Hid Lights

[bonairediver]

Can anyone tell me , what is the best Halcyon light to dive with is? I am looking at the 21watt with the 9volt battery. Is this a good choice or not?

[Mo2vation]

Can anyone tell me , what is the best Halcyon light to dive with is? I am looking at the 21watt with the 9volt battery. Is this a good choice or not?

A 21 watt HID is bright as all get out.

A 21 watt Halogen is pretty ho hum.

Light Monkey (backin the Salvo days), Halcyon, Sartek, Dive Rite - those are the ones I've used. They're all fine lights. I'm still using the Salvo light and love it.

---
Ken

[LCF]

Bonairediver, what do you want the light FOR?

A 21W HID (although some will argue with me) is overkill for tropical night diving. A 10W would be a better light. You don't need a lot of illumination in clear water at night, and if you are looking for nocturnal animals, the intense lights really distress them. Sometimes I think I'd rather do a Hawaiian night dive with one of my backup lights -- I'd see more, I think, because things wouldn't run for shelter when they saw me coming.

In a cave, a 21W is a lovely light, particularly if the whole team has them. There, you are trying to spill as much light into a big, dark space as you can, while preserving enough focus to communicate. You don't want a light so bright that you can't see your teammates' signals, but you want the aggregate light on the team to be as large as possible.

In our turbid, West Coast waters, you need a lot of power to punch through the particulates. You need focus to maintain a bright enough center beam to communicate. You pay for it by having more light than you might really want at night, if you are looking for sea life -- but at 100 feet at ANY time of day, it is very dark, and you're trying to get as much light on the subject as possible.

So the power of the light you need depends on the environment in which you are going to use it. So does the burn time required. If your typical day is one or two fairly short shore dives, a 4.5 amp hour battery is enough. If you do three or four dives, it's not. If you do longer dives, it's not. If you do technical or overhead dives, it's not enough safety margin.

Tell us what you want the light FOR, and we can give you MUCH better advice on what you should be using.

[bonairediver]

I want the light for wrecks and diving in the Mass. waters, which are dark, and low visibilty for the most part. I understand the signaling aspect for my team diviers, but i think that this light will cover all of what i am needing it for. This is not overkill is it?

[fdog]

For what you're describing 21 W HID should be fine - 21 LED a bit low - 35 W HID will really make you smile.

I take my anticipated daily burn time - then shop for the model that doubles that. This keeps me from overdischarging, and shortening the life of the battery pack.

My anticipated use is 2 dives a day of 70 minutes each; thus, a 5 hour light.


All the best, James


PS - absolutely agree with LCF - 10 W is more than enough for tropical. Used 21 W once - I felt sorry for the critters, they positively seemed in pain. Never done that again.

[Ross-O]

Us lowly 10 watters don't speak up often in the light battles, but I've found a good 10W HID to work just fine for the SoCal diving I do (vis usually 10-40ft). 10W HIDs have small heads and don't run half way down your arm. You can get 3 hours out of a tiny 4.5AH battery pack. They're a lot cheaper than the 21W lights. There is a noticable difference between the brightness of a 10 and and 18 or 21W, but there is a HUGE difference between typical cumbersome handheld halogen and any canister HID light.

If you have lots of extra cash laying around or find a great deal, buy as many watts of light (and corresponding battery) as you feel like dragging/swimming around. If you're on a budget, a 10 watter will serve you just fine.

Side note - the 10ish LEDs are about as bright as the 10W HIDs but you'll never have to buy another $60-100 bulb. Careful with the old Welch Allyn 10W HIDs. I've probably spent $400 on bulbs in the last 5 years. LEDs are nearly indestructable. Brightstars are more rugged than WA.

Cheers,
Ross-O