or BC. Do you have any knowledge of this light?

 

[Locus]

Another one of theirs that interests me is the D18
D18 L2 U2 it's a small light that puts out 300 lumens and can be powered by either a CR123A primary battery or two different types of small Li-ion rechargeables, and would be a nice backup light to clip to your harness or BC. Do you have any knowledge of this light?

I haven't seen it, but reading the manufacturer's description I see no reason to prefer it to the D06. The brightness is far below the specs of the D06, and there's no way I would trust that sort of clip-on attachment in any situation more extreme than a late-night dog walking. If I used it for diving, the first thing I would do is ditch that and attach a bolt snap. Yes, the D18 is tiny, but the D06 is already so small that I can clip it to my harness and never notice it's there.

Maybe if I was trying to stuff it into the pocket of a jacket bcd the size would make up the difference, but to me it just looks like 1/3 the brightness and features of the D06 for 2/3 the price.

 

[SandyRobinson]

Underwater Light Dude, specifically the UW35.

 

[j2s]

Burn time & lumens

 

[Hatul]

Burn time & lumens

The XTAR D06 is rated at max of 900 lumens and nominally will run at max brightness 1.25 hrs depending on the battery.