Hi MRTdiver! I love talking about SCUBA. Sometimes I wish I were born a fish. :bigsmile: I dont think many people realize how important the reliability of SCUBA equipment is or why redundancy is so important. Its life support equipment. Ive done some penetration and overhead but prefer open water & night dives. I used to have a dive boat in Monterey Bay, CA… so cold water/dry suit/argon/deep was the norm. Im thinking about the Cenotes in Florida next year but heard the ancient waters have been disturbed and vis is down. Not at all what it used to be.
For open water dives, my primary is the Xtar D35. I like it for its size, ruggedness, and ease of use. It has a magnetic rotating mode selection ring (no guess work for the proper mode), 3 x XM-L and uses 3 x 18650’s in parallel (safer than serial cell configurations, especially in salt water). The reflectors are deep for great throw, with a moderately tight hotspot to penetrate clear waters. It also puts out a great spill beam. IMO, the quality is top-notch and comparable to larger Olight & Fenix flashlights. Comparing high mode to high mode, it actually puts out slightly more lumens in my light box than a BTU Shocker (241k vs 227k). I measured current at 8.5A in high mode, so the emitters are well driven. I usually run mine in medium or low mode.
I got my D35 (along with an S1) from Mike over at http://www.e2fieldgear.com His kit includes the optional handle, light with case, lanyard and o-rings. Great US based seller, fast shipping and was there to answer all of my questions.
I also carry a pricey modified DiveRite 125w HID canister (and 2-3 other lights). It lights up the world and allows me to take most of the lead out of my BC.
The Cenotes are no doubt a facinating place to dive.
The wife and I dove the Cenotes of Tulum MX in 2009, and it was the clearest water I’ve ever seen.
Much clearer than Cozumel which we have dove many times and can reach 200ft vis.
I use the Xtar D06 for diving, I like that it just fits in BC pocket until I need it. Output is a bit disappointing though. I wished it pulled more amps, as underwater overheating and thermal lag isn’t a problem.
When the magnetic switch is set to high, it’s puts out around 800 lumens with a U2 emitter, continuously running it doesn’t even get warm. No idea exactly how many amps it pulls though…
Curious, as I have a few old school dive lights. Dacor and Iklite that used plain old primary batteries. The cheap Dacors used to flood regularly but were easy and cheap to rebuild and used a lot in commercial diving.
What happens to these fantastic new 26650 lights if they flood? These batteries die peacefully?
IMO, water (and especially salt water) are potential recipes for disaster when mixed with lithium cobalt oxide cells contained within a small sealed metallic housing. While many cheap lithium powered dive lights have flooded without incident, the potential for catastrophic venting is still present. Given the right conditions, an 18650 can make one hell of a ka-boom. Water will also corrode everything: from protection circuits, drivers and everything else metallic in the light. A descent dive light should NEVER leak if inspected and maintained properly. If you cant easily disassemble a dive light to lubricate and maintain orings and seals, it probably shouldn’t be submerged.
100% agree, which is why I use a quality torch and batteries. Also, any dive lights should have double O-rings, which should be removed, cleaned and re-lubed after every dive.
Cutting corners on equipment that could cost you your life is dumb beyond words. Reliable lights for cave diving are an absolutely necessity! Anything from SOLA would be a great choice for your primary dive light. They run from $299 up to $1000. Check them out. If money must be saved, save it on the backup lights. Princeton is a good choice ($60 - $200). There are some serious professional dive lights available (the Polarian Abyss comes to mind) but for $2K you could buy 2 or 3 top of the line SOLA models. There are several other top quality dive light manufacturers available. I only mention these three companies because I am familiar with them.
I never had any of these dive lights flood on me. Me and my dive buddies use a lot of Li-ion powered dive lights - actually we ONLY use Li-ion dive lights now. I don't ever use xxx-fire cells.
Remember in my first post I recommended dive lights with only 1 opening. So the chances of water leakage is minimized. And to regularly apply silicone grease to the o-rings - believe me this is where we fail most - in basic dive light care.
No need to buy expensive $100+ dive lights. I've bought them. Not impressed. In fact one of my $200+ back-up lights was one that failed from a new Alkaline battery that leaked. Destroyed the battery carrier inside.
It was about 1 or 2 years ago that I realized this after reading a post from Forrest over on Cave Diver's Forum (CDF) and then buying and using these so-called "cheap Chinese lights"
If you don't believe me then try some of those I mentioned above. They're inexpensive as far as dive lights. The Brinyte DIV05 - I think you can run over with your car and it would be fine. I'm also very interested to see how the X-Beam dive light fairs - it has a magnetic switch - so it's not another opening to the inside.
OK, so never buy cheap lights for cave diving, yes “dumb beyond words”, no? I was fishing for info, trolling to speak 0:)
I was a habitat ET for Taylor Diving based in New Orleans during the 80’s. So, the lights used during that time frame, were all primary based with both plastic and metal housing. In the commercial environment, they all flooded. Today, in a commercial environment, I dive ROV’s to 3k meters. We use 40 led 110vac modular lights. These and just about every 1 atmosphere and oil filled can or cable has flooded on these subs. Point fingers and critique all you want but any equipment in rough daily year round use floods by human error or act of the gods.
By the tone of the posts, most of you would not leave the boat without LiIo lights and that all can still type is a very good sign and a vote of confidence. I would think that, advertising dollars aside, the dive magazines would publish warnings if people were regularly injured with these lights.
Looking at the lights I would feel better if the lights had end caps, secure by 0-ring grooves, that would allow end cap to vent if flooding and gassing were to occur. I have had issues with cans that flood at depth and are under great pressure on the deck. Our halogen lights have glass globes that allow pressure to vent from their sealing O-rings when coming to surface.
yeah Illuminaria, I knew from your first post when you mentioned "commercial" that I couldn't recommend or give advise for that application, that is just wayyy too deep.
Hopefully if I helped in any way I want recreational and technical divers to see that there are some inexpensive alternatives. Because many, especially tech. divers think that they need to spend $75-$300 for a good backup dive light. And $400-$2,000 for a quality canister light.
I'm just trying to find an alternative, even if means modding a light. Like for example the Ultrafire W200, which I have a simple & inexpensive way to mod that light making it more dependable, plus a little GITD.
stock the W200 is crap - many reports of flickering. So this is only a light to buy if you intend to mod it.
Are there guys out there that currently own this light and it flickers? See my mod here.
with GITD (glow-in-the-dark) o-rings added. Glow lasts about 7 mins. Whenever the light is turned on the o-rings are re-charged
Those are large O-rings. What’s your source? I’ve been looking for some replacements for some of the standard lights. Some of them aren’t made very well with seams and bits hanging off. I even went to an O-ring local store and they had little that would fit properly.
im looking for a good diving light(under 40:money_mouth_face: with magnetic switch without parasitic drain. Does it exist ? ( except those yellow cheap flashlights )
At about 3A per emitter, the D35 doesnt need to be over driven. The only problem (and a potentially huge one) is that the bezel seals are roughly 1.5mm clear flimsy twin silicon orings. Of the two D35’s I own, both lights had damaged bezel orings that were botched at the factory and had to be replaced with better orings that I painstakingly had to special ordered through a local camera shop. Because of the tight tolerances, its a serious challenge to unscrew/screw the bezel back together without pinching, nicking or rolling an oring. Thin viscosity high quality silicon lube (not the shit xtar used), a massive 6 foot home-made strap wrench for leverage, a special cut holding jig for the vice and the several hands of friends (with a lot of patients) were required for a proper reassembly. I also upgraded the emitters to XM-L2 2B tint while they were apart for more output and far better color rendition. The stock 1A’s are crap for underwater viewing and bleach out the fishies. :Sp
Its amazing that so much time, effort and expense went into producing a nearly perfect light (which is likely the very best engineered and executed LED dive light available today) yet they completely screwed up with the ridiculously thin cheap bezel o-rings and improper selection of oring materials & lube. Other than that, they are amazing fantastic lights, both in the water and out. If you get one, rip it apart (if you’re able) and replace the orings before you submerge it or you’ll risk a flood. After that, you will be rewarded with something you’ll always be proud to own.
While I appreciate that the D35 would be a good dive light, I’m not spending close to $400 on one!! And I know you get what you pay for, but why doesn’t a double O-ring’d SRK or TK75 or something like that exist?!?
Double Orings arent always necessary and many things get by underwater without them. Maintenance, cleaning, re-lubing and inspection are key to a good oring seal. A converted Supfire m6 with a water proof momentary switch sealed with JB Weld or aquaseal from the inside of the head and aftermarket properly lubed oring at the lens and battery tube might actually work quite well, but I wouldnt count on it as a primary. But then, we all carry backups… dont we? IMO, the SRK threads are pretty weak when it comes to exerting clamping forces. Ive worn out the threads on my SRK bike light from opening and closing it. But then its a cheap light and I got my moneys worth out of it. The M6 blows away an SRK in every single aspect and its still mega cheap considering what you get for the price.
Check this thread for a simple mag switch solution. Pop out the stock M6 switch, pop in a mag switch and fill the hole with JB Weld. Im sure there are probably other solutions if you go digging. I was taught that SCUBA equipment is life support equipment, so I try to save up for things that have proven reliable in the dive community.
