It’s obvious that a dive light is necessary to scuba dive at night to help you navigate, see your gauges, and observe interesting aquatic life. But it’s also a good idea to carry a light during the day to peer inside wrecks, see under ledges and light up caverns.
There is a lot of choice when it comes to dive torches, but before being dazzled(like the pun?) consider what you will use it for and how often you are likely to use it. If you only ever dive on holiday in tropical locations perhaps making one or two night dives then hiring a torch at your destination might be the best option.
Selecting a proper dive light is important for your safety and the enjoyment of your dive experience. Fish, coral gardens, and the endless variety of sea creatures and organisms are extremely colorful, but the deeper you go, the less color you will see. Red and yellow are the first colors to disappear, and at a depth of about 10 meters / 33 feet underwater, all colors start to appear as dark blue, gray, and green.
With a good dive or underwater light, you are able to see the beautiful array of underwater colours no matter how deep you go. If you are shooting photos or video, your camera will be able to capture the beauty of the undersea world. A primary and backup light are also essential for your safety, especially when diving at night.
Whether you’re selecting an underwater light for diving, a backup light for protection, or a light for imaging or video, here are some of the features to look for in each category.
With a good dive or underwater light, you are able to see the beautiful array of underwater colours no matter how deep you go. If you are shooting photos or video, your camera will be able to capture the beauty of the undersea world. A primary and backup light are also essential for your safety, especially when diving at night.
Whether you’re selecting an underwater light for diving, a backup light for protection, or a light for imaging or video, here are some of the features to look for in each category.
Primary Dive Lights
Primary dive lights are used for daytime or nighttime dives. They are typically brighter than 600 lumens and offer a long run time at a high-power setting. They should be durably built, giving at least a decade of service.
Ideally, they can be powered by disposable and rechargeable batteries offering maximum versatility on dive trips.
They are can be umbilical lights or compact, available in a grip style handle or traditional straight grip.
Primary dive lights should have plenty of power – the more, the better – and offer adjustable brightness for varied conditions or extending the runtime. Some lights, have the ability to change the brightness and adjust your light exactly for the ambient light or conditions you’ve encountered on your dive through the wide and narrow beam angles.
Ideally, they can be powered by disposable and rechargeable batteries offering maximum versatility on dive trips.
They are can be umbilical lights or compact, available in a grip style handle or traditional straight grip.
Primary dive lights should have plenty of power – the more, the better – and offer adjustable brightness for varied conditions or extending the runtime. Some lights, have the ability to change the brightness and adjust your light exactly for the ambient light or conditions you’ve encountered on your dive through the wide and narrow beam angles.
Ammonite Led Stingray
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DivePro D6
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Aqualux 2600
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Secondary or "Backup" Dive Lights
The main function of a back-up or secondary dive light is to aid the diver during a nighttime dive in the event the primary light fails. Backup lights are typically more compact and lightweight and can be stored in a pocket or clipped to the BC. Secondary dive lights are also ideal for pointing to or pointing out objects or creatures under rocks, reef or in the shadows.
Ammonite LED One
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Aqualux 1500
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Dive Pro D5
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Torches that could be Primary or Backup Torches
Some torches meet the criteria to be a Primary or a Backup torch
Apeks Luna Mini Torch
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Underwater Photography and Video Lights
With the development of powerful Lithium-Ion batteries and bright, energy-efficient LED light sources, lights for imaging have changed dramatically. At the same time, newer high-resolution HD still and video cameras demand light to show brilliant colors across a wide spectrum.
If you want to do underwater photography or video, a wide beam light is a necessity to illuminate your subjects and create colorful images. Compare a dull, drab image taken without light to one with and it’s truly a night and day difference. While many cameras allow you to manually adjust the aperture or shutter speed, there simply is no substitute for a bright, steady and wide beam of light.
An important feature in underwater LED lighting is consistency across the entire beam angle. A light with a “hot spot” in the middle and with fading brightness to the edges is simply unusable for quality underwater stills or video.
If you want to do underwater photography or video, a wide beam light is a necessity to illuminate your subjects and create colorful images. Compare a dull, drab image taken without light to one with and it’s truly a night and day difference. While many cameras allow you to manually adjust the aperture or shutter speed, there simply is no substitute for a bright, steady and wide beam of light.
An important feature in underwater LED lighting is consistency across the entire beam angle. A light with a “hot spot” in the middle and with fading brightness to the edges is simply unusable for quality underwater stills or video.
Other Points to Consider
You can invest a lot of money in a torch, so consider this - torches are one of those pieces of equipment that flood, get dropped, or go missing. Don’t over invest, only spend what you would be willing to lose; you don’t want to be tempted to risk life and limb retrieving it.
- Battery
As an environmentally friendly diver, you should be using rechargeable batteries or a battery pack that can be recharged. If you are using them often, this does lower running costs too, but of course, you do need to be able to charge them. - Grip
On some torches you have a handle, some you grip around the barrel, and some mount to your wrist with a cable running to the power source attached to your cylinder. The latter is popular in technical diving as it leaves your hands free and typically has a longer burn time. Regardless you need to be sure that how you hold it is comfortable. - Function
Torches can be turned on and off, on some you can adjust the level of brightness and the beam size. Make sure these switches are easy to operate and if you are going to be wearing gloves make sure you check out how easy they are to operate with them on. Some models switch on and off by twisting the barrel; this is the same way that you would open the torch to change the batteries so you can easily inadvertently flood your torch.
Looking after your Torches
Do you have any in stock?
Have a look at our online store for some of the torches we have in stock... not all stock is loaded as it changes all of the time, so feel free to pop in and have a chat to find that torch that fits YOUR diving and is within YOUR price range. What is right for one diver is not necessarily right for the next. And if we do not have we can generally bring it in for you.
Night Diving
Never done a night dive and want to experience it, or how about the PADI Night Speciality. Give us a call and we will arrange for you.
v1.02 March 2021 / V1.01 September 2020
Published: 8th November 2018 v1.00 - Club Newsletter
Published: 8th November 2018 v1.00 - Club Newsletter