Cavern Diving Light

[NitroxWarrior]

I need a good light, but within the range of an all in one unit, no seperate battery housing and such.
I mostly just want to use if for diving within the Cavern zone, so its nothing more than what is considers a good backup.
I've had serious bad luck with lights, so I decided to get some advice.

[jammer]

Try the Sl6 from UK (underwater kinetics) that is what I use a back up light and it is a very good cavern light with good burn time.

[sdenney]

I used a UK D4 for Cavern. It's a flood light, which is very nice for cavern dives as it illuminates a lot of area. It's small enough to be used along with your reel and with a set of 4 D batteries, can last for hours.

[mswicord]

UK Light Cannon...excellent hand held HID for about $175. I used on for several years and still use it for OW night dives.

Mark

[Deep-Thief]

Ditto on the SL6 for a good cavern light. One thing to keep in mind when choosing a light is Can you still use a reel? With a light that has a pistol grip the answer is a definate NO. So that leaves either a flat light or one with a lantern grip. After you decide to get a big light the SL6 makes for a great backup, I personally then use a SL4 as my third and a Princeton Tec 40 as my 4th. Just my opinion and way of doing things.
PS UK has one hell of a good warrenty. If anything happens to it take it to your nearest dive shop and they will give you a new one. This is the way it used to be atleast. Check on that one first before taking it as gospel.

UK Light Cannon...excellent hand held HID for about $175. I used on for several years and still use it for OW night dives.

Mark

It is a nice light, if a bit expensive. The dive rite LED light (or maybe any led light) also make for nice cavern lights, as they have more of a white light.

[JDR]

Out of curiosity, why do you need an all-in-one unit?

[OFG-1]

Invest wisely. Buy a canister light and be done with it. I would rather see someone spend $200 on a good used quartz light than the handheld.

[Deep-Thief]

As I mentioned in another post, There are plans for quartz lights for about $100. That is if you are any good with tools and you have minimal tools available to you. That $100 is all you need. The plans are free. Let me know if you are interested. Leave a post if you are interested there are a bunch of people on here with old quartz lights in the garages they would probably sell for pretty cheap. Just a thought. BTW if you plan to ever go to a can light you might as well start now and get used to it.

[NitroxWarrior]

Well, actually now that you bring it up. A canister light would be ideal, but they seem too expensive, I always have to borrow somebodys or rent one.
I've been looking at the dive lights made by halcyon, and good?

[Moonfuzzy]

I've been looking at the dive lights made by halcyon, and good?

They seem more expensive than the Dive Rite lights, and no more reliable. I am happy with my Dive Right light. I have a Wreck 10w HID non-focusable head.. which was just fine for me for years... but now I am thinking of an upgrade to a focusable light.

[NitroxWarrior]

yah, well I dont have 400 to 600 dollors... so... yah, I dunno
any online sources for used divelights?

[Gary]

Most lights you'd want to use as a cavern primary won't make good backup lights for cave. And most cavern dives aren't really very well lit in the daylight zone.

If you think you might do cave later invest in a top notch cave light - they serve as AWESOME cavern lights. ;-) It's kind of cheating at the cavern level though if you can see everything well.

Or if you plan to stay cavern for a while buy a GOOD cavern light - as bright as you can afford. HID or with as many D-cells as you think you can carry.

Somebody's old canister light you can get cheep because they are trading up to HID would make a good cavern light.

Even cheep HID lights come with chargers and batteries included. At the cost of D-cells you might do well to rent a canister light at $10 a day rather then replace batteries often. Rechargable batteries will save you the cost of the whole light in about a dozen trips.

[JDR]

You can find them around. I have an AUL that I'm selling, but the shipping with batteries would be pretty expensive. You should be able to find a reliable can light for $150, maybe less.

Cheers

[NitroxWarrior]

I plan on staying, near the cavern zone, Being in direct daylight is usualy prety impossible to do and still have fun. If you think about it, Technicly diving The Ginnie Ballroom is beond "cavern", but I really have no need to go to the point of what you guys go to.

My dad has a huge cave light that lights ginnie up like its Open Water, so it would be nice to have a light like that but its just not afordable to me.
(I can still borrow my dads LOL)

[HomoErectus]

[quote="NitroxWarrior"]I plan on staying, near the cavern zone, Being in direct daylight is usualy prety impossible to do and still have fun. ]


In February 2004, I owned only a mask, fins, and a snorkel. I was OW certified and had no desire to get close in a cave.
February 2005 , I am full cave certified and the only thing that I am not owning is a scooter.

good luck with keeping yourself out of caves :-D :-D

[skip]

when asked in class why i wanted to learn to cave dive, i replied that every time I saw a black hole in the rock i'd swim in.... thought it best to get some training. wish i'd done it years ago.

[Alan Garrett]

Just a thought, but I took a UK LC100 8 "C" cell HID and put a "Goodman-style" handle on it. If you can imagine having 10-watt HID power in a self-contained unit (no cannister or cords), a 3-4 hour burn time, easy to use with a reel, and costing less than $200 brand new, well you're starting to get the picture. After proving itself reliable and hassle free on less critical dives I even began using it as my primary cave light. Team members using even 18-watt HID cannister lights agree it gives great illumination and my light signals are clear and easy to see. I have even used it successfully for in-cave photographic illumination with good results. If you are interested in going this route, just e-mail me at agarrett(AT)alltel.net and I can send you a picture or two of the light with the handle I made for it. I'm very happy with how it turned out and how well it works.