Greenforce LED torches

Hi,

I am looking at getting some form of umbilical dive torch and have been
looking at Greenforce's range. They now provide LED type heads for their
torches which give great ( 30hour ) burn times of a standard arrow 6 type
battery.

Can anyone please tell me what the downside to using an LED type torch will
be?

Many thanks.

> I am looking at getting some form of umbilical dive torch and have been
> looking at Greenforce's range. They now provide LED type heads for their
> torches which give great ( 30hour ) burn times of a standard arrow 6 type
> battery.

Brightness!
I've never used the Greenforce ones (whcih are supposed to be quite good)
but I don't imagine any LED torch would be practical as a primary light (or
not in murky UK waters anyway). Which makes them very expensive for a
backup.

David

have you got any suggestions on what to get?


"David Walker" <wbsdavenews@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:c2dq17$hrd$1@wisteria.csv.warwick.ac.uk...
> > I am looking at getting some form of umbilical dive torch and have been
> > looking at Greenforce's range. They now provide LED type heads for
their
> > torches which give great ( 30hour ) burn times of a standard arrow 6
type
> > battery.
>
> Brightness!
> I've never used the Greenforce ones (whcih are supposed to be quite good)
> but I don't imagine any LED torch would be practical as a primary light
(or
> not in murky UK waters anyway). Which makes them very expensive for a
> backup.
>
> David
>
>

> have you got any suggestions on what to get?

God that was a quick reply :O\

Depends what sort of torch you want - primary or backup?
Like I said, i've never used the Greenforce LEDs, but experience with others
suggests to me that it wouldn't be a good choice - especially if you
consider you can usually charge your torch between each dive or two dives,
theres little need for 30 hour burn times on a rechargeable. I'd suggest
that for burn times on rechargeable you need nothing more than the time
you'll need between the time you can recharge. If you only ever do one
night / deep dark dive per day, and that dive will be an hour max, then you
don't need much more than an hour burn time. Obviously a bit more is good,
but if theres much more burn time you'll either be sacrificing brightness or
carrying excess weight in the batteries that you don't need.

If you want a primary, i'd say you'd be best sticking with halogen (or HID
if you can afford it), and for backup a relatively cheap little light.

Personally, I have a FaMi Multistar Umbilical, which has a 50W 55-110min
burn time (adjustable power 50%-100%), and also two LEDs for emergency
lighting. It is more than bright enough for any dives i've done so far, day
or night in UK or the Red Sea, and with the adjustable power it will last
long enough for my needs - if i'm on a wreck i'll generally have it on full
power, with shorter bottom times, where as if i'm relatively shallow at
night I don't need the full brightness and so have it on 50% or 75% where I
get longer out of it. If I do get separated from the boat for example, the
LEDs will run for hours even on an almost flat battery. And as the battery
charges in 4 hours, and can be topped up at any state of discharge, its good
for multi-day diving, or even using it on multiple dives throughout the day.
On a liveaboard at Christmas I could come up from one evening dive, put it
on charge, and it'd be virtually fully charged for the later night dive. In
case you haven't noticed, I really like my torch :O) Although one thing I
do need is a backup, since although I have the LEDs in case the battery
starts to go, if the whole thing floods or something i'd still be left in
the dark!

David

having met Frank who seems a nice guy. his answers sometime remind me of the
Borg collective " you will be assimilated "

Frank you might want to lighten up pun intended.

Regards David.

"Frank Bruce" <frank@cruelmail.com> wrote in message
news:404ae303$0$10148$cc9e4d1f@news.dial.pipex.com ...
> "scoober" <a@a.com> wrote in message
> newsZt2c.3613$0l3.656@news-binary.blueyonder.co.uk...
> > have you got any suggestions on what to get?
>
> Diverite (NiMH 4.5 10W HID 6' Narrow Beam)
> Halcyon (NiMH 4.5 10W HID Focusable Beam)
> or Custom Divers (NiMH 3.6 10W HID 6' Narrow Beam)
>
> There are both larger and brighter if you want them.
>
> Greenforce is cheap as chips but has a number of very stupid design issues
> with its' modularity.
> Unless anyone thinks that having to unscrew the umbilical to the battery
> every time you need to charge it and the unnecessary wear is a good thing?
>
> Frank
> http://www.e-aquanauts.com
>
>

"david" <im@fedup.com> wrote in message
news:c2ep2k$bdm$1@sparta.btinternet.com...
> having met Frank who seems a nice guy. his answers sometime remind me of
the
> Borg collective " you will be assimilated "
>
> Frank you might want to lighten up pun intended.
>
> Regards David.

