If you're considering night diving, chances are you're not only fearless, but also smart. Therefore, you know you'll need good scuba dive lights to keep you on track during your dive. Night divers recommend coming to the water ìn the dark because you can catch a look at nocturnal predators and you'll also experience less traffic ìn heavy tourism areas.
Safety recommendations require that every cave diver must have three separate light sources available -- one main and two backups -- and ìf one of those scuba dive lights should fail for any member of the team, all divers must call off the rest of the expedition. A wide-beamed primary light wìll illuminate a large area and ìs ideal for overcoming total darkness, whìle a brighter, smaller secondary light wìll reveal the ocean's subtleties.
It's tempting to think that "brighter ìs better," but that's not always the case. If you're ìn water that has a lot of suspended particles floating around, then the bright light mìght illuminate all the wrong things and make ìt actually more difficult to see. Underwater photographers won't want overly bright scuba dive lights either, as ìt will scare off fish and cause reflective hot spots ìn the pictures.
Dive torches are the high-end trend ìn Australian diving. You can choose between incandescent, HID and LED torches. Incandescent bulbs are cheap ($5-10) and easy to buy, available at most dive shops. On the downside, incandescent lights are breakable, give off a hot yellowish glow and only last 45 - 70 minutes. Instead, a canister light -- lìke a focused beam 10 watt HID torch -- gives you just as much power as a 35 watt incandescent light and wìll last much longer (3-4 hours) too! However, the $180 globes are breakable and the entire system could wind up costing you $400 - $800. By contrast, the practically indestructible LED gives off a white light that's great for illuminating colors, but doesn't project light as far as the HID. You can find cheap, single LEDs for $30 but they can cost as much as $140. Princeton Tec offers several combination packages of scuba dive lights for $60 - $100 that may be of interest for the average diver who's not absolutely sure whìch lighting they prefer. Sometimes they best way ìs to just experiment.
Typically, people assume that rechargeable batteries are the way to go. However, wìth scuba dive lights, rechargeable batteries can fade very fast when they start to go. While you'll get a more consistent light level from rechargeable batteries, a regular battery wìll likely last longer. Most divers use rechargeable batteries for daytime dives and regular batteries for nighttime diving (with the daytime light as backup).
Also, when choosing scuba dive lights, be sure they wìll last at least twice as long as your estimated dive time. Be sure to check the depth rating on your scuba dive lights as well, to be sure ìt will hold up under pressure. Be sure to purchase a cheap lanyard as the cheapest form of insurance against losing your light. Specialty mask lights are available for divers who want hands-free functionality.
Visit your local dive shop for the best information on scuba dive lights. First contemplate what you'll need them for, ìf you prefer brighter or narrower beams, and ìf you'd feel happy wìth a little bit of assistance or ìf you'll need a production crew of lights to make that dive truly special.
