BC suggestions..?
- Thread starter tgreene
- Start date
tgreene
Reefer
I had planned on sticking w/ the Tusa 2100 because it's cheap, but it just so happens that I found a Cressi S116 used but in like new condition for $125 shipped on eBay this morning, so I quickly snagged it!
Here's the specs:
http://www.leisurepro.com/Prod/CSBS116.html
-Tim
Here's the specs:
http://www.leisurepro.com/Prod/CSBS116.html
-Tim
SeaJayInSC
New member
Nice purchase.
Now go wear it out.
Now go wear it out.
tgreene
Reefer
Per your PROFESSIONAL advice (and most of the folks in this thread), I was going to save my pennies to buy a nice Back Plate & Wing, but as we discussed on the phone, I needed to get something cheap in the interim while I save for the best equipment. At this price, I would have been a damn fool to pass it up, and depending upon how much diving I'm able to get in each season, I may just wait a bit before upgrading since I've had to buy everything else over the past couple of months. I'm sure this will either make a great backup, or I could easily re-sell it for what I paid.<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14198794#post14198794 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SeaJayInSC
Nice purchase.
Now go wear it out.
Since I won't be allowed to use this for the pool sessions, I do believe it's first use for me will be when I visit and we all dive together.
-Tim
SeaJayInSC
New member
Hey, whatever you've got to do to get in the water. The rest is just fluff. It's all about the dive, man. 
Sounds like you made a good investment - it'll get you in the water and you'll probably be able to sell it later for what you paid for it.
Finish your cert and then put some miles on that thing - it's an even better investment if you wear it out and aren't able to sell it.
The rest is just fluff. It's all about the dive, man. Sounds like you made a good investment - it'll get you in the water and you'll probably be able to sell it later for what you paid for it.
Finish your cert and then put some miles on that thing - it's an even better investment if you wear it out and aren't able to sell it.
tgreene
Reefer
I finally got around to having my first pool session on Thursday, and while I had only been through chapters 1 and 2 in the book, my instructor ran me through all 5 chapters in the pool... He then told me to just go ahead and hit the pool whenever I want, so last night I used up an entire tank playing around in the deep end of the pool.
I finish up the classroom work this next Wednesday, and my final pool session will be Thursday. Mt OW will be the end of March somewhere at a spring in Florida, and I can't wait!!!
I finally have all of my gear with the exception of a m wetsuit and light, and I'm looking at the 5mm Henderson Hyperstretch suit and a Underwater Kinetics C8 light... Opinions on both are very much welcomed.
-Tim
I finish up the classroom work this next Wednesday, and my final pool session will be Thursday. Mt OW will be the end of March somewhere at a spring in Florida, and I can't wait!!!
I finally have all of my gear with the exception of a m wetsuit and light, and I'm looking at the 5mm Henderson Hyperstretch suit and a Underwater Kinetics C8 light... Opinions on both are very much welcomed.
-Tim
SeaJayInSC
New member
How very cool - I remember doing all of my pool sessions - in fact, I still hit the pool from time to time to get a "perfect environment" where the water is clear and warm and there's no current... It's a great place to dip in and practice skills, nail weighting, and even introduce others to scuba. Congratulations on everything you've accomplished thus far - hope you're having a blast playing with the gear and the new dimension that you now have control over - up and down.
I know Henderson suits pretty well - in fact, I know suits in general pretty well. On average we probably purchase one every one to two months, between me (and my work, which tears them up), Kym and any other diver we've got working with us.
My experience with Hendersons is that they really stress the super-soft, stretchy neoprene that's a relative newcomer in the wetsuit market. That's their "niche." It makes for a very comfortable suit, because it stretches over your body for a perfect fit and gives when you move, preventing binding.
The downside to super-stretchy neoprene is that it crushes with depth moreso than typical neoprene... So your 3 mil at the surface becomes a 1 mil at 60 feet, where it's colder anyway.
