Which HID light will you buy? OMS? Halcyon?

[waynne fowler]

and that's pretty much my answer - which hid light will i buy? the one my buddy is selling to go up to an 18 or 21! that's my strategy on most purchases, wait for my buddies to upgrade!

but then sooner or later you'll do the same.. upgrade... or at least thats how it worked out for me..

now you've spent more then you needed to.. buy the good stuff now.. and the money you save can be spent on a nice fat trip!

Just my experience

 

[waynne fowler]

Anybody know anything about sartek ?

I've owned an 18w and sold 4 10w...
not one is in use today and we all own Halcyon

Paid $1600 for my 18w died 6 months out of the box.. replaced ballast for $500.00 they would not warrenty even though the light had never flooded. 2 months later replaced the bulb $250. One more bulb 1 month later. 4 months later the ballast blew... I burned it in the back yard I was so mad... (SSTTUUPPIIDD!!!) But it was pretty cool to watch.. Though not really as satisfying as I'd hoped

One of the 10wt's had the battery fall out on dive one. The latches were not set right at the factory and just kinda 'fell' open.. they would not warrenty the light. The customer spent about $350.00 to get that fixed. shortly after that the ballest went out. It's now a paper weight.

all three of the others had repeated ballest problems the I suspect lead to the continual bulb failures.. I could never get them to do any repairs under warrenty.
eventually we all went to Halcyon and have never had a problem. When my light needed repair one time after 3 years (the light cord had failed as the way I wore it, it was getting a bit of a kink in it at the top of the lid) they did an upgrade on the cord and never charged me a penny, they wrote if off as warrenty work.

I have spoke with others who have had almost exactly the opposite experiences though.

YMMV

 

[waynne fowler]

If the non-focusable beam is set tight (6 deg or so) then personally I don't see the point of a focusable beam then, as I rarely change the angle for any reason. I use it on night dives, day dives, whenever. Great for signalling, which is one of my primary uses.

I think you gave it away... you said you "rarely change the angle"

I am in the same boat... I 'rarely change the angle'

But I do.. when you want it... it sure is nice to have.. if you need it sometime and you don't have it ..... that sucks... get the focasable.. if you rarely use it.. at least you do..

I use mine for video, photography etc...
The cost is not that significant on the grand scheme.

 

[Solitude Diver]

I use an OMS phantom HID 10 watt as well. I love it. You can get 3-4 hrs burn time on the standard battery and twice that on the optional one. (Great for multi dives when you can’t go back to charge it). It did flood once do to a leak in the umbilical attachment, but OMS replaced it for free. They have since redesigned the light (which I bought this year).

However the “Tim Allen” person in me is thinking of a Green-Force Arrow A12 HID100. They are supposed to have 100 watts of light but only use 35 watts of power. The Arrow A12 batteries give you 60 minutes burn time ea, and you can attach 2 or more together. You can also change out different light heads, or even put splitter in to connect more than one head (photography, etc.). My concern is that the area I dive (Puget Sound) is usually low vis. (5-15 feet), and I am worried about the “high beam in the fog” scenario of light bouncing back. I mainly want it for wrecks and deeper dives, but in a silt out, inside a wreck, the same light bounce back could be a problem.

The light set up with two batteries and charger retails around $1200, but can be found a little cheaper.

Anyone have any thoughts (or experience) on the Green-Force Arrow A12?

-S :14: