Ozbargainer and fisherman from Australia

Hi guys

I have found my way to your forum after buying a couple of LED flashlights advertised on Ozbargain.com.au

Your forum was mentioned in comments by a helpful guy called “aussieprepper” on ozbargain.

I go by the same username here as on ozbargain.

Anyway I guess I am really looking for lights I can use fishing/prawning. That means IP68 rated preferably.

I am still a torch noob. I own about 4 different 18650 powered torches - they are all small and reasonably cheap ones. I am looking to get a few better ones.

The charger I have is a Nitecore I4 (I believe its only a V1.0, not a V2.0) and it came with 4 Nitecore branded batteries (NL186 9.6Wh).
They haven’t been given a great deal of use to date, but have worked fine when they have.

I used the XML-T6 while wading in belly deep water prawning.

It gave off more light than an old-school 12 volt powered halogen underwater prawning light (think 1.2 metre long handle running down to halogen light that must be run while submersed only). The light from the halogen was noticeably yellow versus the very white light of the XML-T6.
The XML-T6 also lasted 5 hours without showing any sign of running out of power.

I also had a 12 volt powered cheap LED prawning light, made by a company called FORCE TEN.

The XML-T6 appeared to be putting out a similar if not better amount of light to this thing, which kinda shocked me (in the positive for the XML-T6 and the negative for the Force Ten).

I purchased a 37 Lumen LED specialised prawning light on EBAY.
When it turned up it had the cigarette lighter style connection to 12 volt, not the alligator clips. It came with non-waterproof convertor to alligator clips. It was therefore useless for my purposes and I returned it without using it. The seller has since updated their photos and description. I note it had 900 lumen output rating which is around half the rated output on my XML-T6.

There is an obvious advantage if I can have a handheld 18650 powered Ip68 rated torch that puts out say 2000+ lumens - no need to lug around a 12 volt battery on a tyre inner tube, no worrying about the electrical cable connecting the 12 volt battery to the light. A lot safer and easier to move around with an 18650, as long as I can trust it as I dont want things to go dark all of a sudden!

The other attractive option would be a specialised prawn light like the Force Ten style, but one putting out say 4000 lumens!
Think this but better lumens: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/milwaukee-light-/172052114289

There is a big market for prawn lights - there are AA and AAA jobs around but I am concerned about their light output and their battery life - I’m surprised I havent come across any 18650 ones.

For example, some LEDs on EBAY that use C size batteries only output 400 lumens. Some AA powered lights only 130 lumens :frowning:

I’m not that familiar with what you’re interested in.

But I suggest that you take a look in this area: http://budgetlightforum.com/forum/otherled/diving

Hope you can find something useful!

Hi and welcome Gwh. I dont recall a lot of talk about prawn lights.

And do get a light recommended for diving. With the other inflated claims coming from some light makers and sellers, I wouldn’t necessarily trust them to have an accurate waterproof rating either. But you can trust the membership here who have tried a light and recommend it, and if it’s good for diving it will certainly work for your needs.

Phil

Welcome, and keep an eye on this thread. Before you know it, you’re going to have all kinds of informed suggestions. These people know their lights…and love their prawns.

We do a fair amount of night fishing here in Hawaii. I’m familiar with the use of dive lights, float lights (typically tube mounted), headlamps, and personal (overhead/hands-free) lantern harnesses. But I’ve never seen the type of lights being sold on the internet under the genre “prawn light”.

Not that we have a whole lot of sand bars or mud flats to use them on, but I would have thought that I would have at least seen some mention of them.

So, I wonder if this device is something uniquely Australian?

Welcome to BLF. :beer: ...where's the prawn icon??

Maybe Shrimp light would bring up more hits?

For those of you not familiar with them:

This is 12 volt I bought on EBAY that had a cigarette lighter connector (wasnt described that way when I bought it).
Totally useless for me as the convertor to alligator clips wasnt waterproof.
I guess I could have cut the cigarette lighter part off myself and just rewired alligators, but I am not paying $80 AUD for a light I have to self-modify.