Neoprene isn't a very good material to make a dive suit from - it's very buoyant because of all of the trapped air bubbles inside of the suit (which is the reason it insulates, so it's not like it can be designed out). It also crushes at depth, meaning it gets thinner the deeper you go. At 30 feet, your typical wetsuit is half as thick as it is on the surface, and at 60 feet it's about 1/3 as thick... Of course, reducing it's ability to insulate you from the cold. Also because of this buoyancy, you'll have to compensate by wearing more weight - and the thicker the suit, the more weight you'll have to wear.
...Assuming you're correctly weighted at the surface, all things equal, you'll therefore be too heavy at depth, because your suit has crushed. You'll find that you can compensate by adding air to your bc or bp/wing.
...Which of course, means that you'll be too light as you ascend and your suit re-expands. Again, you can compensate by letting air out of your bc or bp/wing.
With a 3 mil suit (thin), the amount of air you have to add at depth and release at the surface isn't much - but the thicker the suit, the more you have to compensate... Which is why really thick suits suck, but are sometimes necessary if the water's really that chilly, and you don't have a drysuit (which has valves in it so that you can compensate the suit right within the suit).
Herein starts the process of "gear sucks" - which is why I recommend adopting an early philosophy of "don't buy it unless you absolutely have to in order to dive." Suits - you absolutely need them to dive... Diving outside the pool environment, there's all kinds of stinging, sharp marine nasties, to say nothing of the chill - so yes, absolutely wear a suit... But minimize it. Wear minimally thick suits so that you aren't constantly compensating, you can minimize your weight, and have a more enjoyable dive overall. Thinner suits also have the advantage that they're more comfortable, won't bind at your joints, and cost less and can be replaced for less when the one you have gets hosed up or wears out.
Okay - back to the Henderson - that super-stretchy neoprene tends to wear out faster than the old stiffer stuff. It also compresses quicker at depth, meaning that it'll offer less thermal protection than the old stiffer stuff. A better design is their latest stuff, which has soft, stretchy flexible panels where it's needed, and less stretchy neoprene where it's not needed.
Henderson has, over the past decade or so, relied on their super-stretchy neoprene design to give the diver a good fit, which their suits do, at least when they're new and on the surface. Now that super-stretchy neoprene is no longer a Henderson-only feature (it's been around long enough to be adopted by other wetsuit manufacturers), frankly, I've found other suits that are both less pricey and a better fit.
My personal favorites are the Sector series of dive suits made by O'Neill - O'Neill is arguably the company that invented the wetsuit, and for decades made them with the material available at the time - thick, stiff neoprene. To get a good fit, they had to create a suit that was anatomically correct - curved in all of the right places. As such, you'll never find a straight seam on an O'Neill... All of the seams are curved around the body, because the body is a series of curves, not straight lines. Consequently, they have a fantastic fit - always have. Now that they've adopted the super-stretchy neoprene for key areas, their suits fit better than ever, are exceedingly comfortable, nearly keep the diver dry inside (reducing the water flow inside the suit is the key to making a high quality, warm wetsuit), and last longer than any suit we've tried. We highly recommend them.
Unfortunately, you'll be hard-pressed to find O'Neill suits in dive shops... Henderson, Scubapro and Akona are much more common, with Pinnacle starting to make a name for itself in the market. All of these suits have straight seams, and therefore require stretchier neoprene to give a good fit, which is sometimes questionable anyway.
In practical terms, if you choose a super-stretchy suit, you'll have to get a thicker suit to have the same amount of thermal protection - which of course, means more weight... And a more difficult time maintaining buoyancy... And so the cycle of clusterf**k begins.
...So yeah, Henderson is a good suit - but for less money you can get a better fitting, more comfortable, drier inside, warmer, less-affected-by-depth suit from O'Neill. They're just tough to find.
...Which is why we buy all of our suits from Dennis at Austin's Diving Center in Miami, Florida. He's "on the ball" and has a great stock of O'Neill dive suits. They're at http://www.austinsdiving.com . Tell them SeaJay sent you and I'm sure he'll hook you up with a great deal.
