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Pioneers of Florida cave-diving, Lamar Hires and the other guys at DiveRite have always been at the forefront of anything to do with technical diving. The H10 Compact is merely one from DiveRite's extensive range.
Its 12V nickel-metal hydride (ni-mh) battery is contained within a slimline PVC tube that is closed onto an O-ring at one end by means of compression-style clam-catches of the type used on underwater camera housings.
This canister can be mounted either to a weightbelt, a tank camband or by bolt snaps to a wing harness or backplate. Its switch is deeply recessed behind a thick collar to prevent accidental operation, and it promises a four-hour burntime.
The 10W HID is enclosed test-tube style and burns at a very cool colour-temperature approaching 6500°K.
It has an externally fitted reflector, which can be adjusted using a simple knurled knob and sliding collar to vary the angle of beam produced, and an elastic hand mount. It is permanently wired by its umbilical to the battery canister.
When we switched it on, we almost grew old waiting for it to warm up. The manufacturer says it takes four minutes, which seemed rather long. No time was supplied for a safe restart interval after switching off. The reflector was not very efficient at all.
The beam comprised a set of concentric rings which varied but never focused at any reflector position. So the output of light was so low that our meter was at the end of its sensitivity range when we registered its brightness.
The brightness of each of the other products reviewed here is relative to this one having a factor of one. We thought it was a lovely bit of kit, right up to the moment we turned it on!
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Weight in air: 1.85kg
Weight in water: 0.84kg
Approx. weight of head in water: negligible
Brightness factor: 1
RRP: £586
Contact: Sea & Sea 01803 663012
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We had already tried an earlier HID lantern version of a Fa-Mi HID light for Diver Tests and that one elicited the response: Fa-Mi, That's Bright!
This one is of an umbilical style with a slim 12V power-pack in a diamond-anodised aluminium casing that clips conveniently under a tank camband. The umbilical cable screws into this (with O-ring protection), just as the charger lead does, so that you have the option to separate the lead from the power-pack.
The 12W HID lamphead proved to be one of the least cumbersome to use under water, thanks to its exceedingly light weight, and in fact it was among the most dinky of those compared here.
Nevertheless, it feels tough. It is switched on by means of a magnetic switch behind a well-designed rotating collar and burns at a cool 6000°K. It has a burntime of around three hours.
The locking screw on the switching collar fell off during the test, so no doubt this would be lost during the first dive. It isn't really important under water, so we suggest that you take it off and put it somewhere safe when not in transit.
Warm-up time was found to be around 30 seconds but, unlike its sibling tested previously, it turned out to be less bright than we expected, even if the beam was very neat and even.
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Weight in air: 1.45kg
Weight in water: 0.65kg
Approx. weight of head in water: 0.12kg
Brightness factor: 5
RRP: £523
Contact: Submerge 01484 310130
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This Belgian manufacturer offers a modular system of aluminium battery-packs and lampheads, and the version tested here has a lightweight lamphead that is claimed to be almost impossible to damage.
You have the option of either using the umbilical lead connection or simply screwing the head directly into the battery pack, which makes a (very long) hand torch.
The battery-pack handle can either be removed altogether or you can use it to clamp the pack under a tank camband.
One design weakness with these lights is that they are switched on by simply screwing the lamphead down onto the umbilical connection to make contact.
Although these threaded connections are protected by three O-rings, divers with less than the necessary finesse will undoubtedly cause a flood at some time.
So turn it on immediately before entering the water and do not turn it off until you are safely out.
The battery-pack is not the most beautiful-looking of items and the HID head alone is more than 30cm long, but its 21W HID will burn for 90 minutes.
It took around 30 seconds to reach full light output. The beam produced had a pleasant enough shape, with a good evenly diffused hotspot, but was slightly spoiled by some colour fringing, probably down to a poor reflector design.
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Weight in air: 1.8kg
Weight in water: 0.78kg
Approx. weight of head in water: 0.35kg
Brightness factor: 16
RRP: £545
Contact: Lumb Bros 0161 6815790
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A favourite brand of DIR divers, this lamp from the Florida-based Halcyon company comes with a sealed lead-acid power source in a battery-pack carved from a lump of the acetal resin Delrin. This is securely closed onto an O-ring by cam-latches of the type commonly found on underwater camera housings.
It comes with a fitting that will allow it to fit onto a weightbelt or the backplate of a wing-style BC. Its lamphead has the hands-free Goodman handle that cavers favour and is switched on and off by means of a simple waterproofed switch on the battery-pack. This has a deep collar for protection against accidental operation.
The permanently fixed 10W HID has a burntime of two hours and its beam can be adjusted for width by rotating a collar. It is claimed by its manufacturer to be "nearly indestructible". We didn't test for that! Warm-up time is approaching 45sec.
The focusing adjustment really worked, and we show two different beam shots to illustrate the range.
We measured the output at the hotspot when focused down, which is probably how most divers will decide to use it.
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Weight in air: 2.47kg
Weight in water: 0.82kg
Approx. weight of head in water: 0.15kg
Brightness factor: 64
RRP: £464
Contact: Silent Planet 01305 824555.
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Probably the first of many manufacturers to offer an HID version of its lamps, as far back as January 1999, the German company Kowalski got this one into the market before the term HID became readily acceptable. A bit of a brute, this is the lamp that has caused divers to observe that they thought they could smell fish frying during the dive!
Made of aluminised aluminium, it would be inconveniently heavy if it were not for its buoyant neoprene sleeve.
