3 replies to this topic

[Dive_Girl]

3 hours might be a bit short for my needs as a backup. Not bad for an emergency light though.

How does one assess their back-up light needs so they know exactly what kind of back-up light will work for the kind of diving they plan on?

For example, I don't know of a time when I will be on a single dive for longer than 3 hours (including looking at "technical" dives where the worst case scenario has me doing deco on back-gases for the maximum amount of worst case dive time). But for others, a 3 hr burn time is not enough.

I am curious how each of you assess your back-up light needs and perhaps what kinds of back-up lights you use. Currently and previously I have owned the following:

Current
OMS Vega - 3W LED, burn time 3 hrs, 4.26" long and 1.5" in diameter, 330" depth rating!

Previous
DiveRite - 7 LED, burn time 30 hrs, 6" long and 1.75" in diameter (couldn't handle pressure 150'+ although it has a 180' depth rating. It flooded on me in NC at 120'. I sent it back to DiveRite to replace.) Dive Rite and OMS had prevously sold this light, but they no longer do. I think I know why...

Dive Rite - 1W LED, burn time 8 hrs, 3 different brightness levels, on/off switch,

UK SL4 - 5.5W, burn time 4-5 hrs, 6.2" long. I really like the on/off switch which make me a whole lot more comfortable that screwing a light head on and off! It's a little bulky as the body holds 4 c-cell batteries and it can be a little interesting loading the darn thing!

PC Light - 6" long. Lend it as back-ups for my night diver student. Nothing terribly amazing about this light, but it is inexpensive to have in my back-up student accessible tub-o-lights.

PC Light - 5" long. I found it on a lake clean up dive!! Left the batteries it had in it for months and it always turned on when I needed it. I later flooded it because I was stupid and didn't understand how to properly care for o-rings! I miss that silly little pink with a bottom of the lake story...

[Latitude Adjustment]

Having had both lights fade out on a night dive while following the full moon instead of the ships lights back to the boat I now make sure they all have fresh Ni-mh batteries.
My back up is now a UK MiniQ-40 LED

I found a PC-Lite too, mine was in Roatan, used it for a week and then the owner was on our boat for a night dive and spotted it. He had never reported it missing to the dive op.

[PerroneFord]

I like to have fresh batteries so I change them every month whether I use them or not, and I change them after any time I use my backups. I am not that strict in open water, but if I am cave diving, I follow this.

My requirements for my backups are that they are good to at least 400ft, and that they have a burn time that is a minimum of double my intended exit time.

Right now I have a Halcyon Scout, and my next light will be a Photon Torpedo LED. Brightness takes a backseat to burntime for my backups. Reliability is also crucial. Because when I need it to work, I "REALLY" need it to work!

Of course, others will have differing opinions. This is just mine.

[ScubaDadMiami]

I have two Golem Lola LED lights. They are not the brightest, but they fit right on my mask (for CCR, I need something that takes up the least Real Estate possible), and they last over three days of continuous burn time (per a test done by a dive buddy of mine that finally turned his off after three days--we don't know how much longer they could have kept going). I have used one to find my way out of a cave during a simulated lights out drill, and these lights are fine (and then some) for survival puposes. I also like them as I have them configured because I can click them on, read gauges and the like, and then turn them off easily.

I have recently acquired the new Dive Rite 10 watt hand held HID, which makes an excellent back up light, and which fits nicely in my pocket. With good batteries, I believe these can last up to three hours. An excellent, bright beam (as bright as any 10 watt primary light).

So, I now carry up to four lights on a technical dive, and I suspect that I have a reasonable chance of having light all the way to my return. Also, everything fits very neatly, and I can always locate and turn on a light in a split second.