I know Henderson suits pretty well - in fact, I know suits in general pretty well. On average we probably purchase one every one to two months, between me (and my work, which tears them up), Kym and any other diver we've got working with us.
My experience with Hendersons is that they really stress the super-soft, stretchy neoprene that's a relative newcomer in the wetsuit market. That's their "niche." It makes for a very comfortable suit, because it stretches over your body for a perfect fit and gives when you move, preventing binding.
The downside to super-stretchy neoprene is that it crushes with depth moreso than typical neoprene... So your 3 mil at the surface becomes a 1 mil at 60 feet, where it's colder anyway.
Neoprene isn't a very good material to make a dive suit from - it's very buoyant because of all of the trapped air bubbles inside of the suit (which is the reason it insulates, so it's not like it can be designed out). It also crushes at depth, meaning it gets thinner the deeper you go. At 30 feet, your typical wetsuit is half as thick as it is on the surface, and at 60 feet it's about 1/3 as thick... Of course, reducing it's ability to insulate you from the cold. Also because of this buoyancy, you'll have to compensate by wearing more weight - and the thicker the suit, the more weight you'll have to wear.
...Assuming you're correctly weighted at the surface, all things equal, you'll therefore be too heavy at depth, because your suit has crushed. You'll find that you can compensate by adding air to your bc or bp/wing.
...Which of course, means that you'll be too light as you ascend and your suit re-expands. Again, you can compensate by letting air out of your bc or bp/wing.
With a 3 mil suit (thin), the amount of air you have to add at depth and release at the surface isn't much - but the thicker the suit, the more you have to compensate... Which is why really thick suits suck, but are sometimes necessary if the water's really that chilly, and you don't have a drysuit (which has valves in it so that you can compensate the suit right within the suit).
Herein starts the process of "gear sucks" - which is why I recommend adopting an early philosophy of "don't buy it unless you absolutely have to in order to dive." Suits - you absolutely need them to dive... Diving outside the pool environment, there's all kinds of stinging, sharp marine nasties, to say nothing of the chill - so yes, absolutely wear a suit... But minimize it. Wear minimally thick suits so that you aren't constantly compensating, you can minimize your weight, and have a more enjoyable dive overall. Thinner suits also have the advantage that they're more comfortable, won't bind at your joints, and cost less and can be replaced for less when the one you have gets hosed up or wears out.
Okay - back to the Henderson - that super-stretchy neoprene tends to wear out faster than the old stiffer stuff. It also compresses quicker at depth, meaning that it'll offer less thermal protection than the old stiffer stuff. A better design is their latest stuff, which has soft, stretchy flexible panels where it's needed, and less stretchy neoprene where it's not needed.
Henderson has, over the past decade or so, relied on their super-stretchy neoprene design to give the diver a good fit, which their suits do, at least when they're new and on the surface. Now that super-stretchy neoprene is no longer a Henderson-only feature (it's been around long enough to be adopted by other wetsuit manufacturers), frankly, I've found other suits that are both less pricey and a better fit.
My personal favorites are the Sector series of dive suits made by O'Neill - O'Neill is arguably the company that invented the wetsuit, and for decades made them with the material available at the time - thick, stiff neoprene. To get a good fit, they had to create a suit that was anatomically correct - curved in all of the right places. As such, you'll never find a straight seam on an O'Neill... All of the seams are curved around the body, because the body is a series of curves, not straight lines. Consequently, they have a fantastic fit - always have. Now that they've adopted the super-stretchy neoprene for key areas, their suits fit better than ever, are exceedingly comfortable, nearly keep the diver dry inside (reducing the water flow inside the suit is the key to making a high quality, warm wetsuit), and last longer than any suit we've tried. We highly recommend them.
Unfortunately, you'll be hard-pressed to find O'Neill suits in dive shops... Henderson, Scubapro and Akona are much more common, with Pinnacle starting to make a name for itself in the market. All of these suits have straight seams, and therefore require stretchier neoprene to give a good fit, which is sometimes questionable anyway.
