Northwest Dive Club

Hello all,

I am getting back into the scuba world after a long hiatus. Going through the gear and getting it all up to date and most of the gear is still good. I do however need to replace my little canister HID light.

The local dive shop here in Tacoma had a little hand mounted Sola light that they spoke highly of. Does anyone have any experience with the Sola 800 or 1220 dive lights?

Your advice would be greatly appreciated.

Shawn

I've been diving with several who have used one of the Solas as their primary. If you are used to an HID canister light, you would probably be disappointed with the burn time and, to a lesser extent, with light penetration in our Emerald seas. The Solas are quite good as on camera lights due to their color and uniformity of the flood setting, but the spot setting lacks power.
It would be better to get one of the newer LED or HID canister lights. Dusty makes some nice LED ones that are very cost effective. One can frequently find used Salvo or Light Monkey can lights available, and those are a good deal as well.

Dusty's Light. Contact Dusty2 right here and get one. Top quality, best warranty you'll ever see, and best price around. Plus, it's supporting one of our own.

I second the dusty light...great light and great support

I love my Dusty Light!

Dusty's light for a rec or lite tec light is pretty tough to beat for the price... I keep one as a backup if my LM 35w HID goes out on me.

I did replace the goodman handle on mine though, as I was not fond of the plastic clips holding the light head as mine broke before I even hit the water.

Halcyon Focus if you can afford it.

Otherwise Dusty Light.

Booooommmm!

h20doctor wrote:https://www.lightmalls.com/archon-dh30- ... n-canister

Chris - do you know anyone who owns one of these? What kind of beam does it have? Burn time?

Yes I own one it's really really great I use it as a backup light I also use it for people who forgot their lights at home in their garage... burn time is an easy two hours... the only disadvantage is it takes about 6 weeks to get one But hey for that price who cares...

I own a Sola Tech light and so far I like it. I did a 1 hour 38 minute dive last week with it on HIGH and by the end of the dive the indicator lights were showing red. meaning it was within a 10-25% battery. It says at full power it has a 180 minute battery life.So you could not get 2 long dives out of it. I do like the fact you dont have any cords to route. If I get tempted I would definitely check out the Dusty Lights since I know a lot of people here use his.

See what you people have done now. I went and bought a Dusty light a moment ago.

pogiguy05 wrote:See what you people have done now. I went and bought a Dusty light a moment ago.

sweet!!

Shawn wrote:Hello all,

I am getting back into the scuba world after a long hiatus. Going through the gear and getting it all up to date and most of the gear is still good. I do however need to replace my little canister HID light.

The local dive shop here in Tacoma had a little hand mounted Sola light that they spoke highly of. Does anyone have any experience with the Sola 800 or 1220 dive lights?

Your advice would be greatly appreciated.

Shawn

What's wrong with your HID light? If it's a battery issue from sitting too long they can often be brought back to life. If not battery packs can be relatively inexpensive.

h20doctor wrote:Yes I own one it's really really great I use it as a backup light I also use it for people who forgot their lights at home in their garage... burn time is an easy two hours... the only disadvantage is it takes about 6 weeks to get one But hey for that price who cares...

Thanks Chris - maybe sometime you can bring it to a dive and I can take a look at it. For that price I'm curious.

Tom Nic wrote:

h20doctor wrote:Yes I own one it's really really great I use it as a backup light I also use it for people who forgot their lights at home in their garage... burn time is an easy two hours... the only disadvantage is it takes about 6 weeks to get one But hey for that price who cares...

Thanks Chris - maybe sometime you can bring it to a dive and I can take a look at it. For that price I'm curious.

ok... like i said ... its a Backup .. it also makes a great Backup to take on Vacation when yr main light has issues , or floods and get destroyed by the vacation Gremlins ..

BillZ wrote:

Shawn wrote:Hello all,

I am getting back into the scuba world after a long hiatus. Going through the gear and getting it all up to date and most of the gear is still good. I do however need to replace my little canister HID light.

The local dive shop here in Tacoma had a little hand mounted Sola light that they spoke highly of. Does anyone have any experience with the Sola 800 or 1220 dive lights?

Your advice would be greatly appreciated.

Shawn

What's wrong with your HID light? If it's a battery issue from sitting too long they can often be brought back to life. If not battery packs can be relatively inexpensive.

Well it is a Niterider 10watt HID and it's pretty old. I dove it hard and while it still works the battery pack is odd. It has a shorter cord so it needs to sit in my drysuit leg pocket.

I am sure the new lights are much brighter as well. I will look into these Dusty lights. Thanks for all of your helpful replies.

Shawn

Welcome back to diving, Shawn ... let's go diving sometime.

Light technology has come a long way since you were last into it. LEDs are all the rage now, and for good reason. Lots of my former students ended up with Dusty lights, and most are real happy with them (like any product, they're not going to please everyone, but they're a great product for the price). There are various other hand-held options out there. Check out some of the LED lights at Dive Right In Scuba (DRIS) ... some of their 1000 lumen hand helds will make your old NiteRider look like a candle ... and the price is very affordable.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Ditto... Started out with a Dusty (own 3 between the wife and I) and it works just fine minus a few items that need wear out. But great rec can light for the price point. Dusty beam works but not a real tight beam Though the HOG is really nice also with more options with the ability to replace modular parts... which is REALLY nice. Can't do that with Dusty's...

Now the Focus light is REALLY nice... tight beam and hard to go back to my Dusty light. OR, adjust on the fly for wide which can be a good video light for your buddy's GoPro. If you don't need/want the ability to focus the beam, the Halcyon Flare may be the ticket. Same tight beam (I couldn't tell side by side) as the focus... AND it has the ability where it can have the battery attached to the head, and it's actually pretty compact. Battery on light head NOT an option for the focus.

Jeremy wrote:Halcyon Focus if you can afford it.

Otherwise Dusty Light.

Booooommmm!

pogiguy05 wrote:See what you people have done now. I went and bought a Dusty light a moment ago.

haha me too!