The great selling-point of these lamps is that you can recharge them by attaching the charging plugs directly to the outside of the unit, so there's never a reason to open one up, or to worry about defective O-ring reinstallation afterwards.
So if it floods, it certainly isn't your fault, and the charger is intelligent for good battery longevity, too.
The Speed Xenon's on/off switch has a good safety lock for travelling. There is a green light that glows at the back when you turn it on, which is quite useful with an HID that takes a moment to fire up. This light turns red when battery power gets so low that you have only seven or eight minutes of burntime left.
The light doubles as an indicator when charging and the ni-cad battery takes around three hours to charge from flat. Kowalski has yet to be persuaded to go over to ni-mh.
Although available with a flood reflector for video use, the example of the Speed Xenon tested had a 9° spot reflector and a 24W HID.
Colour temperature is pleasantly natural-looking at around 4500°K but will be less penetrative in water than cooler types. Burntime is 60min.
Warm-up time is promised as 90sec but I found that it took only 22sec. The brightness was blinding! You pay a lot and you get a lot.
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Weight in air: 2.0kg
Weight in water with neoprene sleeve: 0.64kg
Brightness factor: 150
RRP: £750 (replacement lamp £170)
Contact: Lighthouse Diving 01285 810814
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What a whopper! Even the umbilical cable of this light is so heavyweight that it looks as if it came off a film-studio spotlight.
The Luminator is the super-trouper in this line-up of lamps but the permanently connected lamphead is not so heavy in the water, thanks to a huge amount of air-space within its reflector.
The 35W HID will burn for an hour with a fully charged ni-mh battery. It turns on by means of a large knurled knob (without detent) on top of the battery-pack. Full brightness is achieved after approximately 20 seconds from switching on and restart time is three seconds after switching off.
Recharging takes eight to 10 hours from flat and the battery is accessed by means of a hexagonal wrench and a removable plug, which is rather like the port plug of a regulator.
This lamp would be too expensive in the marketplace if it was distributed alongside the rest of the conventional lamps that Hydrotech sells. Instead, it is sold direct through the retail shop of associate company Stoney Cove Marine Trials.
We found the beam a little patchy compared to what we expected but quite acceptable. It was very bright, however; in fact one of the brightest compared here, and pleasantly cool.
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Weight in air: 3.37kg
Weight in water: 1.0kg.
Approx. weight of head in water: 0.20kg
Brightness factor: 64
RRP: £610
Contact: Stoney Cove Marine Trials 01455 273089
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Well-known for good-value yet tough underwater lighting, NiteRider makes a range of lamps for divers, all in a similar format. This one comes with a wrist mount for the tiny HID lamphead and also a novel solo-diver's head-mount that's bound to cause the light to blind your buddy every time you look his way.
Its permanently connected 10W HID burns at a cool 5800°K, and you can expect to get a four-hour burntime from its ni-mh battery pack, which is where you will find its on/off switch with safety lock.
It recharges from flat in 3.5 hours. The battery-pack conveniently attaches to a weightbelt or cummerbund by means of a heavy-duty clip.
It took around 22sec to get to full brightness and the beam produced was very even and pleasant to view things with, if a bit on the blue side.
It was not as bright as we might have expected, but exceedingly usable.
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Weight in air: 1.40kg
Weight in water: 0.45kg
Approx. weight of head in water: 0.04kg
Brightness factor: 7
RRP: £600
Contact: Dive Lights International 001 858 268 3850
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OMS is a well-known and long-established manufacturer of diving equipment aimed at technical divers, and the Phantom is an attractive little ni-mh unit which attaches by way of bolt-snaps or karabiners to either the D-rings of a tek BC, a backplate or direct to a tank. It will also fit onto a weightbelt.
Its handy little 10W HID lamphead comes with a wrist-strap and bolt-snap, although other options are available. Expect a total warm-up time of around two minutes (though it can be as much as five ) and restart time 15sec. Burntime was 4.5 hours with the 4A ni-mh battery-pack supplied to us and it takes around eight hours to charge from flat. Unscrew the bottom of the unit to access a charging connection for the Smart charger.
The very even beam with a useful halo impressed us. It was not as bright as some but still very effective. We felt that the high colour temperature made its water-penetration effect the priority.
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Weight in air: 1.63kg
Weight in water: 0.83kg
Approx. weight of head in water: 0.16kg
Brightness factor: 32
RRP: £500
Contact: Otter Watersports 01274 727252
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Always keen to offer the best value in underwater lighting, the US company Underwater Kinetics offers an ABS and polycarbonate hand lantern not dissimilar to the other more conventional lanterns in its popularly priced range of lamps.
However, in this case the most expensive component is the HID light-source. The Light Cannon feels like a bit of a monster in air but it weighs little in the water and is perfectly balanced when used with the pistol-grip supplied.
As you can fit eight individual C-cells, you have the option of using alkaline or rechargeable ni-cads or ni-mh batteries. This represents the most economic way to get your hands on an HID diving-light.
Burntime is 3-4 hours with the 12.5W HID. Warm-up time was found to be around 22sec. Re-start time is about 3sec and colour temperature is claimed to be 6000°K, although we felt it was not quite as cool as that.
This lamp produced a perfectly even spot beam that was also one of the brightest. It may not look as expensive as it is but it is certainly a useful tool in the water. It's probably the cheapest way to get your hands on an HID lamp.
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Weight in air: 1.27kg
Weight in water: 0.30kg
Brightness factor: 32
RRP: £208 inc. alkaline C-cells
Contact: Sea & Sea 01803 663012
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