In practical terms, if you choose a super-stretchy suit, you'll have to get a thicker suit to have the same amount of thermal protection - which of course, means more weight... And a more difficult time maintaining buoyancy... And so the cycle of clusterf**k begins.
...So yeah, Henderson is a good suit - but for less money you can get a better fitting, more comfortable, drier inside, warmer, less-affected-by-depth suit from O'Neill. They're just tough to find.
...Which is why we buy all of our suits from Dennis at Austin's Diving Center in Miami, Florida. He's "on the ball" and has a great stock of O'Neill dive suits. They're at http://www.austinsdiving.com . Tell them SeaJay sent you and I'm sure he'll hook you up with a great deal.
Last edited:
SeaJayInSC
New member
You're not going to like my opinion on lights, either.
I've owned several lights manufactured by Underwater Kinetics (UK). I don't think I've owned one that has never flooded - that is, every UK light I've ever owned has, at one point or another, leaked and flooded way before their depth rating.
I have other issues with UK lights as well - their HID from years ago ate it's fragile bulbs, which cost more to replace than most dive lights cost in the first place. Several of their lights designed for shallow, underwater use have been designed with pushbuttons rather than sliding switches - which doesn't seem like a big deal until you submerge past 5 feet and the water pressure depresses the button permenantly. There is absolutely no excuse for any manufacturer of underwater lighting to not know the fact that pushbutton switches don't work underwater because the moment you submerge them, the button presses in from the pressure and becomes inoperable.
Some of their lights are poorly designed with bulb voltages that don't match the battery output - that is, they run too much voltage through the bulb to get a super-bright appearance in the dive shop so that their lights sell. The problem with this is the fact that it often reduces bulb life down to a couple of hours, so it seems that the bulb is always either blown, just recently fixed, or about to blow.
LED lighting - I can't begin to tell you what an enormous advance LED lighting has been to the scuba community... The LED's last practically forever, can take more abuse than any other light source, have a wonderful, attractive, true white light underwater, and draw less power, making lights run longer and more reliably, with less battery requirements and in a smaller package. If I were to buy a new light (I've already got a ton of them), I would consider nothing but an LED.
The single-bulb LED lights are better than the multiple-LED lights because they tend to give a more focused beam pattern - think, "light sabre" instead of "flood light." This is important underwater any time you've got less than perfect vis (the floods light up all of the junk in the water worse) and for signaling to your buddy (there's all kinds of signals that you can use your light for underwater, and the more focused the beam, the easier the signals are to read). Absolutely, go LED - and while the multi-bulb lights are good, the ones with the same output in a single bulb are a much better design - but priced accordingly.
Lastly, the design of the light is a big deal - the C8 is a very poor design in that it has a handle that fully occupies one hand. In other words, if you take the light down with you, you've only got one hand to do everything else with. To compensate, the dive shops typically sell the light with a wrist lanyard or a clip so that you can clip the light off to one of the D-rings on your bc or bp/wing. The idea is that you can stow it somehow when you're not using it.
The problem with this idea is that 1. The light is HUGE - in fact, there are much brighter, better lights out there half the size. 2. Clipping it off makes for one heck of a "dangly," which tends to drag on the bottom, get caught on everything, or generally offer a draggy, un-steamlined thing to get in the way when you're trying to swim against current. 3. Allowing it to dangle from your wrist, it's even more "in the way" than clipped off, and of course, is a hazard to your buddy if you have an out-of-air situation - I haven't once seen anyone use a wrist lanyard and NOT bop their buddy in the face when they hand over a reg.
A much better designed light - which will never flood on you, is "life support" reliable, uses one intense LED bulb for a focused beam pattern, and is only made of the best, most indestructible materials is the Halcyon LED Scout light. Check it out at http://www.extreme-exposure.com/?q=product/lights . Sure, they're not cheap, but they're probably close to the price of the UK that you were about to spend your money on. The funny thing is that your buddys will likely tell you you were a fool for spending that kind of money on something that, effectively, is a Mag-Lite on steroids (and depth rated to something like 600 feet), but after just a few dives they'll shut up as they repeatedly ask you to borrow your light because theirs is flooded, out of battery, has a blown bulb (again) or didn't go on the dive at all because it was in the way.