That would only spoil things.... :_) and sorry for the DIRect attitudes, but
I wasted a lot of money before I realised that the common sence approach is
not that common. Garage sale is still ongoing.

As an FYI I've got hold of a GreenForce umbillical, stripped it and will be
posting a why this is useless rubbish page....... togeather with the
DiveRite, Holycon & Custard divers strip downs.

Frank
http://www.e-aquanauts.com

> That would only spoil things.... :_) and sorry for the DIRect attitudes,
but
> I wasted a lot of money before I realised that the common sence approach
is
> not that common. Garage sale is still ongoing.
>
> As an FYI I've got hold of a GreenForce umbillical, stripped it and will
be
> posting a why this is useless rubbish page....... togeather with the
> DiveRite, Holycon & Custard divers strip downs.
>
I never said DIR just that you seemed to only have one view and the rest of
the world is wrong.
I bought and Halcyon Wing after much thought. in fact I bought a second hand
combro back plate first it came with webbing d rings buckle all set up all I
needed was a wing.

and I still payed loads of money for a Halcyon setup because it was the best
for me at the time. by best I mean the wing was the right size for a single
it was doughnut shaped so air could not get trapped on one side and the
right size bladder, every thing that my zeagle wing was not.
Ok so now having seen a buddy tek wing in red or the black one
(different name???)
maybe my choice was too impulsive but that dosent mean the equipment I
bought
is not right for me.

I am still happy with it. the torch thing about unsrewing it to turn it on
and charge it
what is the correct way then (my three torches all have switches)

Regards David "A non assimilated Diver"

"david" <im@fedup.com> wrote in message
news:c2f40g$j1q$1@titan.btinternet.com...

> I never said DIR just that you seemed to only have one view and the rest
of
> the world is wrong.

Not really - but I do have practical experiance of it. Two of my buddies
recently took them to Florida on our CCR cave trip - The LED head isn't
bright enough. One failed exactly at the point previously identified as bad
design. That "charger" point is a wear point, it's design makes it
difficult to clean or keep clean

> I bought and Halcyon Wing after much thought. in fact I bought a second
hand
> combro back plate first it came with webbing d rings buckle all set up all
I
> needed was a wing.
>
> and I still payed loads of money for a Halcyon setup because it was the
best
> for me at the time.
> by best I mean the wing was the right size for a single
> it was doughnut shaped so air could not get trapped on one side and the
> right size bladder, every thing that my zeagle wing was not.
> Ok so now having seen a buddy tek wing in red or the black one
> (different name???)

<ermm greenforce led torches>

> maybe my choice was too impulsive but that dosent mean the equipment I
> bought is not right for me.

I didn't say that what I said is that it isn't right for anyone!!

> I am still happy with it. the torch thing about unsrewing it to turn it on
> and charge it
> what is the correct way then (my three torches all have switches)
>Regards David "A non assimilated Diver"

Next time you see me, I'll show you and explain, then you'll begin to get
it.

Frank
http:/www.e-aquanauts.com

"Frank Bruce" <frank@cruelmail.com> wrote in message
news:404c2fed$0$10148$cc9e4d1f@news.dial.pipex.com ...
> "david" <im@fedup.com> wrote in message
> news:c2f40g$j1q$1@titan.btinternet.com...
>
> > I never said DIR just that you seemed to only have one view and the rest
> of
> > the world is wrong.
>
> Not really - but I do have practical experiance of it. Two of my buddies
> recently took them to Florida on our CCR cave trip - The LED head isn't
> bright enough. One failed exactly at the point previously identified as
bad
> design. That "charger" point is a wear point, it's design makes it
> difficult to clean or keep clean

I can second that. I've got a Greenforce FII with a 'Tristar' head (3 x 10w
LEDs) and - not to put too fine a point on it - I think it's shite. As Frank
says, it's just not bright enough despite Lumb Bros claiming that it throws
out 30w of light. As for the 10w LED head for the A6 - forget it!!!!!

"Frank Bruce" <frank@cruelmail.com> wrote in message
news:404ae303$0$10148$cc9e4d1f@news.dial.pipex.com ...

> Unless anyone thinks that having to unscrew the umbilical to the battery
> every time you need to charge it and the unnecessary wear is a good thing?
>

Why are you unscrewing the umbilical to the battery???

Just unscrew the lamphead and plug the charge adaptor in there!!!

There has been an issue raised by Lumb Bros with regards to the battery
packs, the fact that removing and replacing the umbilical repeatedly damages
the contact strip in the battery pack and can lead to failure.

Oh, yep, the tri star LED head is a bit pants, better off with the 35w or
50w pro head.