Salvo 10W/4.5Ah umbilical

[Captain Calamity]

Lots of reviews of the bigger lights, but anyone got one of these?

I borrowed a Halcyon Proteus 3 at the weekend and was impressed, especially with the tight beam - great for communication and cutting through the Dorset murk. I can get one of these for a little over £300, but i'm worried about the negative reports I read here and elsewhere about them flooding. I suppose if it does flood the lead acid battery is cheaper to replace than a NiMH.

Reviews of Salvos in general seem good, but not much said about the 10W. Does it come with the dry lid to protect the battery if the switch boot or umbilical gets pranged? I'd be less worried about the more expensive battery if so.

Would be grateful for the feedback from any 10W Salvo users, and if possible any comment on how much difference the EKPP reflector makes.

Thanks,

CC

[Mark Chase]

Originally Posted by Captain Calamity

Lots of reviews of the bigger lights, but anyone got one of these?

I borrowed a Halcyon Proteus 3 at the weekend and was impressed, especially with the tight beam - great for communication and cutting through the Dorset murk. I can get one of these for a little over £300, but i'm worried about the negative reports I read here and elsewhere about them flooding. I suppose if it does flood the lead acid battery is cheaper to replace than a NiMH.

Reviews of Salvos in general seem good, but not much said about the 10W. Does it come with the dry lid to protect the battery if the switch boot or umbilical gets pranged? I'd be less worried about the more expensive battery if so.

Would be grateful for the feedback from any 10W Salvo users, and if possible any comment on how much difference the EKPP reflector makes.

Thanks,

CC

I have owned a Proteus 3 for about five years. I have taken it to 105m without a flood. Andyp had the same torch on the same dive and he got about 20mm of water in his and it did make a hell of a noise.

I am still on the origional bulb and even if its not used (I keep it as a spare) it travels with me most dives.

I replaced the battery last year and it cost me £7 from Maplin

In use is a perfectly adequate torch for UK wreck diving and I thought it was amazing in comparison with my old 50W Custom Divers Halogen.

Down side is recharge time on livaboards and only two hours burn time.

My 2p dont bother with the focusable head.


Andyp in front of me with a 10W I am on the vidio and shining a 21W salvo at his back





ATB

Mark

[divingniknaks]

All Salvo lights have the "dry lid",so I hope that helps.


As for other views on the lights then I'll let the owners speak, as otherwise I may seem biased


.

[Reikimaster]

i got a 10W/4.5 when nackers first started bring them over, thats 2-3 years ago

fantastic piece of kit, never failed, never flooded, its all the light ive ever needed

[Mark Sydenham]

Yup I've got the Salvo 10W and it is excellent.
Really well made and very solid. The light is fantastic and will do everything you'll probably ever need it to do for UK dives. I often get comments from other divers as to "what was that you were using?!"
~5hr burn time is great for a whole weekends diving without having to be near 240V to recharge which is a real bonus for remote expeditions.

For me, the whole point of diving is going to see interesting things - you can't see stuff properly unless it's properly illuminated - so this alone justifies the cost of a quality torch! (As if you need a reason! )

FWIW, My brother has the Halcyon 10W and he's flooded that due to a poor cable connection. The way the Salvo's are made, I doubt you'd flood it even if you cut the cable underwater!

Cheers,
Mark.

[samkin]

I've also had one of the 4.5/10's for 2 years now. Have always been very happy with it. It has always seemed more than adequate for the diving I've done.
Admittedly everyone I normally dive with also use 10W so I've never been in the real position of torch envy for a 18/21 etc.

I've never had any trouble with it but did put a new test tube over the bulb in Scapa last week as the original one has either got scratched or cracked. As I had a spare I wasn't going to take the risk that it was a crack so changed it.

At the same time I got my Salvo, I got an EKPP head for a friend's old style Halcyon 10W. That head has made a significant improvement over the original Halcyon head he used before.


Just another thought, this 'dry lid' is fairly new (I think) so most second hand one's probably don't have it.

[Captain Calamity]

Wow!

Those were some seriously quick replies everyone, just the answers I wanted. I think the Salvo wins on burn time, dry lid, and also 'cause I can't quite convince myself that I won't flood the Halcyon.

Green for everyone for such quick and helpful replies.

Nice video of the Zen, BTW.

CC

[Buoyant Babe]

I have one. I wouldn't call my diving particularly 'challenging' compared to some, but it gave a reassuring light at 30m in pitch black in the Farnes this spring. Nice and easy to use - compact and light. Wouldn't be without it.

Hxxx

[nickb]

I had one for a while as a backup for my 21W. It made a nice compact alternative but in the end I couldn't really justify having 2 Salvos (I'm not Milldog) so I flogged it to Frosty. I believe he's still a happy bunny.