The really cool part of the design of these lights is the way they're stowed - check this out: http://www.gue.com/files/page_images/equipment/Config/scout-attachment.jpg
There's a few divers on this page wearing a stowed Scout... See if you can find their lights: http://www.gue.com/?q=en/node/134
Of course, your mileage may vary - notice that all of these guys have their Scouts stowed on their backplate and wing - things might be a bit different with your bc, but I'm sure you'll figure out how to make it work.
Notice, too, that a lot of these guys are using the Scout as a BACKUP light and not a PRIMARY light - that's because they're using massive 21-watt cannister lights as their primaries, which are insanely bright and too cool for words - but also insanely expensive and moody... Great when they work, but not so reliable as to be able to depend on it solely. For this reason, many of them stow a pair of uber-reliable Scout lights on their harness just in case their super-pricey "can" light takes a dump hundreds of feet back in a cave.
...But I can tell you that the Scouts make for an excellent, dependable, rugged and easily stowed primary light for the recreational diver, and have the advantage that later, if you find yourself wanting to go into more technical situations, they'll still serve your needs well.
I've owned several lights manufactured by Underwater Kinetics (UK). I don't think I've owned one that has never flooded - that is, every UK light I've ever owned has, at one point or another, leaked and flooded way before their depth rating.
I have other issues with UK lights as well - their HID from years ago ate it's fragile bulbs, which cost more to replace than most dive lights cost in the first place. Several of their lights designed for shallow, underwater use have been designed with pushbuttons rather than sliding switches - which doesn't seem like a big deal until you submerge past 5 feet and the water pressure depresses the button permenantly. There is absolutely no excuse for any manufacturer of underwater lighting to not know the fact that pushbutton switches don't work underwater because the moment you submerge them, the button presses in from the pressure and becomes inoperable.
Some of their lights are poorly designed with bulb voltages that don't match the battery output - that is, they run too much voltage through the bulb to get a super-bright appearance in the dive shop so that their lights sell. The problem with this is the fact that it often reduces bulb life down to a couple of hours, so it seems that the bulb is always either blown, just recently fixed, or about to blow.
LED lighting - I can't begin to tell you what an enormous advance LED lighting has been to the scuba community... The LED's last practically forever, can take more abuse than any other light source, have a wonderful, attractive, true white light underwater, and draw less power, making lights run longer and more reliably, with less battery requirements and in a smaller package. If I were to buy a new light (I've already got a ton of them), I would consider nothing but an LED.
The single-bulb LED lights are better than the multiple-LED lights because they tend to give a more focused beam pattern - think, "light sabre" instead of "flood light." This is important underwater any time you've got less than perfect vis (the floods light up all of the junk in the water worse) and for signaling to your buddy (there's all kinds of signals that you can use your light for underwater, and the more focused the beam, the easier the signals are to read). Absolutely, go LED - and while the multi-bulb lights are good, the ones with the same output in a single bulb are a much better design - but priced accordingly.
Lastly, the design of the light is a big deal - the C8 is a very poor design in that it has a handle that fully occupies one hand. In other words, if you take the light down with you, you've only got one hand to do everything else with. To compensate, the dive shops typically sell the light with a wrist lanyard or a clip so that you can clip the light off to one of the D-rings on your bc or bp/wing. The idea is that you can stow it somehow when you're not using it.
The problem with this idea is that 1. The light is HUGE - in fact, there are much brighter, better lights out there half the size. 2. Clipping it off makes for one heck of a "dangly," which tends to drag on the bottom, get caught on everything, or generally offer a draggy, un-steamlined thing to get in the way when you're trying to swim against current. 3. Allowing it to dangle from your wrist, it's even more "in the way" than clipped off, and of course, is a hazard to your buddy if you have an out-of-air situation - I haven't once seen anyone use a wrist lanyard and NOT bop their buddy in the face when they hand over a reg.
