[Mark Chase]

OK Andrew and I just bought Halcyon 10W HID torches and I dived my one for the first time on Monday so here’s the report:

First the torch looks great. It's a bit home build / agricultural in appearance but when you look close all the bits and the finish are good quality and it looks kind o purposeful and serious. This is bound to appeal to sad MIB tec heads like me. It has a lead acid battery and a two hour burn time so the compromise is of the much cheaper to replace battery against the 5 hour burn times of the massively expensive NMIH battery packs. Charge time was three hours and the nice people on the GUE stand sell you a plug adaptor to fit the silly US plug on the unit. (Mind you handy for travel). I liked the way they accept that the torch has to be mounted somewhere so they bother to fit a simple mounting band on the can that will go on an equally simple cam bad to mount on your tanks or on the belt if your DIR.

We got the two units for £300.00, each which was bargain of the week. This is the entry level HID torch with a fixed focus head. The adjustable focus torch has a few advantages but I liked the cost saving of the fixed head and the compact design.

In use the torch is comparatively light at 5.5lb (2.5KG) as opposed to my 7.5lb (3.4kg) Custom Divers Halogen unit. The Goodman’s handle is comfortable foe me but people with bigger hands might have a problem, as the fit on the width was snug with 5mm gloves on. I have added a small bolt snap to the handle to allow the torch to be clipped off when not in use.

The light takes a couple of mins to warm up so you switch it on at the end of kitting up and it should be ready to rock by the time you hit the bottom of the shot line. The switch is on the canister and recessed into a protective shroud to prevent accidental switching off. I see this as a minor problem as you must locate the canister in a place where you can reach the switch and operating the switch in thick gloves can be awkward but its not imposable.

The light temperature is very impressive and the Darth Vader light sabre effect is very useful for signalling your buddy. Close in work is excellent and I loved my rummage dive in 1.5m Viz on the Aeries for which it was ideal. As a general light source it is a bit of a narrow beam but hey I cant complain as I was too mean to spend another £200 on the focusing head. Cable length was fine for me with the unit back mounted on the twin set but on the side of the tank not the middle back as I used to mount the CD. The reason for changing the position was the need to get to the switch.

The buoyancy characteristics of the unit meant that it was lighter still in the water. I felt a tad underweight on the 6m stop having shed 1kg on the side by side comparison doesn’t really cover this so I reckon its more like 2kg lighter in the salty wet stuff than the CD unit. The large air space around the battery probably accounts for this.

So final analysis is a cracking bit of kit. It was £125 cheaper than the best deal I could get on the CD unit so I will happily put up with its minor quirks.

Personal rating 9/10

ATB

Mark Chase