GeoBruin
Flashlight Enthusiast
I went diving today (it was warm and sunny in SoCal) and I decided to take my basically stock L2M with me. I have always suspected that the waterproof ratings on these and almost every other light are HIGHLY underrated. I feel like most lights I own could be reliably used as dive lights. Obviously I'm not willing to test my more expensive lights in such a way but this light was a freebie and I have another drop in ready to go if it got wet. So, for SCIENCE!
My total dive time was 1 hour 4 minutes. My maximum depth was 65 feet, and I spent 85% of the dive between 50 and 60 feet. It was the middle of the afternoon so I didnt need the light and I couldnt have used it anyway because the water pressure held the reverse clicky in the depresses position once I got below about 15 feet. As such, it just stayed rubber banded to my harness for most of the dive.
I didn't even think to look at the light again until I was almost to the surface at the end of the dive and sure enough, once I rose above ~15 feet it came on and stayed on until I climbed out of the water. I carefully dried the outside of the light and then disassembled it to see if I had suffered any ingress. It's hard to know for sure if it came from the parts between the o ring where I couldn't reach to dry, but I did find a tiny amount of moisture inside the housing. Clearly not enough to damage the light. I did realize when I was taking it apart that I had replaced the stock lens with a UCL I had lying around and it was not quite the same diameter as the stock lens. As such, it is nearly impossible to center on the o ring between the lens and the head, and this may have been the cause of what little moisture made it inside the light.
Anyhow, I just wanted to share because we all seem pretty comfortable with the fact that our lights can withstand submersion to 1 meter for 30 minutes etc... but if my crude test is any indication, that is a dramatic underrepresentation of what these lights are capable of.
Also, would anyone be interested in a kill test? (That is, I go deeper until it is obviously compromised) I would probably take the guts out for this test so as not to seem irresponsible and destroy nice things on purpose.
For those curious:
1 Meter = 16.1183 psi
19.812 Meters (65 Feet) = 42.87 psi
Cheers!
My total dive time was 1 hour 4 minutes. My maximum depth was 65 feet, and I spent 85% of the dive between 50 and 60 feet. It was the middle of the afternoon so I didnt need the light and I couldnt have used it anyway because the water pressure held the reverse clicky in the depresses position once I got below about 15 feet. As such, it just stayed rubber banded to my harness for most of the dive.
I didn't even think to look at the light again until I was almost to the surface at the end of the dive and sure enough, once I rose above ~15 feet it came on and stayed on until I climbed out of the water. I carefully dried the outside of the light and then disassembled it to see if I had suffered any ingress. It's hard to know for sure if it came from the parts between the o ring where I couldn't reach to dry, but I did find a tiny amount of moisture inside the housing. Clearly not enough to damage the light. I did realize when I was taking it apart that I had replaced the stock lens with a UCL I had lying around and it was not quite the same diameter as the stock lens. As such, it is nearly impossible to center on the o ring between the lens and the head, and this may have been the cause of what little moisture made it inside the light.
Anyhow, I just wanted to share because we all seem pretty comfortable with the fact that our lights can withstand submersion to 1 meter for 30 minutes etc... but if my crude test is any indication, that is a dramatic underrepresentation of what these lights are capable of.
Also, would anyone be interested in a kill test? (That is, I go deeper until it is obviously compromised) I would probably take the guts out for this test so as not to seem irresponsible and destroy nice things on purpose.
For those curious:
1 Meter = 16.1183 psi
19.812 Meters (65 Feet) = 42.87 psi
Cheers!