A much better designed light - which will never flood on you, is "life support" reliable, uses one intense LED bulb for a focused beam pattern, and is only made of the best, most indestructible materials is the Halcyon LED Scout light. Check it out at http://www.extreme-exposure.com/?q=product/lights . Sure, they're not cheap, but they're probably close to the price of the UK that you were about to spend your money on. The funny thing is that your buddys will likely tell you you were a fool for spending that kind of money on something that, effectively, is a Mag-Lite on steroids (and depth rated to something like 600 feet), but after just a few dives they'll shut up as they repeatedly ask you to borrow your light because theirs is flooded, out of battery, has a blown bulb (again) or didn't go on the dive at all because it was in the way.
The really cool part of the design of these lights is the way they're stowed - check this out: http://www.gue.com/files/page_images/equipment/Config/scout-attachment.jpg
There's a few divers on this page wearing a stowed Scout... See if you can find their lights: http://www.gue.com/?q=en/node/134
Of course, your mileage may vary - notice that all of these guys have their Scouts stowed on their backplate and wing - things might be a bit different with your bc, but I'm sure you'll figure out how to make it work.
Notice, too, that a lot of these guys are using the Scout as a BACKUP light and not a PRIMARY light - that's because they're using massive 21-watt cannister lights as their primaries, which are insanely bright and too cool for words - but also insanely expensive and moody... Great when they work, but not so reliable as to be able to depend on it solely. For this reason, many of them stow a pair of uber-reliable Scout lights on their harness just in case their super-pricey "can" light takes a dump hundreds of feet back in a cave.
...But I can tell you that the Scouts make for an excellent, dependable, rugged and easily stowed primary light for the recreational diver, and have the advantage that later, if you find yourself wanting to go into more technical situations, they'll still serve your needs well.
What the heck were you doing with those UK lights that you flooded so many? I've yet to flood a dive light at recreational depths. I did toast one by idiotically forgetting to take the batteries out at the end of the season and found they leaked and corroded the innards by the next year 
tgreene
Reefer
I was kind hoping to be able to stay under $75 for my first light, so a $200 Scout is a bit out of my range for now at least...
In regards to a 5mm Henderson Hyperflex, I do have a Henderson/NeoSport 1mm skin that I can wear under the 5mm when necessary. If you guys would suggest that I just stick with a standard "stiff: suit, then that's the route I'll go since I'm yielding to your professional advice.
-Tim
In regards to a 5mm Henderson Hyperflex, I do have a Henderson/NeoSport 1mm skin that I can wear under the 5mm when necessary. If you guys would suggest that I just stick with a standard "stiff: suit, then that's the route I'll go since I'm yielding to your professional advice.
-Tim
SeaJayInSC
New member
Yeah, I knew you weren't going to like that.
We've probably got a dozen UK 3AAALed "headlights" running around on our boats and in our trucks - the factory said that they're rated to 33 feet. Well, we trusted that we could use them in 10' of water just fine, so we all dived them several times. Every one of them leaked, which wasn't apparent until the next week or so - and one by one, every single person has had their head light stop working because it got flooded.
Several of us have owned the UK Light Cannon - the HID predacessor to the C8 - and to date, out of four Light Cannons that I know of, all four have suffered from being flooded. Mine in particular was flooded three times before I gave it away to a new diver that wanted it.
There is no discernable difference between the C8's housing and the Light Cannon's housing - no improvements, no additional seals, nothing.
There's a variety of other UK products that we've had - backup lights of various designs. We just haven't had real good luck with them.
What were we doing? Well... Sometimes recreational diving, sometimes commercial... Sometimes inshore, sometimes in the mud, and sometimes offshore and in clear waters.
One of my floods came from diving recreationally offshore - I think the jarring of the boat on the way out may have had something to do with it. Max depth that dive was about 56'. Light went out at about 30', so I assume that's when it flooded.
I don't think we did anything particularly unusual in terms of use with the lights - but if you read the UK website, they take great pride in bragging about how tough and "indestructible" they are. We haven't found that to be the case with any UK product at all.
