hand held torch

[jim oldham]

I want a decent hand held torch, which is not like a brick and will not be used for belting things,
Cannot decide between these three:
Gilan 275, Kowalski 620, MB Sub SL 507.
They are not cheap, but they seem good pieces of kit.
The Gilan and the MB Sub would have to be imported.
Any thoughts?
TVM, JIm

[Druid]

I have a Kowalski 620, it's a very nice piece of kit.  Well made, good bright light at 100%, and a 50% setting to save the power a bit.  No need to open it for recharging, which means less chance of it flooding.  Takes a long time to recharge though, I'd recommend paying the extra for the 620 Speed.

[sch]

yup, got the kowalski as well - excellent torch, but as druid says a bit slow on the charging.

[Dundee]

Gotta vote for one not on your list:

UK Light Cannon HID, it did well in the Diver tests recently (or was it dive?) Works out at about £240 with the rechargable battery.

Pure white light! penetrates further in the watter.

C

[jim oldham]

Thanks people,
I did think about the Light Cannon, but I am worried about the high cost of replacement bulbs.
Also noticed Dundee's tip about getting the normal Light Cannon, removing the original NICad battery and replacing with Nickel Hydride and buying a "fast" battery charger.
Is this feasible, as I am not very technical with electrics?
May end up with a D4R, C8R, or D8R at this rate.
What a choice!
Jim

[Reeve]

<font color='#000F22'>Having lost my D800R last September a week after flooding my HID, I borrowed a friends Kowalski for a while, but when looking for a replacement while my HID is awaiting spares, I bought the Beaver Platinum.

RRP 199, your LDS may do you a deal, four bulb choices 20W, 35W, 50W &amp; 50W flood. A very nice size torch not as fancy looking as the Kowalski but the bulb's are those used in spots found in most kitchen ceilings so replacement less then £8. Burn time between 70mins &amp; 150 depending upon bulb choice. I think what swung it for me as I was considering the new UKD8R was the smaller size and weight &amp; the quality of beam. Even with the 20W bulb you get a cracking beam and with the 50W even the fish are squinting.


hth

gareth

[Narked@50]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (jim oldham @ April 19 2004,19:04)]May end up with a D4R, C8R, or D8R at this rate.
What a choice!
Jim

Not a bad position to be in.

I have a D4R and it does what I want. Addmittedly, its not the ultimate in deep, dark, bad vis, uk wreck diving. Sod that. But it is a good size and weight for normal &quot;rumaging under wrecks and into holes with&quot; kind of torch. On night dives abroad it illuminates large areas in the clear vis to an embarassing degree, most Red Sea dive guides only use 2x C cell cheap rubbish! At around £85 it has twin bulbs built in that are switchable during a dive for strength or burn time, around 8hr recharge and can olways be used as your back up/spare when you have tried a few torches at £300.

Worst case scenario, you could always sell it on, at that price you could get £50 and not worry too much.

James

[Noel Johnson]

I have a Princeton shockwave re-chargable. Dawn has a twin bulb D4R which is slighlty larger but they're both like Tony the tiger says:

They're greeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaat

HTH

Noel

[Fathoms Down]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Dundee @ April 19 2004,12:27)]Gotta vote for one not on your list:

UK Light Cannon HID, it did well in the Diver tests recently (or was it dive?) Works out at about £240 with the rechargable battery.

Pure white light! penetrates further in the watter.

Yes, I have one of these and there was quite a bit of light envy going on on the recent YD Dover gig. &nbsp;

Yes, the bulbs are expensive to replace but I use mine regularly and haven't had to replace it yet. The life of the bulbs is pretty good so the only way you are likely to need to replace one is if you are really clumsy and drop your torch from a great height.

[Pink & Fluffy]

<font color='#810541'> I find that a mini Q40 cable tied on to your inflator hose makes an excellent backup ,its there when you need it, compleatly directional and for its size its very bright aslo &nbsp;gives you 4 hours of light .give it a try you will be quite surprised.
Fiona.