Introduction and light question

[prufrock]

Hello Everyone,

First of all my name is Rob and I'm new to the forum. I have been living overseas for the last two and a half years and just moved back to Gainesville. I have been interested in cave diving for years and i am really excited to get started. i am planning on taking a cavern and intro class soon and was wondering what light would be suitable to get me through these two courses. i can't afford a canister light at this time. any help/advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks!

rob f.

[jj1987]

Have you considered a used 10w HID? They're had $250-350, and you'll get all that money back when you sell it in a year or two and upgrade to a 21w like most people do.

[skip]

welcome to the forum. i'm sure other's will jump in with advice, but my first thought is that you just can't do cavern/intro without a canister light. Rent until you can buy. Many instructors will have one you can use at a reasonable price. The gear exchange has and will have good prices on used lights. But you really need to plan on acquiring a can light one way or the other. And when certified you will definitely want your own to keep on diving!

skip

[huxley]

you will need 2 Lights for the Cavern as far as I remember, natural light is your 3rd source. You do not need a big canister light for the cavern, small backup will do it, 5W LED appears to be the way to go.
As for the Intro you will need a primary light 10W HID/LED or more and at least 2 backups. Depending on where you do it you can rent them for the course. Usually they charge around $30/day to rent one.

[huxley]

you will need 2 Lights for the Cavern as far as I remember, natural light is your 3rd source. You do not need a big canister light for the cavern, small backup will do it, 5W LED appears to be the way to go.
As for the Intro you will need a primary light 10W HID/LED or more and at least 2 backups. Depending on where you do it you can rent them for the course. Usually they charge around $30/day to rent one.

check with your instructor, they might require you to have 1 primary and one backup instead of 2 backups.

[Mark Vlahos]

Yep, I agree with the general idea that you will be well served by getting a used 10 watt HID or LED equivalent as your primary. For cavern you will only need 1 backup, but for intro you will need 2.

A 10 watt HID or a 10 to 12 watt LED is plenty of light for cave diving, but it is important to consider what your buddies may be using. It is fairly important that all the lights on a team are pretty close to the same performance level. If you already have a friend that you plan on diving with try to get something that will match up well with what they already have. Make sure that your light can do a narrow spot, and is not a wide flood, this is important for communicating with light signals.

If you have a friend that will be taking the classes with you try to work with them and get lights that are similar in relative performance.

Keep your eyes open for used lights here, there are often some good bargains to be had. Whatever you get, if you buy used consider that the battery might be getting old and the bulb may need replacing sooner than you might hope. Each of these things can cost over $100 to do, so don't be too shocked.

I have an older light that has a well used battery. When I purchased the light new the light would have more than enough burn time to do two or even three cave dives on a single charge. Now a few years later that battery is only good for one longish dive, but not two. No big deal I purchased another battery and just replace the older battery after only one dive with the newer one. Having the two batteries and using them in the way I do now just makes it easier on the new battery. When the older battery is no longer capable of doing one dive I will rebuild it, until then I will continue as is. I only mention this to indicate that even with older used gear that might need some battery work, you are not completely hosed. Older gear can still work well, you just need to adjust how you use it a bit.

Many instructors have lights available for rental, but if you rent during instruction you will either need to buy or continue to rent lights when you want to dive on your own. Factor in the costs and make your decisions.

Have fun!

Mark Vlahos

[Sludge]

when you sell it in a year or two and upgrade to a 21w like most people do.

try to get something that will match up well with what they already have.

I really had no need for anything brighter than a 10w HID until last month when I dived with someone with a 24w and he couldn't see my signal. So I got a 24w, but I really don't expect to be using it much. What I should have done was insist that anyone I dive with that has a big light use my backup 10w instead!

[OneBrightGator]

There'll be some dissent to this opinion, but if you can't afford a used 10w HID look for a UK D8. I have had one for years and it has saved more than one cave dive and comes in pretty handy when travelling. I picked mine up used for $35.

[Dave Lizdas]

I dive a 50W halogen English Engineering light circa 1980.

Laugh all you want! Its realiable.

It was 50 bucks. I replaced the cord, gland, switch boot, bulb and batteries for probably $80. The canister is a clear plastic cylinder nearly the diameter of a deco bottle. The batteries are sealed lead acids for alarm system backups and are found anywhere; the bulbs are three for 10 bucks at Lowes. Its heavy, old, dated technology, but its brighter than many HIDs, and frankly, I prefer the color. That warm yellow glow looks awesome (to me) and its just fine for the two to three hour dives I often do.

There are also some 4.7W Intova LED handhelds that are brighter than a 10W HID. They fit in a lightsock, they are fine for primary, and they are less than 50 bucks. Its nice to have a fistfull of backup primaries, isn't it? And you can buy, mod, or build a Goodman handle for anything. My buddy ziptied a goodman handle to a UK light cannon like OneBrightGator's. He's been diving it for years.

you dont need the brightest or newest toy to have fun. Good luck with your training.

[prufrock]

Thank you, everyone, for the advice and comments. It is really appreciated. there will be more questions on the way i'm sure as i am looking to get started with the training etc. soon. I will keep my eyes peeled for an affordable used 10watt.

thanks again and i look forward to meeting you all and possibly diving with you, too!

rob french