That said, I have a pair of four-year-old Heser backup lights (identical design and components to the Scout LED, which is a virtual clone of the light, but not available when I purchased my Hesers) and in four years they've been pretty much on every job with me that I've done. I have done nothing whatsoever to be kind to them, and they've been absolutely beaten, kicked around, and even had tanks slammed down on them occasionally. I think in four years I've changed the batteries in them twice (on my third set now) for a cost of about $8 - they continue to burn reliably, every time, with bright white, beautiful and powerful light. To say that they've exceeded every expectation I've had is an understatement.
Burn time on three "C" batteries is about 50 hours, with a brilliant white light that has a hard-focused beam and absolutely zero maintenance on them whatsoever. Since the batteries are standard alkaline batteries, when we shut the light off and stow it, we know that a year later when we need a light, they'll still work the same as the day we shut them off. We couldn't ask for more.
They have a similar brightness and color temperature and intensity of a $1000 10w HID light, but without the cords, the price tag, and the daily maintenance and undependability of a Li-Ion or NmH battery. The only disadvantage to them is that the "hot spot" in the light output is not quite as large (maybe half the size of a 10w HID) and that people aren't as impressed as they used to be when we brought out these huge, rediculous lights that, at least for 40 minutes or so, could light small trees on fire.
'Course, for $2,000, it was easier to just use an LED backup like the Scouts and use a match when we wanted to ignite something.
But no, we didn't have very good luck with UK equipment, and their design left a lot to be desired, IMHO. Your mileage may vary.
We've probably got a dozen UK 3AAALed "headlights" running around on our boats and in our trucks - the factory said that they're rated to 33 feet. Well, we trusted that we could use them in 10' of water just fine, so we all dived them several times. Every one of them leaked, which wasn't apparent until the next week or so - and one by one, every single person has had their head light stop working because it got flooded.
Several of us have owned the UK Light Cannon - the HID predacessor to the C8 - and to date, out of four Light Cannons that I know of, all four have suffered from being flooded. Mine in particular was flooded three times before I gave it away to a new diver that wanted it.
There is no discernable difference between the C8's housing and the Light Cannon's housing - no improvements, no additional seals, nothing.
There's a variety of other UK products that we've had - backup lights of various designs. We just haven't had real good luck with them.
What were we doing? Well... Sometimes recreational diving, sometimes commercial... Sometimes inshore, sometimes in the mud, and sometimes offshore and in clear waters.
One of my floods came from diving recreationally offshore - I think the jarring of the boat on the way out may have had something to do with it. Max depth that dive was about 56'. Light went out at about 30', so I assume that's when it flooded.
I don't think we did anything particularly unusual in terms of use with the lights - but if you read the UK website, they take great pride in bragging about how tough and "indestructible" they are. We haven't found that to be the case with any UK product at all.
That said, I have a pair of four-year-old Heser backup lights (identical design and components to the Scout LED, which is a virtual clone of the light, but not available when I purchased my Hesers) and in four years they've been pretty much on every job with me that I've done. I have done nothing whatsoever to be kind to them, and they've been absolutely beaten, kicked around, and even had tanks slammed down on them occasionally. I think in four years I've changed the batteries in them twice (on my third set now) for a cost of about $8 - they continue to burn reliably, every time, with bright white, beautiful and powerful light. To say that they've exceeded every expectation I've had is an understatement.
Burn time on three "C" batteries is about 50 hours, with a brilliant white light that has a hard-focused beam and absolutely zero maintenance on them whatsoever. Since the batteries are standard alkaline batteries, when we shut the light off and stow it, we know that a year later when we need a light, they'll still work the same as the day we shut them off. We couldn't ask for more.
They have a similar brightness and color temperature and intensity of a $1000 10w HID light, but without the cords, the price tag, and the daily maintenance and undependability of a Li-Ion or NmH battery. The only disadvantage to them is that the "hot spot" in the light output is not quite as large (maybe half the size of a 10w HID) and that people aren't as impressed as they used to be when we brought out these huge, rediculous lights that, at least for 40 minutes or so, could light small trees on fire.
