Many technology options exist nowadays when deciding to buy a dive light. We gathered information to help you decide on your next scuba light purchase.
Three main illumination methods exist for scuba dive lights: LED, HID, and Conventional (Halogen, Xenon, or Tungsten).
LED (Light Emitting Diode)
LED is probably the most significant innovation in portable lighting since the incandescent bulb. An LED uses a semiconductor to convert electrical energy directly into light, unlike an incandescent bulb that converts electrical energy into heat, which burns a filament to produce light. These dive lights are inexpensive and highly durable. They emit bright blue light, and don’t heat up like ordinary bulbs or tungsten lights. Most importantly, LEDs last much longer than ordinary bulbs, ensuring minimal battery consumption. The only drawback of LEDs is that they do not produce the same amount of light as a bulb. However, these inefficiencies are being constantly reduced as LED technology improves. Suppose you’re shopping for underwater dive lights. The LED light is one of the best to have in terms of overall value.
HID (High-Intensity Discharge)
HID torches use the same technology as modern car headlamps, which give off a white/blueish light that looks much brighter than ordinary car headlamps. A new light technology allows it to get twice as much light from half as much battery. The problem faced while Scuba Diving is that water, as you know, increasingly absorbs parts of the light spectrum as the diver goes deeper, making ordinary bulbs inefficient. HID torches give off high-intensity blue light that can be used at greater depths, project light at great distances, and last much longer. HID dive lights are, however, known to be more expensive than conventional lights and LED ones.
Conventional bulbs (Halogen, Xenon, or Tungsten)
Conventional filament bulbs are the cheapest and produce bright light but consume much more battery than HID or LED bulbs. While selecting a conventional bulb torch, you have three major parameters to remember: color temperature, power, and lamp life. The yellower the light, the more loss in the spectrum you will experience at depths. So, the bulb should emit a whitish light to be effective. Conventional bulbs that burn brighter often mean that they will also consume more power, so check for battery time, as you don’t want your light dying on you in the middle of a dive.
Lastly, conventional or incandescent bulbs have a limited life, and while purchasing a torch, you should ensure how long your bulb will last before needing to be replaced; also, check the availability and cost of spare bulbs before buying the light. Despite all the disadvantages of conventional lights, they are still widely used primarily because of their price, availability, and effectiveness underwater.
