Primary Lights - What You Need To Know!

With so many sexy lights on the market, how do you get bang for your buck, and oodles of lumens for your loot. It's all explained here with some real life examples.

[@JURASSICDIVERUK]

Nice to see an honest opinion on dive lights. Look forward to seeing your advice on helmets!

[@Meicken84]

I’d also like to see what he has to say about helmets and mounting lights.

[@Dasycottus]

The Halcyon LED+fresnel lens combinations are really lovely. One more generation's worth of battery miniaturization and heat management, and I think we might have the perfect spotlight-even in a pure handheld config. The lockable/full external switch is also quite handy...

[@SouthernCrossSailing]

Have you tried Nanight lights? The sport/video is supposedly rated to 500m without the charge port and has a rotary magnetic switch that shouldn’t actuate under pressure. Edit: the video (abyss) version is allegedly pressure tested to 2000m (that’s not a typo). Love your videos! You’re an incredible technical diver. Thanks

[@DrHarryH]

So many great lights around! I haven't seen these. 2000m is a big call so I'd love to know how they test them.

[@robertcampbell7662]

Dude you are awesome! …. Just wish you had more of your dives on here…. Your dives with included stops in the habitats are the best!!

[@ME-lf7by]

Great explanation of diving lights! 👍

[@morganames8142]

Great description of lumens vs. lux specifications! THANKS!

[@MultiHunterOne]

I just got myself a Hi-Max H01 canister light and the canister isn't a prefabricated piece of kit that you have to buy as a whole and will degrade over time warranting a costly replacement, instead it takes 3 26650 batteries which are a very cheap alternative and provide a decent amount of stored power. It could've definitely been an even bigger battery like a 32650 as the canister is very slim but I am very happy with the light.

[@AlekTheExplorer]

Using this video to make a final decision on my primary light. Thank you for your input. I think I'm going with the BigBlue TL5200P :)

[@coleman7557]

Love this video! Very informative and interesting.

[@edwardwhitehill6658]

Lucky for me I just found your channel! I have a LD40 with a tall canister (11.4” tall, 2.4” diameter and 4.5 lbs) which I use for SM and easily mount to the butt plate of my katana 2. Is it even a good idea for me to look at a way to mount it to my Apeks BP&W when diving a single back mounted cylinder? If so best mounting option?

[@DrHarryH]

Yes you could mount the canister on the side of your single cylinder using a small drysuit cylinder mount with a cam band, Metal Sub or similar.

[@edwardwhitehill6658]

Thanks Harry.

[@bentschida]

Great explanation on the differences and specs to look for. Habe you had any experience with GRALmarine lights so far?

[@DrHarryH]

I haven't used GRALmarine but I had a look at their website. Like a lot of gear made in Poland for diving, it looks pretty solid. I have generally moved away from primary and video lights with a cable to a separate battery pack, but many divers still prefer them.

[@m.s.a-technicaldiving377]

I had some old Dive Rite's canister, all of them were awesome lights for the time. Now I got a Light-For-Me, and no complains at all. Bigblue is a honest light for the price, and OrcaTorch is garbage, all I know had problems, sincerely, go for the good ones. Light Monkey, DR, Halcyon, Ligh-for-Me, UW Light Dude.

[@fandingas]

Never dove overhead, only open water ocean dives but, to my eyes, I seem to never have enough light! I'm sure in a cave there can be such a thing as too much light but, I'm not there, yet 😁 Funny thing is, to me, it always seems like my light is not focused enough, somewhat scattered, while I see my mates light beams really focused (tight spot) but when I see a video of the dive I can see my light is just as focused as theirs. Can't understand why 🤷‍♂️ Cheers all.

[@123ABanga]

The angle you are viewing the beam. When you are looking from behind the torch it's going to look more conical because you can't really gauge the "length" of the beam, especially given the water makes everything look about 30% closer. So you percieve your beam as shorter and fatter than it is, but looking at your buddies you're seeing the real length, the same as when you see yourself back on video. Honestly the same thing can be applied to alot of different scenarios but underwater the magnification makes it worse. I've often thought the same thing about my BigBlue VTL4200, in spot mode I think "damn that really isnt much of a beam", but my buddies often comment on what an impressive and focused beam it has. Strongly reccomend the BigBlue VTL range if you're looking for a light as they can be swapped betwen wide, spot, red and near UV modes so very versatile.

[@dmoravek0721]

Now that tech has gotten so much better, do think a canister light is still worth the investment?

[@DrHarryH]

Hi David, they are no longer my preference and I wont go back. But if you need massive duration from a very big battery pack maybe?? Personally I'd rather have several smaller lights which gives better redundancy anyway.

[@dmoravek0721]

@@DrHarryH That's been my theory also, I do like the big blue lights. And really thank you for your testing of all those lights and how the buttons function at depth. I am only at 70 meters at this point, and wont use them when I hit the 100 meter depth.

[@DrHarryH]

@@dmoravek0721 yes I first struck the problem on a 100m sinkhole dive in the Bahamas. Aside from this issue, I absolutely love the BB lights.

[@EricHahn314]

In your opinion, on a non scooter dive, where should all the backup lights be stored?

[@DrHarryH]

Very much personal choice. I often wear a helmet so one or two on there. Usually a couple in a pocket as well. I tend not to have them on my harness DIR style as I prefer to keep that area less cluttered but that system is obviously good for rapid deployment.