'Course, for $2,000, it was easier to just use an LED backup like the Scouts and use a match when we wanted to ignite something.
But no, we didn't have very good luck with UK equipment, and their design left a lot to be desired, IMHO. Your mileage may vary.
SeaJayInSC
New member
No problem - spring the extra six bucks and get the two-batteried version and put it in your BC pocket.
Here ya go:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Brand-New-Halcy...|66:3|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:100
Here ya go:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Brand-New-Halcy...|66:3|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:100
SeaJayInSC
New member
Whoops... Negative on that. That's the non-LED version of the light. There's a couple of LED versions going for about $125 or $150 there on eBay, though. Check it out and see what people have there.
Call Extreme Exposure in High Springs ( http://www.extreme-exposure.com ) and see if they've got any of the LED Scouts on sale.
Personally, I would spring the money for the light (what's the difference - $100?), but if you won't, then look for a similar design, or at least an LED light that you can shove in your bc pocket when you're done using it.
Frankly, I believe this is one of those times when you get what you pay for, but again, YMMV.
Call Extreme Exposure in High Springs ( http://www.extreme-exposure.com ) and see if they've got any of the LED Scouts on sale.
Personally, I would spring the money for the light (what's the difference - $100?), but if you won't, then look for a similar design, or at least an LED light that you can shove in your bc pocket when you're done using it.
Frankly, I believe this is one of those times when you get what you pay for, but again, YMMV.
SeaJayInSC
New member
I have never been able to wear a suit on top of a suit, although I hear people talking about it all the time.
My experience is that you're unable to get the second suit over the kneepads of the first, and you'd have to purchase the second suit one size larger to make it all work anyway... But like I said, I hear about people doing it all the time. I've never personally seen anyone do it except for suits that were specifically made to do that, like a farmer john.
What I'm suggesting is that you purchase an O'Neill Sector 5 from Dennis at Austin's in Miami. He can help you with sizing.
livingstone
New member
I know everyone has their favorites but I gotta tell you about mine. 
The Pinnacle Merino wool lined wetsuits are really nice. I've got an Elastiprene 5 mm which was recommended to me by a respected cave diving instructor (though you wouldn't use this for cave diving). It keeps me warm when others I'm diving with are getting chilled in their 5 mm's. Any diving at all at lower temps than this is good for is done with drysuit.
The Pinnacle Merino wool lined wetsuits are really nice. I've got an Elastiprene 5 mm which was recommended to me by a respected cave diving instructor (though you wouldn't use this for cave diving). It keeps me warm when others I'm diving with are getting chilled in their 5 mm's. Any diving at all at lower temps than this is good for is done with drysuit.
Tecdiverfl
Member
If you want some recomendations on some good instructors in S. Florida let me know
craiglanda
New member
personally i think a backplate and wing is the best option for any diver...It is 100% adjustable to perfectly fit any diver, they are upgradable/expandable (as in swapping out back plates and/or wings for whatever application...be it for a rigid plastic backplate to lighten the load for travel or to set it up for doubles, etc...) It is the most stable in the water...making you more stable in the water! So if you are a new diver or a diver with all the experience in the world i feel these are the best way to go hands down!
The only thing anyone ever complains about these setups (that i have heard at least) is that they are uncomfortable out of the water. To me that is pretty poor thing to base what BC to buy considering you buy a BC to be used in solely in the water!! Its like buying a pair of skiis or a snowboard because it is comfortable on the grass but not that great on the snow and passing up the ones that are great on the mountain but are a little less comfortable on the flats while skating over to the lift!
The only thing anyone ever complains about these setups (that i have heard at least) is that they are uncomfortable out of the water. To me that is pretty poor thing to base what BC to buy considering you buy a BC to be used in solely in the water!! Its like buying a pair of skiis or a snowboard because it is comfortable on the grass but not that great on the snow and passing up the ones that are great on the mountain but are a little less comfortable on the flats while skating over to the lift!
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