Lights

[deep thought]

Hi guys! Nice diving with you on recent trips.  Sorry I haven't had a chance yet to reply, diving everyday  

So my past experience is a few decades with various lights, and I recall not long ago tech diving with a Dive Rite 10 lb motorcycle battery / 10 watt halogen / :30 burn time NutraLeak system.  This past week I had the pleasure of using the Titan 60 watt video lighting, in addition to the Titan SCULA 10 & 25 watt that I've been using all season.  The SCULA is quite comfortable in the glove sock, or I can clip it off, more burn time than I need for teaching or boat diving without recharge.  I thought the SCULA would interfere with my dry ring gloves, but not at all.  I rarely use the 25 and feel comfortable with 10 for most dives. I don't like hot beams that punch a hole 50 feet away.  I'm looking for reasonable illumination within 10 feet of me.  In a cave I may want 25 for a long dark walled passage. In contrast, take a murky dive like the Doty with plenty of ambient light and a hot beam...all you see it the hot spot.  With a 10 watt I can see much more of the wrecks outline and still have plenty of illumination for artifacts or penetrations. 

Now having just used the Titan 60 watt video lights, in the lowest setting, WOW! I am super impressed with the quality of the diffused beam and angle if light. The construction is top notch, and I've been very happy with customer service - hey, the factory rep comes out for a week of Mke wreck diving! 

Now anyone who knows electronics, lighting, and the element of water should have some sense to know that none of these are compatible.  And the guy who I just delivered a Light Monkey LED light head to go with his heater vest can, had it fail? Should that have occurred, no. Did Cory take care of him, yes like always.  Now I've never had an issue with a Titan product, but will it happen? Most likely, and when it does I am sure I will get the same quality service I've always received. 

Power is overrated, in lights as well as CCR's, cars, boats, and guns.  So choose based on need, and not compensate for other shortcomings :-) 

And I have to throw in a plug for the Titan ccr as it is way underrated compared with some over inflated ccr's that I've used.  I'm looking forward to diving the Doty with my Titan ccr soon! 

Ron

[MICHAL M]

Hi Guys,
Titan equipment is "ROCK SOLID"!!!
I dove couple sidemounth caves with Richard D., SCULA 10 was working just Great.
I using Titan gas blok on my CCR = works perfect!
Best Regards Michal

[ttph]

Still hemin' & hawin' about primary lights. To pose another question: Can a fella still buy a new Photon Torpedo w/ LED upgrade? I've checked the website and the best I can tell they are out of stock and it appears they have been for quite some time. Is Gulfex still producing these lights? The only other choice would be picking one up on the sale page of one of the other boards.

[matt t.]

Dive Gear Express has these on sale for $89. Not exactly what you are looking for, but preyty nice! In your place I would give it some serious consideration.

[ttph]

Have you ever seen one of these underwater? How does the 13 degree beam compare to your Torpedo, Matt? I already have one light that takes CR123 batteries and they're a pain to find sometimes and rather expensive ($6/ battery). I was also looking at the Mb-sub X1 (3C). It appears a little larger, but the beam is adjustable from 3-25 degrees and side-by-side comparisons to the Scout look appealing. Thoughts?



Matt

[ttph]

I just got an email back from Chuck Noe at Gulftex (Photon-Torpedo). He stated they forgot to add "planned obsolescence" and there just isn't a demand for these lights at the moment. Everyone that wanted one got one and they need to be run in batches of 300-500 to minimize machining costs. He's hopeful for future production but at this point there is no plan.

Just FYI.

Matt

[matt t.]

I guess I didn't really look at the batteries. To bad about the PT's. There are a lot of cheap alternatives out there these days that people are buying instead of the more expensive Scouts or PT's. When the PT's came out THEY were the cheaper alternatives. I wouldn't let this get to be an obsession with reflector angles and other small details. In the end it really doesnt matter much. I've used my back up light a few times when I forgot to charge or plug in a battery, it worked, and I could see and signal fine. You could always post a "Want to Buy" ad on Scubaboard and TDS.

[Chris H]

If bang for the buck is a concern, it is hard to go wrong with the Underwater Kinetics version of the Scout.  I believe it is the SL3.  The UK bezel is what I put in my Scout to change it to LED.  I like the Light Monkey backup that Matt posted earlier too.
I'd be pretty surprised if the CR123 batteries didn't last a fairly long time.  These are all meant to be backups.  They get you out of where ever your primary stopped working and that is it.

[jeffberry]

I have been using the Intovia lights for the last few years!  They run CR123 batteries an last a very long time!  Work awesome an are reasonable!  I think they were 40.00 a while back!

[Gary]

Gotta go with the Dorcy 41-1467/Piranha Mfg Penetrator 220 (same light). I've used the old OMS Vega, The Intova (both wide and narrow beams) and now the Piranha. For caves I carry one Piranha and one Intova (cause I already had the Intova, so why buy two new backups). I think the performance is similar with the Piranha having a slight edge in light output. However, it has a huge advantage in batteries, using easily obtained -and cheap- AAA's instead of 123's.