HID vs. LED

[phillip1]

It is just not very practical in cave exploration to have really big canisters and really big light heads especially if you have a choice.
I like my 12w even in Cristal or car wash were the cave is huge and dark, i still think its enough light to fully enjoy the dive.
It's more of a personal choice i guess, but really for exploration it is not very practical and totally unessessary.

[MORGAN]

Not persnickety enough, though!

Persnickety is a goal toward which one must perpetually strive...as I'd guess you know!

MIKE

[Sludge]

No, I mean you missed a typo!

[MORGAN]

No, I mean you missed a typo!

Inconceivable!

Nope, you're right; there are two, and the edit button is gone so I can't fix them!

I will mention, as a mitigating factor, that I was drinking Guinness as I composed that epistle. This may have helped account for both my verbosity and my inaccuracy!

Mike

[BillGraham]

Although my friend who manufactures dive lights claims I could break an anvil, I'm actually pretty careful with my stuff. Nonetheless, I've broken/melted a fair few HID bulbs over the years. I've been diving with both lately and I don't mind the L.E.D. The center of the beam is less intense than the HID, but it isn't that noticeable. I haven't managed to break it . . . yet.

[BgDadddy]

I will be picking up my 21w HID Salvo (used of course) this weekend, but last weekend up in cave country, I bought one of the new 12w LED Light Monkeys and I really like it. I dove with a guy with a 10w HID a couple of times and couldn't really tell a difference between our lights in the water. The light was bright and focused enough to be great to dive with. And the can is so tiny...

I had borrowed an old lead acid 10w HID from a friend for the trip (I call it Frankenlight) and the size & weight difference between the lights is hilarious, but the light output was pretty much the same.

[ARY]

... I bought one of the new 12w LED Light Monkeys and I really like it. I dove with a guy with a 10w HID a couple of times and couldn't really tell a difference between our lights in the water.

What kinda weed is in that canister ?

Anti-offtopic and to troll: HIDs are brighter unless LED you use is either unreasonably expensive or not yet reliable. You cannot easily re-focus LED or change reflector such as between mission mode (spot) and video mode (flood).

[phillip1]

What kinda weed is in that canister ?

Anti-offtopic and to troll: HIDs are brighter unless LED you use is either unreasonably expensive or not yet reliable. You cannot easily re-focus LED or change reflector such as between mission mode (spot) and video mode (flood).

I disagree the LM 12w is as bright or brighter than any 10w hid, granted you cannot focus it, but the beam is great and works really well, why would you want to change it?
To tell you the truth for video a 10w hid is pretty useless other than to add a bit of "effect" lighting and they look better without a reflector.
I recently got a 10000 lumen video LED from Sartek and it is amazing, it lights up equally as bright as a 150w HID with zero hotspur for video it is awesome.
The advantage is that being an LED it does not matter how many times you turn it off, the canister is really small and the burn time is really good too.
The color temp is about 6000K and looks better than an HID IMHO.
It cost much less than a 150w HID too and is rock solid and not about to break anytime soon.
Anyway, all that to say that i think LED technology has definitely caught up with HID, MB Sub has a fully focus sable LED line and it can go from flood to ultra tight, other manufacturers will probably soon offer that too although I find it totally unnnesseary unless doing video if the beam is nice as is.
really HID or LED work just as good, the only major difference is LED are not fragile and are way more reliable, you never need to baby your LED.

For me all things HID and LED being equal performance wise (and today they really are), LED are far more reliable and that is why I prefer them.
For video we use a mix of both since HID adds a cool difference of colors but Sartek will be making us some custom 4500K LED soon so we may axe the HIDs out altogether as they are a non stop headache and fail often enough to be an issue, no matter who makes them.

[CaveBuddy95]

Good to hear all this comments about lights. I started with HID and now, as I dive often, if not daily, I know LED is going to be my next best thing! Tempted with the 10 - 21 LED from LM
I like the sound of such an output, although you only get 4 hrs BT

Phillip, are you on a video project? Sounds like you are going to light the place like a disco Looking forward to your next video by the way.

[phillip1]

We are currently doing the Dr underworld DVD and will also be filming the whole month of April in Tulum, for Mex Underworld vol.2, featuring many popular caves but also some really obscure gems too, way off the beaten path.

I burn tested the LM 12w a while ago and we got over 6 hours on each, I think that what it was, i don't remember but i will burn test them again and see when I get home.