Torches ?

[thehappychappy]

Help.

Been reading Nick's thread in the torch Forum with interest.

Umbillical torch

Sartek Torches, how do they fir in with DIR?

From my ignorance, a DIR Canister torch should be just that an umbilical mounted on the right waist band, held in a goodman handle in the left hand.

This is where my total ignorance shows....
Greenforce compliant? rotate the light head to switch on..
Salvo seems to be ranted about and was going to be my choice, Light switch on the canister
Sartek seem to be getting recommended and with a strong £ just now against the dollar could be a bloody great buy although they seem to have switches on the back of the light head.


Backup Torches are switches ok?
Should it be the head rotates to switch on?

What do you use and why?

Am I talking utter cr4p (probably but at least I am asking?)


Davie

[gwilson]

Back ups should be twist on twist off.

Just bite the bullet and either get a Salvo or a Halcyon primary light.

[KeyLimePie]

Davie,

The Sarteks are good value at present and are good torches. I had a 10W, but have changed it for a 18W Halcyon. In light conditions etc the Sartek was just not bright enough for communication purposes. A more powerful bulb may be fine.

I went for an SLA simply because the batteries are dirt cheap in comparison to NiMH batteries, and they allow you to lose more lead from you rig.

HTH

Dave

[NotDeadYet]

Originally Posted by thehappychappy

From my ignorance, a DIR Canister torch should be just that an umbilical mounted on the right waist band, held in a goodman handle in the left hand.

If a torch fits the DIR guidance then it should be compliant regardless of who makes it.

Greenforce compliant? rotate the light head to switch on..

Surprising how many European (allegedly) DIR divers use Greenforce. The old Dive Rite Neutralites (which were superb) had twist on heads but couldn't be compliant because twisting broke the wires. They were right though. I don't know how the Greenforce switching system works by comparison.

Salvo seems to be ranted about and was going to be my choice, Light switch on the canister

Salvo are the dog's danglies. Some DIR types whine about Salvo and Silent Submersion because Barry and Rodney decided to set up on their own rather than having Halcyon making money off their ideas.

Sartek seem to be getting recommended and with a strong £ just now against the dollar could be a bloody great buy although they seem to have switches on the back of the light head.

There are plenty of places selling Salvo in Dollars. I have a Halcyon and it is, quite frankly, shite. I was getting one failure a month on average. It's finally dead now (after maybe four years). Considering I'm still using the grandaddy of all DIR type lights, the AUL Spec 14, after ten years of hard use with no failures other than a torn cable it's not what I'd expect.

Backup Torches are switches ok?
Should it be the head rotates to switch on?

Depends on the mechanism. If the twisting is simply pushing some contacts together then I'd imagine that is OK, if it was a reed switch or similar then I'd guess it wasn't.

The main reason I like twist on lights is that I don't need to find and work a switch with cold hands. I used to use Scubapro lights years ago and dumped them when I ended up doing a blind exit because my hands were so numb I couldn't feel the switch.

What do you use and why?

I use Princeton LED's, twist on torches as backups, with a Dive Rite handheld 10W HID (again twist on) as a caving backup (just slightly bigger than a Scout with 2hr burn).

Am I talking utter cr4p

I probably am. It's been about 3yrs since I was anywhere near a hogarthian o/c setup.

[Clare Gledhill]

A light should be a waist mounted, umbilical light with a goodman handle or similar which permits both hands to be used (beware of canvass or vecro handles).

Burn time should be reasonable for your intended diving and if you wish to head to caves or tech diving a focused beam which allows you to signal is probably the single most important feature.

Any light which matches these criteria (Halcyon, Salvo, Diverite etc.) is fine.

Back up lights - twist on twist off - no switches.