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The last time I dived, as an experiment, I carried 2-10 watt primary lights. One on the belt of my Nomad and the other on the back. I mainly did this because one of the lights had just come back from factory repair and I didn't trust it, but needed to test it. I was pleasantly surprised that having 2 of them caused no problems and instilled an added bit of comfort regarding potential light failure. I imagine that others do this routinely, but have never seen it discussed. Comments?
I do it on big dives that cost money. One less thing to not have to turn/cancel the dive. This is especially important to me if I am doing this dive with someone else that did all the leg work to set it up.
After scootering out from mainland using a backup light on a solo dive I went and bought a 10w handheld primary that i now carry on every dive as a backup primary. Have used it twice (my charger was not giving me a full charge on my 25w) and loaned it three times. Bill
I bought 2 batteries for my new Salvo 10W - the corded one and the uncorded one. Normally I just use the corded 10W, but for dives where it would suck to turn early, I use a 21W as primary and have the 10W stashed away if needed with the uncorded battery.
I also have 2x3W UK LED's on my helmet. It blows me away how much light those little suckers put out. I've carried on a dive a couple of times without turning after a main failure using these little guys.
My buddy Kenny did this all the time. He had a Sartek 21W that would burn about 1hr 45 min if fully charged. He used that as his main primary, and carried a backup primary in his pocket (hand-held 10W HID). We were turning a lot of dives early, or he was exiting on backups, way too often. Rather than get a different light, that was his solution.
Of course, now he has a different light (LED) that burns over 4 hrs, so less of an issue....but he still carries the b/u primary.
Brian
I carry a handheld 10W as a backup primary in addition to two other backups. If my or my buddy's primary goes out, we have another primary to complete the dive without turning early.
I have just one primary, but a couple of Intova back ups. About a year ago, I was having some major issues with my primary and having a light failure almost every dive. My Intova came through every time. No issues, no concerns. Much smaller than another primary, too.
The Intovas are great lights. Mine has been a great stand-in a couple of times.
Since we are talking about lights. I got 2 of those new uk led lights and they are awesome. They come with battery charger and rechargable battery, and super small but super bright. My buddy and I used these to exit from 1500' upstream of friedman.
My instructor was a big proponent of carrying a backup primary. This was back before there were a variety of handheld HIDs so he used a UK Light Cannon or a UK D8 or similar. I definitely learned the value when my primary crapped out and he handed me his backup and we continued the dive.