Deciding which dive light to buy
isn't easy. Among the choices you're
faced with, the strongest is 1,000
times as bright as the least powerful
-- but some have a very tight beam,
others have a broad halo, and their
sizes range from one that can dangle
on a key chain to powerful strap-onyour-
waist technical lights.
Here are some tips from tests
conducted by Steve Weinman,
managing editor of Diver magazine,
published in the United Kingdom.
He compared several lights in
four categories -- lanterns,
hand lights, mini lights, and
technical lights. As a rule, he
found that rechargeable lights
provided more light than their
dry-cell-equipped counterparts,
but always at the expense of
burn time. The following is a
condensation of his study,
which originally appeared in
Diver.
Lanterns
Bigger and heavier lanterns
are the choice of serious night
divers, though their bulk may be
too much for traveling divers.
Out of a group of four very
similar competitors (Underwater
Kinetics' UK400R, Princeton
Tec's 400R, Ikelite's RCD
Rechargeable, and Technisub's
Vega 2), the UK400R has the
edge in light output.
Out of all of the lights
tested, the UK800R and
Princeton Tec 8000R lanterns
have the brightest hot spots. The
first has a wider spot, but the
second probably offers better
long-term watertightness. The
Subatec SB80 Pro has the widest
beam of any light, producing no
hot spot at all when adjusted to
its wide setting.
The Beuchat 50W Lantern,
with its rubber-covered pistol
grip, handles well in the water
and gives a bright and reasonably
wide hot spot; it has one of
the widest haloes of all the
lamps tested. The patchy beam
of the Pelican BriteLite disappointed
testers.
![Lighten Up](/UCnow/issues/imagesH/LightenUp199707.jpg)
Considering price and
performance, the UK800R and
Princeton Tec 8000R were our
first choices, closely followed by
the smaller UK400R, Tec 4000R,
and Ikelite RCD rechargeable.
The Ikelite RCD is best in the
dry-cell category, and the Mares
Arturo 12 and Subatec SB80 Pro
are good choices for those with
cash to spare.
Hand Lights
Traveling divers who carry
their lights usually prefer hand
lights, which are usually compact
enough to fit into BC pockets.
The performance stars in this
category are the Ikelite PC Lite,
Princeton Tec 600, and Underwater
Kinetics SL6.
Smaller versions, using four
instead of six C batteries, are the
Tec 400 and UK SL4. These do
not necessarily give less light,
but usually throw a narrower
beam and provide less burn
time. Both have a switching
arrangement as simple as that of
their larger relatives.
The anatomically similarly
Scubapro Pocket Light gives a
narrower, brighter beam. The
Technisub Quartz Mk2 produces
a reasonable amount of light
from eight AA batteries for a
whopping nine hours and has
proved particularly watertight.
However, our choice for best
all-round performer was the
Ikelite PCa. A smaller version
of the Ikelite PC, this
produces a broader
beam, is very bright
for its class, fits
easily into any BC
pocket, and gives a
very respectable
burn time from six
AA dry cells. Another
Ikelite, the Super C
Lite HR, is too large to
fit into a BC pocket. The
Ikelite Mini C Lite, a reducedscale
version that uses four C
cells, is comparatively puny in
performance.
Mini Lights
It is comforting, when all else
has failed, to be able to pull a tiny
backup torch from the recesses
of your BC. If you find yourself
floating alone on the surface of
the sea at night, a tiny backup
torch could save your life.
By far the best performer in
this class is the Underwater
Kinetics UK Mini Q20 (with
handy karabiner clip). Its two
lithium batteries provide a high
output in one of the smallest
packages. It's also the most
expensive.
The Scubapro Krypton Mini,
Princeton Tec 20, and Pelican
MityLite also performed well.
The MityLite is designed like a
penlight and comes with a
useful, fiber-optic-style attachment
for inspecting the interior
of your diving cylinder and
other awkward corners. So does
the Pelican Super MityLite, with
50 percent more battery power
and 50 percent more brightness.
Then there's Pelican's Super
Duper MityLite, which, oddly
enough, gave less impressive
results than its Super.
With a couple of notable
exceptions, all the little lamps
mentioned here use AA batteries.
All give long burn times,
though not very brightly.
Technical Lights
For overall performance and
total manufacturing quality, the
laurels go to the MetalSub
products from the Netherlands.
These are built with the precision
one might expect of a
modern military weapon. The
MetalSub KL12170, with two
hours of useful burn time, gave
the brightest hot spot of all the
technical lights we tested. The
cheaper MetalSub K1255 comes
with a less powerful ni-cad
battery for less burn time and a
small hot spot. Both have large
peripheral haloes.