best torch

[divingniknaks]

Originally Posted by Mark Chase

As for the Salvo failure? I am concerned as to whether or not the Salvo has a temperature cut out on it? The Solus will switch its self off if it gets too hot. I know this as it did during some dry testing i was doing.

ATB

Mark

Hi Mark,
Yes it does have the temp cut off.

The recent failure is related to electronics and nothing more, although I acknowledge and apologise for the inconvenience caused to those who have failed lights, we are working with Salvo to rectify this ASAP.

As for the price of Solus, I do feel for Kevin (a little bit) he's a victim of a strong Euro.

Cheers

[NotDeadYet]

Originally Posted by devilgas

am only qual'd to cavern, so may be talking a load of bollocks, but my simple set up is 2x frogman lenser LED (the switched version) and 2x uk mini q40 eLED torches, all helmet mounted with one lenser & one q40 being run at any one time - backup is then identical to the primary. burn times are more than adequate, over 20hrs per lamp. with relatively low power (3 or 5w per lamp), backscatter isn't too much of an issue in poorer viz and can be reduced further by turning one of the lights off.
my backup and main setups are identical so there's no difference in light output should i need to swap from main to backup.
lamps cost about £130 in total iirc.

As Mark says, depends on what you are diving. In a big passage you'd struggle with that set up and you'd have difficulties light signalling (for anyone who isn't solo).

Originally Posted by Mark Chase

I recently spent over £200 on a back up tri LED torch. I did this because having had a primary torch fail on me I switched to a Photon Torpedo which felt like a candle in a jam jar by comparison. End result is my dreamed of dive inside the Justicia was ruined by lack of light.

I did the same after a light failure a fair way inside a cave and had to exit on an LED backup. I bought a 10W HID Dive Rite handheld as a backup, it's not that much bigger than a standard twisty-on style backup torch but is almost good enough to be a primary. I put a set of high capacity NiMH's in it and it does three hours. I wanted it so that if a light failed then I didn't have to turn round and bin the dive. I also thought the chance of scootering out on a normal backup at any speed was nil.

This is an epic torch and if you have the cash then go for the 21W but I beleive its really unnecessary, its just for childish grin factor, but you will seldom find a disappointed Salvo 21W owner.

I'll find out on Sunday as it's my first dive with the Salvo 21W after using a Halcyon 18W.

Having the 10W is like owning a Porsche Boxter when you m8's are tooling around in 911 Turbos

Luckily I have no friends who are either hairdressers or Scouse lottery winners.

As for the Salvo failure? I am concerned as to whether or not the Salvo has a temperature cut out on it? The Solus will switch its self off if it gets too hot. I know this as it did during some dry testing i was doing.

For a torch for cave diving as the original question related to, I would think that any light that has the potential to need a cut out wouldn't be an ideal candidate. Issues like these are the reasons that I've shyed away from anything but halogen underground for so long. Halogen is a bulb hooked to a battery, it needs nothing else, no ballast, electronics, fuses, fancy circuitry, nothing. If you flood it then it will still work. If you break a bulb so what, my local Spar sells them, you can get them anywhere and they cost peanuts. If you can get the test tube off then you can even change the bulb underwater. Cold won't affect it. You can switch it off and on and off and on whenever you want without worrying about striking times. It'll burn (to some extent) as long as the battery is still giving out power. You don't need super flexible robotics cable because halogen tolerates short breaks in the power. Combine it with a lead acid battery and you have a totally bombproof solution for cave diving. Don't get me started on how good SLA's are The major downside is that halogen drinks power and there is no way round that other than big batteries.

Cheers,

Stuart

[Guy Wallis]

I was happy to use HIDs in Florida but have switched to LEDs now I am back in the UK. I have found that the HIDs just don't take kindly to the knocks and bumps getting to and diving places like Hodge and the Silica mines. If we are talking canister lights Greenforce LEDs are relatively inexpensive but if you have the cash the Salvo 21 watt LED is a great choice. For back ups I am now using the tektite excursion. It's a 4 watt LED, gives plenty of light and is tough as old boots! You can also helmet mount them if you want to dive side-mount. Greenforce and Tektite torches are available from Lumb Brothers. If you want to buy a Salvo book a cave diving course in Florida and buy it out there. The light will be half the UK price and you will save more than the price of the air fare! Cathy at the Dive Outpost in Florida is a US dealer and she can sort you out with an instructor, cylinders and accomadation to.

[Mr_Brown]

look at the price of the bulbs. i made that mistake! some HID bulbs can be quite expensive.

JMD Technologies. i use one of their umbilicals. the bulb costs 5.70 and that includes the o-ring to re fit it.

[Guy Wallis]

I am using LEDs as they are tougher than HIDs and dont hammer the batteries.

[Mr_Brown]

LED is the way forward as there are no filiments to break. or something like that.
they have an excellent burn time too...

[Guy Wallis]

Looks like you are only getting 60 mins of burn time to! Check out the burn times on the LEDs I suggested. I would recomend 3 hours as a minimum.

[Mr_Brown]

thought so, yep 60 mins for me. keep the torch light to a minimum. see what you can see, when that = f all, turn on the torch.

i do keep a small led for a backup tho.

[Mark Chase]

Originally Posted by Guy Wallis

I am using LEDs as they are tougher than HIDs and dont hammer the batteries.

I am using a Solus 1250 LED at the momnet and I agree on the tough statement but it not as good on the batteries as my 21W HID.

WHat is good is the fact I can turn down the power on the LED and increase burn time but on full power its not as powerfull as the 21W HID and it burns for a shoret time with the equivelent batery pac.

For me its the type of light and the way its put out thats better and the solid state nature of the construction. Why I find this so important is an odd thing as i have had virtualy zero problems with my 10W and 21W HIDS. However from the sad experiance of others I do accept that HIDS can be fragile. Why the hell I havent broken my one considering the number of times i have droped it i have no idea.

ATB

Mark

[Rob Dobson]

Originally Posted by Guy Wallis

I am using LEDs as they are tougher than HIDs and dont hammer the batteries.

Not real sure about this statement. Low power LEDs draw less power than high power HiDs but that's not comparing apples with apples is it? A high power LED emitter may typically draw more power than the HiD equivalent and produce less light with it. High end LEDs suffer from heat dissipation issues and seem to be less efficient than HiD...

Take a 21W Salvo Rebel LED (I'm using that example because I don't know of any other manufacturer making a 21W LED light), with a 15.6ah battery it gives 6hrs of burn at full power (1100 lumens). My Rebel 15.6ah 21W HiD gives 8.5hrs burn at 1500 lumen.

An extra 400 lumen and 2.5hrs of burn time from the HiD using the same battery pack.

Are LED lights more robust than HiDs? Maybe... The LED emitters are generally more robust (i.e damn near indestructible) but that doesn't tell the whole story as there are many things that can fail in a torch and LEDs often have more to go wrong than HiDs (from the electronics to the emitter coatings). Also whilst some HiD bulbs are fragile others are very robust so don't tar them all with the same brush.

I'm not saying that the LED isn't the better light for other reasons (smaller head, lighter for travel, variable power output etc). I'm just wary of us keep collectively repeating the same stuff about LED lights without actually stopping to consider the facts.