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Excellent value dive light

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
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misterlizard

Tom Arnold
Oct 11, 2002
599
130
133
43
Just bought one of these: Xtar D01 100m Diving Torch Cree XP-G R5 LED | eBay
£40 plus a tenner for special battery and charger. It's incredibly bright. I'm planning to use it as a bike light (mounted on the handlebars to cycle to work along unlit country lanes) and as a dive light for night dives. I have been doing night dives recently with a Mini Q40 which puts out a dazzling 37 lumens, so this light should be a bit of a revelation with its 350 lumens!
I'll try to remember to post a little review once I've tried it in the water, hopefully a night dive next week...
 
Reactions: Salehthefish
Just remember that I said I'd write a little review once I tried the light, so...

I went in and had a good dive at Portland Harbour last weekend (going again tomorrow night for some more flatties) so I finally got to try out my new torch. It was truly excellent. Its claims of 350 lumens were certainly true, and it is even dimmable, which was quite handy when looking into caves where the really bright light was a bit too much at times.

The battery (a single 18650 rechargeable) lasted for the 2.5hrs we were in the water and has gone on for at least another half hour of putting the chickens away each night and shows no sign of running out yet. I reckon you can count on a good 3hr dive with it. It has a constant brightness chip thingy so it doesn't get dimmer throughout the dive, but you do need a backup if you think you might be in the water a long time.

It is very tough indeed and very well made and I'm sure it will last a very long time.

All in all, I seem to have got for £40 what I would have got for more like £100+ if I had bought a standard dive torch of the same kind of power. An excellent buy.
 
Thanks for the tip. They look great. I had spent 90E on a Beuchat spearo torch, flooded in 10 uses!!!

Do these turn on by sliding the switch only (ie. with just one hand) or do the need to twist the head (useless for spearing)
??

thanks
 
Both. You twist the top to turn it on at the start of your session and then use the slider to turn it on and off and dim it. Going in again tonight...
 
Reactions: azapa
so once in the water you only slide your thumb? Great.

Please post more feedback! Have a great dive.
 
that looks great Eric, thanks. But it looks like a twist-on type. I need one hand on type. The magnetic ones are great, no switch to leak. The magnet is outside, the reed switch inside. Slide the switch forward and the electronics switches on with the pulse of the reed.

I have my gun in the right hand, and normally am holding on to swaying kelp with the left. When i see a cave i need to slide torch out and switch on quickly, with the left hand only.

I won't buy name brand torches any more though, these direct from China <80$ look great.
 
The twist magnetic switch can be turned with one hand-- I do that quite often. Slightly more awkward than a straight switch but still doable. Alternatively you can turn the light on before every dive since the battery life is excellent.
 
Reactions: Salehthefish
Thanks for this info guys!!!

Azapa why do you need to turn the light on and off while spearing? Usually i keep it on while i am in water whats the reason behind that?

Thanks in advance...
 
Scott: looks good and way cheap. How many dive sessions have you got out of them?

Sale: my hunting is mixed and I hardly ever spy a cave from the surface. The torch is in a "holster" and I take it out and use it when I come across a cave. I would have to have it on all the time as I know the beam would scare fish out in the open.
 
efattah said:
The best torch for freediving is this one:
Diving Cree SSC-P7-C-SXO 3-Mode 900-Lumen LED Flashlight Kit (2*18650/4*CR123A/4*16340) - Free Shipping - DealExtreme

900 lumens, $79.99, free shipping. I have one and it is awesome and very small.
Click to expand...

Sorry Eric, but that one has been superceeded by an XM-L in exactly the same body: MJ-810E HA-III CREE XML T60 3-Mode 1000-Lumen LED Diving Flashlight Set (2x18650/4x123A/4x16340) - Free Shipping - DealExtreme

The xm-l is visibly brighter and being smaller it has more throw and less flood than the P7, which is what you want in anything but crystal clear conditions.

Compared the two directly on a dive last night in fact, once my triple P7 2700 lumens homemade job conked out due to a switch malfunction!

Az, these can be turned on one handed, but it is a little more hassle to do so than a slide or push button switch. That said a simple modification of some sort of lump on the twist ring would make it very easy. It only needs a quarter turn to turn on, unlike old school tail or head twisties that you twist to make the battery contact.

These work using hall effect sensors, which work in the same way as reed switches via a magnet outside the body but are more robust than reeds.
 
Magpie said:
Sorry Eric, but that one has been superceeded by an XM-L in exactly the same body
Click to expand...

Sorry, I do not like the XM-L, it has too narrow a beam. I much prefer lights with a wider beam.

I stand by my original link, the 900-lumen.
 
Fair enough, you must have the pleasure of far better viz than us!
 
I second Eric's recommendation - It seems these new LEDs are all the rage.
Anybody wanna buy and HID light?
In fact, in light (npi) of these revelations - I think I'll sell all my dive lights. - One HID (Brightstar, darkbuster jr. Li Ion rechargeable) and one 4c shockwave led (princeton tech) both in brilliant condition.
 
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azapa said:
Scott: looks good and way cheap. How many dive sessions have you got out of them?
Click to expand...

Plenty, the last one lasted a full years diving flood-free before slipping out of my weightbelt in the surf. I added silicone grease to the o-ring which helped I think. Batteries last a long time too. I've ordered some more so we'll soon see how their batch-to-batch QC is.
 
azapa said:
so once in the water you only slide your thumb? Great.

Please post more feedback! Have a great dive.
Click to expand...



I found a great light but quite pricy!!!! [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Sporasub-Flash-Led-Black-Green/dp/B00380FIOC/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1346506346&sr=8-3&keywords=sporasub+light"]Sporasub Flash Led Black/Green: Amazon.com: Sports & Outdoors@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41qqwMTSqdL.@@AMEPARAM@@41qqwMTSqdL[/ame]
 
FreeDivingJake said:
I've heard his is a good light and pretty cheap- Underwater Kinetics Mini Q40 eLED Plus Dive Light
Click to expand...

77 lumens? I wouldn't get that light unless it was just for a backup or to put on our mask strap (I have one for that reason - it's very good for handsfree lighting for stringing fish and reloading the gun). Other than that though, 77 lumens isn't enough for a comfortable night dive. I have more than 10 times that brightness (my torch is 900 lumens) and it is just right. Just look for any dive torch with an xml-t6 on ebay.
 
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