Scuba diving lights are used in a variety of different circumstances, such as night dives, wreck or cave diving, or even used lighting up an overcast day. Using your dive light on a dive will help bring back the real colors that are lost at depths and there is always that crack or crevice that will need lighting up.
Safety in diving is important and that is why every diver should carry at least two torches (three if your cave diving) and once your primary light has failures a dive should be called off.
Typically your primary light will be a much brighter light than your back up and it is tempting for the brighter is better when it comes to selecting the correct lighting for your dive trip. For example if the water has lots of particulars floating around you may find that if your light is too bright you will only be lighting up the particulars in the water and this will actually make it harder too see.
Even a underwater photographers will not use too bright a light as it will scare of fishes and may cause hot spots with the pictures. A 30W LED light will be adequate for any photography lighting.
Recreational divers who may be using them for night and day dives will find that a 5W LED light should be good enough for there needs. However a cave diver or wreck diver may need something a little stronger.
Understanding your needs before diving, a cheap $30 dive torch will work but will never give you the brightness or durability that you will need. For torches it worth investing in a good durable metal casing torch that will give you at less several years of use. Last thing you want is your torch failing when your doing your next night dive.
After durability the burn time is important, look for torches that will give you a burn time of at least twice as long as you want to dive. Consider the batteries that are used too, regular batteries can end costing a lot on a 5 day live on board. Several torches now a days use rechargeable batteries that will last you for ever.
Finally look at depth ratings, some torches are good for only 30m or less and with repeated dives at around that depth can fail and leak easily. Consider buying a land yard to ensure you will not lose your torch.
Take the above points into consideration when buying your next torch and you will find a good quality torch that will last longer. Remember investing in a good quality torch will make your dives more pleasurable.
