First canister light

[mattd]

I'm considering buying my first canister light.  I'm looking for something to cut through the haze in low viz, but not be so powerful I can't use it on a night dive in clear water without scaring away all the critters.

Right now, I either dive without a light or I use a crappy little plastic thing that runs on AA batteries.

I'm thinking about getting one of the new Light Monkey 9W LED lights.

Any thoughts?  Suggestions?

[DetectorGuy]

I don't know about the critter scaring part, but if you want to cut through the murk I would suggest the HID over the LED. That is just me though. I have the Diverite 15 watt with the adjustable beam. It is not as durable as the LED and not as miserly on batteries, but it is second only to the sun. It has 3 1/2 hours of burn time with the 4.5 Amp battery. I was going to get the Sartek H2113 that is switchable from 13 watts to 21 watts but they had a problem getting  ballasts so they had none of these in their inventory this spring. Here is a link to the Diverite Slimline H1000:


There are a lot of companies switching to LED but I went with the time tested HID.

[mattd]

I'll have to think about this some more.  I had heard that if your light is too powerful and then you go warm water night diving, that it scares all the critters away.

I was hoping that a 9W LED would still be a decent light without breaking the bank on one of the really big lights.

[Chris H]

What are your buddies using?  What are you using the light for?  If you are just using it occasionally, that LED may suite you just fine.  If one of your buddies has a brighter light, yours may quickly become invisible in some cases.  My buddies and I use our lights for communication, more often than we do because it is so dark we need lights.  Our 18W HID lights have a light saber sort of beam that is visible in fairly light conditions. I haven't personally used an LED primary light, but I've been very happy with my Halcyon 18W HID.  I also had a long conversation with Joel, from Light Monkey, and he uses an HID.  I've heard horror stories about HID bulbs being very fragile, but I haven't had a broken one and I've been using the light for 4 or 5 years now.  YMMV

[jasondbaker]

I used to bring canister lights to the tropics but not anymore.  My little 3W led light is plenty strong in the tropics and packs much lighter.  If I ever buy another canister light again it will be LED all the way.

[jeffberry]

I have used a led like the one you talked about!  Worked great!  It was in a cave an it had a very nice beam.    Very much like a beam from a 10 watt hid

[arcFlash]

I was going to say something similar to Jason so I'll just agree with him..

Most of my dives have a lot of back-scatter so more light doesn't help. It's about the conditions when you NEED the light. If you don't get a lot of back scatter go bigger. I have wanted more power in the past but not enough to justify the price jump between 10w and 21w.

I'd pick a price point first then shop for the best HID light for the money.

[mattd]

The light monkey light is $500.  For $550, you can get a similar light from Dive Rite.  From there, it seems like you are up to $750-850.

The water seems clearer here overall, but it depends on the day too.

[divermike]

great topic guys. i am also going to be investing in a new light and these first hand reports are the best. i was wondering which lite does the best job in our low vis conditions here. the deeper you go the less natural light you have. i have noticed that below 1 or 2 thermoclines that there can be less particles floating around but you start losing natural light,big time.
i have never owned a canister light, they look like a real investment. but a canister might be worth the investment if you are diving in low vis and serious about poking around wrecks, deep bottom scratching,etc..
on our last trip to bonaire a divemaster we were diving with on a night dive had a very high quality led lite made by led lenser. small in size, it was much better than our small uk lites.
anybody else chime in with opinions on lites?  good info,thanks,
mike 8)

[arcFlash]

I believe Wazee Sports rents canister lights and the training tub is just down the street. Trying is always the best for forming opinions.