An example with the correct alligator clips but halogen not LED
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Force-Ten-Prawn-Light-Brand-NEW-Boating-Camping-Fishing-/251931070119

Halogen lights just dont cut it for whiteness, brightness or power consumption vs an LED - hence my search for a good LED one

This one is powered by C sized batteries and is 800 lumen LED

Getting closer to what I want - ideally I’d like either 12 volts and 2000+ lumens, or 18650 powered around 2000 lumens.

I know its not an underwater light per se, but I am wondering how say a TM16GT would go?
As per my introduction, a basic XML-T6 outperformed the halogen underwater light and was at least as good as the el-cheapo LED underwater light…

It seems 18650 batteries are common in flashlight circles, but I have to say they arent readily available in Australia except from specialty retailers - I am surprised as they are so much better than the traditional batteries. I don’t know if this is going to change in the future or not - I hope it does!

Cool. It looks like a metal detector for prawns.

LOL

Yep that is a good description - the appearance is certainly not unlike a metal detector.

When using it you tend to shine the light in an arc say 150 degrees in front of you - you can shine it straight down like you would a metal detector, but generally you are scanning the water and bottom ahead of you.
Ideally the light will penetrate the water/sand/weed ahead and lightup anything within say 10 metres. Other than the quality of your light, the visibility depends a lot on the water, the waves and the wind.

The advantage of having the light underwater is it lights up a whole arc in front of you - if you are holding a light above water you can get a good spot but you dont get the right angle to get a good arc…

When the prawns are really going they actually swim toward the light source - on my best night I literally had swarms of prawns all around me. On a bad night you might see 0 or 1 prawns ALL NIGHT.

There are other things you catch from time to time while prawning too - flounder and various other fish, crabs, eels (if you want them), octopus, cuttlefish, etc.

You do also see the occasional shark but touch wood the sharks have been more scared of me than vice versa to date….

If prawning is like gigging for flounder and crabs, then look up gigging, or gigging for flounder.

http://www.fishingkites.co.nz/flounder_fishing/flounder_fishing_index.html

That is more like it Brad - however those “lights” are basically a handle with three torches attached to the bottom of the handle.

Also I am surprised they only went for 350 lumen torches - surely 800 lumen or so x 3 would have been a better choice for not a lot more money.

I think we can do better than that. Ideally something with an on/off switch at the top of the handle - also preferably one light with one battery compartment not 3 torches (though from a redundancy point of view 3 torches in some ways is better).

They are certainly using those lights for the same purposes I am…

Where in Aus are you based ?
I think the TM16 would be a good option, yet I do recommend purchasing silicone to line ALL threads with before approaching water, Nitecore make some, so using that, on their torch, with their batteries charged in their cells, if there was an issue, I dare say you would receive a favourable response in order to maintain your loyalty.
It is advertised as IPX8 and 2m submersible, so legally, you would have a leg to stand upon if you had issues :slight_smile:

I am in Corlette - part of Port Stephens, NSW.

TM16 looks pretty good - I see there are various flavours including a GT version.

I have read comments about various torches needing “button top” 18650’s. I am pretty sure mine are “button top” already - but I’ll need some more batteries too if I am investing in such a torch.

Normal alkalines are button top. Some 18650’s are flat top, meaning the positive contact is flush with the shoulder.

When I used to gig for flounder we only had a handheld white gas Coleman lantern, and it was plenty, are you looking for a boat get up, or one to carry, and are you sure that you need 2400 lumens?

What is the process of this “prawning”?

We're very glad to have you here, Greatwhitehunter!

Welcome!
If you join my little GAW you might just win and that would make ordering some stuff to improve whatever you choose even more :wink:

Au-delà du possible

I am looking for something to carry.

I don’t need 2400 lumens probably, but I want 5000 :slight_smile: