Which NON canister light as a primary light?

[Bigeclipse]

All,
Which primary lights do you use for technical dives which "may" require a light but do not need a canister light for extreme burn times?

 

[tbone1004]

good backup lights.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00S8Z7PZC...UTF8&colid=20R1B8EYPPCRL&coliid=IPJFBTD2D2FQT

I use that one, nice tight beam, magnetic push button switch instead of rotary, pretty cheap.

$35 for the light
http://www.amazon.com/ORBTRONIC-PRO...704&sr=8-4&keywords=panasonic+18650+protected
$28 for a pair of good 18650's, most that come with the lights are cheap chinese crap
$28 for a good charger
Amazon.com: XTAR VP2 Selectable Current Li-ion Battery Charger: Electronics

yeah it's $90 and you can get good backup lights for $50 or so, but this comes with two very good batteries, and a very good charger, which you can't say about any of the other "packages" that you can find. $125 and you get 2 lights, 2 batteries, and good charger, which is a good deal overall

 

[Bigeclipse]

good backup lights.

SecurityIng Waterproof 1000Lm XM-L2 U2-1A LED IP68 Diving Flashlight 250M Lighting Distance Maximum 150 Meters Underwater Distance with Magnetic Switch (Without Battery) - - Amazon.com

I use that one, nice tight beam, magnetic push button switch instead of rotary, pretty cheap.

$35 for the light
Amazon.com: ORBTRONIC 3400mAh Two 18650 PROTECTED PANASONIC 3.7V Rechargeable High Performance Li-ion Batteries - 10 Amp Dual Protection - For High Power 18650 Flashlights - Protective Battery Case Included: Home Improvement
$28 for a pair of good 18650's, most that come with the lights are cheap chinese crap
$28 for a good charger
Amazon.com: XTAR VP2 Selectable Current Li-ion Battery Charger: Electronics

yeah it's $90 and you can get good backup lights for $50 or so, but this comes with two very good batteries, and a very good charger, which you can't say about any of the other "packages" that you can find. $125 and you get 2 lights, 2 batteries, and good charger, which is a good deal overall

I actually already have a decent amount of 18650s and a charger so i really only need the flashlight. Do you know if most tech instructors would allow a light like this? Do they require a light with a handle in their courses? I am specifically looking into TDI deco procedures/advanced nitrox courses at the moment. Thank you!

 

[tursiops]

I actually already have a decent amount of 18650s and a charger so i really only need the flashlight. Do you know if most tech instructors would allow a light like this? Do they require a light with a handle in their courses? I am specifically looking into TDI deco procedures/advanced nitrox courses at the moment. Thank you!

You don't want to have to have a hand occupied with a light during your deco class. A light sock for the back of the hand works well with a small light like the one tbone has linked to, as well as many others. Narrow beam, good burn time, are critical. It will probably be on all the time (it is your signalling device), so having an easy switch is not so important, but is definitely nice. Twisting the head takes two hands, and sometimes you don't have two available.

 

[tbone1004]

depends on the kind of tech they are doing and your instructor. You will need a goodman handle of some sort for it, but the light socks are sufficient.

DGX Soft Handmount | Dive Gear Express®
that guy works pretty well.

The one I linked with the good panasonic batteries is good for over an hour on high putting out more light than the 10w HID's of yore are able to. On medium it is pretty comparable to a 10w HID and will burn for far longer than you'll be underwater, certainly longer than your bottom times.

 

[sea_otter]

At $300, this is a bit (okay, a lot) more expensive than some of the others mentioned above, but I absolutely love my BigBlue TL3100p. It is about 3 times brighter than my DGX600 (and brighter than several of my buddies' canister lights) and fantastic for cutting through low visibility. It comes with a soft Goodman-style handle which is quite comfortable and unlike some of the gloves, easy to remove and replace if you want to temporarily switch hands. You can alternatively buy a hard handle and mount it.


Runtime is 90 min on high, 3 hours on med-high, 6 hours on med-low, and 15 hours on low. Med-high is usually plenty bright. It also has a nice tight spot.

(Disclaimer - I'm not a tech diver, but I do love this light).

 

[rongoodman]

The problem with the light socks is how do you switch the light to the other hand when you need to use the left hand for something, like dumping air from your wing, without waving the beam all over the place.

 

[psdiver102]

I am a big fan of big blue lights . I use 3 VL3100's for video. My primary cave light is a TL3100P. and I have a 1100 for a backup along with a DGX600 backup

 

[Patoux01]

I'd stay away from any non-rigid goodman handle...

The problem with the light socks is how do you switch the light to the other hand when you need to use the left hand for something, like dumping air from your wing, without waving the beam all over the place.

I'm not sure the one from big blue goes in what you call a sock, but anyway, that's the one I have. It's crap, like any soft goodman handle, but I figured out how to half-decently use it. It has 2 straps, I simply use only the one at the fingers. That way you can switch hands etc without it being a problem. It's not as comfortable as a good handle, but for up to 2 hours it was fine. My torch (big blue vtl 3000) was getting on the heavy side at the end of those dives, so I would avoid using one like that for more than 90 minutes or so. (I ended up switching hands very often)
OTOH, you'd be surprised at how many people don't care about potential signals they're sending and/or blinding their buddies.

 

[tbone1004]

agreed on the weight of those things, even if they're balanced well in terms of buoyancy which they usually aren't, it's still a lot of mass to move and your hand will tire. The small backup lights are more than enough for most types of diving and the sock that I linked moves back and forth decently well. Obviously not as easily as say a hard good man, but you don't necessarily want a hard goodman with a cordless light as they are a bit too easy to come off