New flashlight concept. Tac-Dive. Opinions?

As some of you know I'm involved on flashlight manufacturing and the last model I have released ( Barbolight U-09 )was designed as a dive pro light, but as I realized on previous models that some users were missing the tactical requirements of a one hand operated light I did an effort to meet all the requirements of both worlds, probably in a somewhat subconcius way. For example it is the only dive light with HAIII, pressure adjustable momentary switch one hand operated... and this are features typical from tactical ones.
Now, with the finished product, some units has been sent to divers to be tested, and as some of them are policemen or military too, they have reported that it is in fact a tactical flashlight too.

So I think I have made something different, and I was thinking and thinking... so this morning the word Tac-Dive has born.

As you all know your opinions are very important for me, so I would like to read them

Regards,

Javier Lopez

pic's?

225 lm 3x LSIII
120 min runtime
600 feet depth rated
Tactical tailcap
HAIII
210 mm / 8,25 inches lenght
54 mm head

Looks nice!

A little large for a Tac light, but not unmanageable.

Cost?

Bill

I am not a "professional diver", but I do own a bathtub and am willing to test!LOL.Very nice, I want one!

Looks pretty good!
Except the Barbolight character on the handle. But I guess it`s only at that sample and the others will be engraved or etched!??
What`s the runtime and what kind of batteries (lithiums, rechargeables)?
Any beamshots? And .........price???? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

Greets from Germany,
Wolfgang

Looks robust to me,I like the idea of using
three reflectors,I also like the idea of using 3 C cells

Nice,

if you are searching for a beta testing diver ...
I sometimes dive in the lake of constanc (Bodensee)

Cheers
Ralf

I opened this thread focused on the kind of flashlights than can couple dive and tactical requirements.
More information about the Barbolight U-09 is he here re.

On this thread I woul dlike to discuss your opnions about what should be a Tac-Dive family of flashlights.

Thank you very much for your interest.

Regards,

Javier Lopez

I think its not a good idea to bring tactical lights
into diving. IMHO it is appreciated if a tactical light
is waterproof for safety reasons.

But for a dive light I have a
different user profile. Should be dimmable for day/night
dive use. More flood than spot like beam. 50W and more are good. At the moment I use a hartenberger 20W Halogen dive
light. But my buddy has got an 100W flood. It is always
impressive if he switches on his light. Furthermore a dive
light has to have a runtime of 2h or more and should be
rechargeable. Whereas tactical lights should be loaded with
primary lithium cells ... IMHO.

For me LED lights for diving are only for backup use oder reading your fini etc. usable.

Cheers
Ralf

Where is the lanyard and the luminous insert(s)?

Will post pics of lanyard this afternoon. Luminous insert is strontium aluminate.

[ QUOTE ]
Ralf said:
I think its not a good idea to bring tactical lights
into diving. IMHO it is appreciated if a tactical light
is waterproof for safety reasons.

But for a dive light I have a
different user profile. Should be dimmable for day/night
dive use. More flood than spot like beam. 50W and more are good. At the moment I use a hartenberger 20W Halogen dive
light. But my buddy has got an 100W flood. It is always
impressive if he switches on his light. Furthermore a dive
light has to have a runtime of 2h or more and should be
rechargeable. Whereas tactical lights should be loaded with
primary lithium cells ... IMHO.

For me LED lights for diving are only for backup use oder reading your fini etc. usable.

Cheers
Ralf

[/ QUOTE ]

Hello Ralf,

In fact the idea is not to bring a tactical light to dive, but to create a new kind of flashlights capable of both things.

Everything a incand can do, can be done better by a LED flashlight, and today there are some flashlights on the market that can show you that. 9 Watters are considered superior to 20-25 Watt halogens (will post pictures ), and a LED flashlight is capable of both, flood and throw, as incands.

Of course you should go to 42 Watts LED to outshine a 100 Watt halogen, but it would be superior for several reasons.

1. Reliability. ( BTW I think that every tactical light should be LED based, I do not consider very "tactical" to be left in the dark on any moment, or after an accidental fall or shock).

2. Colour temperature. This point is very important. As you know water tends to "eat" red-orange-yellow part of the spectrum (that is the reason everything looks bluish underwater). Halogens produces much more light on that wavelenghts, and less on higher energy spectrums (blue side), which travel better through water.

3. Perceived brightness. There is a difference between light emitted and light perceived. Light perceived is the light reflected by things in front of us, and higher temp lights are more "reflective" (Have you ever tried a LED with a car plate?) I'm not being very scientific, but we have tons of info about this on internet.

4. Less power consume for same perceived brightness means greater efficiency, longer runtimes or smaller flashlights.

Regarding flood or spot.

It seems it is a personal choice, and I personally think both options are interesting, pending on situation.

Regarding lithiums.

They have pros and cons too. They are smaller, not affected by cold, can be stored during years... but is is very tactical to be in the middle of nowhere trying to look for a 123 battery while you can find AA, C or D anywhere?

Of course finally it is a very personal choice, but I'm sure a Tac-Dive light is possible and can couple both purposes.

The pictures looks nice

I agree with you with the color temperature and the reliability. But I don't think LEDs are able to take
the high output part of 100W Halogens or HID Dive lights.
Anyway your light is IMHO more in the category "small to medium " Dive light. As you have said, it depends on personal choice. As a backup light it would be great.
And I really like to see its performance under water.
Maybe you are able to do some beamshots in about 30-40m
depth (in comparison to other known dive lights).

Cheers
Ralf

I seem to recall from my diving days that 40 to 60 feet should be sufficient.

Daniel

Hola barbarin,
is this new light regulated ? And I didn´t see infos about the batteries used.
Looks very sturdy, but it would be interesting to see the input of the divers regarding the throw of this light in very "dusty" water as found in some lakes (I remember a small lake in belgium - nearly impossible to see Your buddy 1,5m away at a depth of 10m).

Not regulated, but 3C NiMH pack does not need any regulation at all. Ouput curve is very flat, and you have many hours of "moon mode". Converter efficiency: 100%. Converter reliability: 0 failures at 1000000 hours /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif.
I use to say that simplicity is a grade of quality on devices. If you can do same things using half the parts, then you have half possibilities of failure, it is almost a pure mathemathics or even phyloshophic concept.

Regarding throw.

This weekend three units has been tested by divers. They say that thsi flashlight throws better than 50 Watt Halogen units. The throw is consequence of the wavelenght of the LED lights. Overall output is better than 30 Watt Halogens.

Wow, I like the light. I dive a lot in our local lake, being a fresh water lake the clarity is not the best. 30 feet is about the maxium we get for visability and we dive with light even during the daylight hours. This looks like it would be an awesome dive light, IMHO.
shawn