Which hand for the HID light?

[Mako Mark]

Fer sure, fer sure. I'd sure hate to be the one trying to retrain someone who once held their light in the wrong hand--talk about ingrained unsafe habits.

This is why we also needed the HOG forum. I do value the DIR forum and its principles, but some of the heavy-handed methods just don't do it for the rest of us.

theskull

I must admit, I have to agree here, I see the light in the left because of scooter use and OOA being bandied around as a pretty weak excuse. when having it on the left IMO would more likely interfere with bouyancy control which you do far more often than OOA or scootering.

As far as hooking the chord around the neck interfereing with OOA, well that is a rubbish, because that is how I do S.Drills every time I go cave diving, and it never gets in the way.


JM2C

 

[Soggy]

I must admit, I have to agree here, I see the light in the left because of scooter use and OOA being bandied around as a pretty weak excuse. when having it on the left IMO would more likely interfere with bouyancy control which you do far more often than OOA or scootering.

Neither I nor anyone else I dive with seem to have buoyancy control problems with the light in the left hand. I am certain that I don't want my eyeballs fried in addition to being OOG. You do what you want, I'll do what I want. Left hand light works in every situation, right hand light doesn't work in every situation. Like everything I do, I try to only have to learn things once.

 

[lamont]

I must admit, I have to agree here, I see the light in the left because of scooter use and OOA being bandied around as a pretty weak excuse. when having it on the left IMO would more likely interfere with bouyancy control which you do far more often than OOA or scootering.

I've been using the light in the left hand for the past couple of dives, and I'm pretty quickly getting used to doing buoyancy control with it there. For a quick toot on the inflator, you can reach across with the right hand, otherwise its easy to grab the light with the right hand and fiddle with the left.

 

[NOVIZWHIZ]

Mount your light on a helmet and put it on your head...diving with a light in your hand is like diving with one hand tied behind your back.

 

[Soggy]

Mount your light on a helmet and put it on your head...diving with a light in your hand is like diving with one hand tied behind your back.

Some of us dive with buddies and don't want to blind them every time we look at them. It is also important to be able to have your light pointing somewhere other than where you are looking for effective light communication.

And, with a Goodman handle, you can do pretty much anything you want with the light hand, including giving your buddy the finger.

 

[Mako Mark]

Neither I nor anyone else I dive with seem to have buoyancy control problems with the light in the left hand. I am certain that I don't want my eyeballs fried in addition to being OOG. You do what you want, I'll do what I want. Left hand light works in every situation, right hand light doesn't work in every situation. Like everything I do, I try to only have to learn things once.

Dont get me wrong soggy, each to his own, and there is something to be said about learning one method effectively, however a certain amount of flexibility is important too. If a diver cannot adapt to different situations and unexpected or novel problems underwater then they might as well not be there as there are, and always will be novel problems with novel solutions, new equipment and changes to the "standard rig".

A great example was the evolution of the small cannister. The rule was that the cannister was on the right hip to hold down the long hose. My canister is too small for that. so what can I do?? I could clip a jump reel off on my right hip D-ring.

The truth is at the end of last year I was auditing some cave courses and finally after trying and getting frustrated with three different designs of goodman handles, I dumped it, they are a pain in the a$$, they get in the way, you dont need them, and certainly only a small portion of the full time cave instructors around here use them.

So after seeing the cumulative experience of thousands of safe cave dives, I got rid of my handles and use neck hang when needed. It leaves both hands free, I have never had it tangle during long hose deployment and even better, it illuminates whatever is in front of me that needs two hands worth of attention, (line placements or reeling in etc).

That is just my experience though, and I think that if I were to engage in scooter dives in caves, that I would helmet mount both my primary lights anyway...

 

[weekender]

This is not meant as a flame, but does anybody else see humor in 74 posts arguing over which hand to use for holding your light?

No, there is nothing humorous about this. i resent your comment. perhaps you just dont understand the importance of this topic. to me its just so upsetting that so many people dive with the light in the wrong hand. This is cleary dangerous and shows the poor state of scuba instruction today. if everyone would just learn to hold the light in the proper hand and do exactley as i tell them we wouldnt even need this board.

 

[Mako Mark]

No, there is nothing humorous about this. i resent your comment. perhaps you just dont understand the importance of this topic. to me its just so upsetting that so many people dive with the light in the wrong hand. This is cleary dangerous and shows the poor state of scuba instruction today. if everyone would just learn to hold the light in the proper hand and do exactley as i tell them we wouldnt even need this board.

:lol:

 

[NOVIZWHIZ]

Some of us dive with buddies and don't want to blind them every time we look at them. It is also important to be able to have your light pointing somewhere other than where you are looking for effective light communication.

And, with a Goodman handle, you can do pretty much anything you want with the light hand, including giving your buddy the finger.

I dive with a buddy in the springs - my 3 lights are set up to converge about 2 ft in front of me, too close to blind another diver and just right if I have to look at something in my hand, guage, etc. To hit my partner, he'd have to be way below me or I'd have to tilt my head wa-ay back to hit him. Now the guy I dive with carries a light on a lanyard...if I'm following him and he's not "pointing" it, letting it hang...dam thing hits me right between the eyes....I can also use any combination of the three.

In most cases we dive sans partner - well he's there, but he's not.......viz is so bad you can barely see the light glow so no worry of "blinding" him....just my opinion. Everyone here dives different scenarios and has their personal likes and dislikes.

Just to start another "discussion" I would never wear intergrated weights, harnasses, etc....I like the belt and will stay with the belt.

 

[Uncle Pug]

I hardly ever put my hand in the goodman handle... either hand. I hold the goodman handle with my thumb... most often with my right thumb... even when scootering I will often hold the goodman handle with my right thumb.

When first deploying the light I pass the cord under my long hose so that in the event of an OOA it will not be trapped.

There are several reasons that I do it this way but the main one is that my left hand is *busier* than my right hand... and I don't want to send erratic signals with my light nor do I want to have to switch hands with the lighthead so often. When I do want to look at my bottom timer/depth gauge (right wrist) I just switch thumbs.

The reason I like having my lighthead held by the right thumb when scootering is that I can trail my left arm and minimize drag rather than have it out of the fabled *slipstream* pointing the light ahead. Having the light held by the right thumb also makes it simple to look at my spg or compass.

However switching hands really isn't a big deal and in an OOA situation with very little practice it becomes an automatic first response. As the lighthead is pass from right thumb to left thumb the long hose is uncovered and the right hand continues up to the regulator for hand off. Very simple and no tangle.

I don't use a reel often but when I have I held the reel and my lighthead with my left hand and used my right hand to wind the line in.

On ascents I shut the HID off and stow it (back under the long hose with the cord tucked into my waistbelt.)