Summary: a good, bright, well-made flood light, decent price; heavy even in the water.
Details:
The specifications at XTAR D30 6000 Diving Flashlight seem fairly accurate, but I have no way of actually measuring the claimed beam spread (140 deg) or claimed light fall off with time (constant 6000 lumen output for 45 mins, then a rapid drop). Visually, the claims seem reasonable.
The batteries are 4x18650 with 3600 mAh capacity and are protected. These are very good batteries, with high current output specs (10A continuous discharge); they are very usable in other demanding devices if the D30-6000 is not being used. Then light is also available with 3500 mAh batteries at slightly less cost
Structurally, the D30-6000 is well made, with some nice featues. The On-Off switch has a quarter-turn lock on it.
There is a battery charge indicator (green until 20%, then red until 5%, then flashing red).
There is a ¼-20 socket to mount the included 1-inch ball, or to attach a lantern- or Goodman-handle. The hole is in the middle of a flat surface (nice feature!) so a handle will be more stable. The XTAR lantern handle (optional extra) has two parallel ridges that fit into slots on the light to make it even more stable.
The rear tail cap/battery-cover has good knurling to help with removal, is sealed with two o-rings (spares included), and has a large lanyard hole centered in the base. The hole does not have smooth edges, so you’d want to watch for any chafing at that point. A slick feature is 8 springs in the tail cap that center on the neg terminals of the four batteries (all are inserted with their positive tips toward the front of the light; no confusion!) and on four other contact points in the body to complete the circuit. A fixed pin in the tail cap prevents the spring-assembly from rotating while the outer cap is rotated onto or off of the light.
U/W Use:
I took it on four dives…three in the daytime, one at night. [A second night dive (intention to use for video) was scrubbed due to weather.] It was mounted on a Goodman handle I had. My three dive buddies shared using the light. For the 3 day-dives, it was not on all the time, but probably ran 25-30 minutes total. The two (teenage) dive buddies who used it on the 3 day dives were given no instructions on the use, other than the on-of switch, and were told to give me comments afterwards. Similarly, their father used in on the night dive; he used it for at most 15 minutes on the dive. [My use was to be the cancelled 2nd night dive.] Of note: The battery status light was still green after that night dive.
Here is a photo during one of the day dives; the beam spread and daylight-like light color were obvious.
On the night dive, the most obvious thing about the light was the beam spread. This photo shows the father with the D30-6000 leading, and his two sons following with 1300-lmen narrow-beam lights.
Similarly, a photo showing the father illuminating considerable wall and floor in a gully, with the two boys and their narrow beam lights.
User Feedback:
All three divers using the lD30-6000 commented on how heavy it was. They had to hold it centered on their body or else they rotated in the water. The measured in-water weight was about 2 pounds, which mean they cold not clip it off to a D-ring when not in use, or they would tilt.
Other than the weight, their only comment was (all three said this) “It sure is bright!” For day use, that was fine. For night use, it was too bright for critter searching; everything swam away.
Additional Comments:
The zipper case it comes in is large, and holds a 4-cell charger, charging cable, and wall plug (my review light had an Australian plug; no problem, just a normal 2A USB charger), plus the ball-mount, wrist-lanyard and o-ring spares. Bulky to travel with, but good protection for everything.
A side benefit of the strong flood light of the D30-6000 was its use as a fill-in light for shadows on people’s faces during above-water (dry) photographs.
Details:
The specifications at XTAR D30 6000 Diving Flashlight seem fairly accurate, but I have no way of actually measuring the claimed beam spread (140 deg) or claimed light fall off with time (constant 6000 lumen output for 45 mins, then a rapid drop). Visually, the claims seem reasonable.
The batteries are 4x18650 with 3600 mAh capacity and are protected. These are very good batteries, with high current output specs (10A continuous discharge); they are very usable in other demanding devices if the D30-6000 is not being used. Then light is also available with 3500 mAh batteries at slightly less cost
Structurally, the D30-6000 is well made, with some nice featues. The On-Off switch has a quarter-turn lock on it.
There is a battery charge indicator (green until 20%, then red until 5%, then flashing red).
There is a ¼-20 socket to mount the included 1-inch ball, or to attach a lantern- or Goodman-handle. The hole is in the middle of a flat surface (nice feature!) so a handle will be more stable. The XTAR lantern handle (optional extra) has two parallel ridges that fit into slots on the light to make it even more stable.
The rear tail cap/battery-cover has good knurling to help with removal, is sealed with two o-rings (spares included), and has a large lanyard hole centered in the base. The hole does not have smooth edges, so you’d want to watch for any chafing at that point. A slick feature is 8 springs in the tail cap that center on the neg terminals of the four batteries (all are inserted with their positive tips toward the front of the light; no confusion!) and on four other contact points in the body to complete the circuit. A fixed pin in the tail cap prevents the spring-assembly from rotating while the outer cap is rotated onto or off of the light.
U/W Use:
I took it on four dives…three in the daytime, one at night. [A second night dive (intention to use for video) was scrubbed due to weather.] It was mounted on a Goodman handle I had. My three dive buddies shared using the light. For the 3 day-dives, it was not on all the time, but probably ran 25-30 minutes total. The two (teenage) dive buddies who used it on the 3 day dives were given no instructions on the use, other than the on-of switch, and were told to give me comments afterwards. Similarly, their father used in on the night dive; he used it for at most 15 minutes on the dive. [My use was to be the cancelled 2nd night dive.] Of note: The battery status light was still green after that night dive.
Here is a photo during one of the day dives; the beam spread and daylight-like light color were obvious.
On the night dive, the most obvious thing about the light was the beam spread. This photo shows the father with the D30-6000 leading, and his two sons following with 1300-lmen narrow-beam lights.
Similarly, a photo showing the father illuminating considerable wall and floor in a gully, with the two boys and their narrow beam lights.
User Feedback:
All three divers using the lD30-6000 commented on how heavy it was. They had to hold it centered on their body or else they rotated in the water. The measured in-water weight was about 2 pounds, which mean they cold not clip it off to a D-ring when not in use, or they would tilt.
Other than the weight, their only comment was (all three said this) “It sure is bright!” For day use, that was fine. For night use, it was too bright for critter searching; everything swam away.
Additional Comments:
The zipper case it comes in is large, and holds a 4-cell charger, charging cable, and wall plug (my review light had an Australian plug; no problem, just a normal 2A USB charger), plus the ball-mount, wrist-lanyard and o-ring spares. Bulky to travel with, but good protection for everything.
A side benefit of the strong flood light of the D30-6000 was its use as a fill-in light for shadows on people’s faces during above-water (dry) photographs.
