UK C8 eLED vs. Light Cannon

September 27th, 2005

Looking for a dive light? Underwater Kinetics has been making some of the best torches on the market for recreational divers. Two models stand out head and shoulders above the rest: the Sunlight C8 eLED and the Light Cannon.

The Light Cannon has long been touted as the brightest, whitest HID torch on the market (within a reasonable price range). When I first started night diving with the Light Cannon, a whole new world opened up. Instead of fumbling around in the dark, trying to get a glimpse at anything more than that yellowy glow your traditional dive light can offer, the Light Cannon blasts a huge swath of ultra-white light that penetrates all but the worst visibility. Its as if you took a Xenon headlamp out of a car and strapped it to 8 C cell batteries and made it submersible. This is truly one of the brightest lights available and does an amazing job of illuminating even the darkest depths. Fish and other animals are paralyzed into a stupor when confronted with its fiery photons and will sometimes literally lay there as if dead, even as you approach to within inches of them. Its nicer if you only use the edge of your beam to check out the local wildlife.

Many people use the Light Cannon as lighting for videography because its beam is so evenly balanced and because of its high color temperature. It comes with two wide-angle filters to soften the hotspot for this very purpose. The Light Cannon also comes in either pistol or lantern grip. Although it fetches a pretty penny at $200, this is still a great value compared to alternative lighting with anywhere near as much intensity or color.

However, performance comes at a premium. The Light Cannon burns through 8 standard or lithium C cells in just a couple of dives with its insatiable appetite for wattage. Its bulb is also notoriously fragile, and at $75 a pop for replacement, it can get ugly real fast. The Light Cannon is a tempermental sportscar of dive lights. I logged about 15 dives on mine before it started collecting condensation, which eventually lead to some electronic malfunctions. To their credit though, UK replaced the light module free of charge under warranty. This still was not good as I was on a 2 week dive trip through the Philippines at the time and ended up using my handy Ikelite PCa secondary for night diving. For the remainder of the trip, my unbelievably powerful torch (and battery charger) ended up as nothing but dead weight. Looking back, I would have given up a few lumens for some portability and ruggedness, which is where the Sunlight C8 eLED comes in….

The Sunlight C8 has been the workhorse of dive lights for many dive operators over the years. A trusty, basic and sturdy torch that stands up to the abuse of careless vacationers and the tireless divemasters who guide them. The problem with this light has always been that it gives off a yellowish light and the light fades as the batteries grow weaker. Enter LED technology.

Underwater Kinetics developed a C8 model with a Light Emitting Diode instead of the traditional incandescent bulb, using the same 8 C cell batteries. A regular C8 can even be retro-fitted with an LED module. LEDs are primarily known for three things:

1. Very low power consumption
2. Nearly unbreakable
3. Bright as Hell

These properties make the LED perfect for dive lights. The problem is, that seawater absorbs so much light, that up until now LEDs have not been powerful enough to provide a reasonable amount of illumination underwater. Until now. The C8 eLED uses refractive mirrors to focus the diode’s light into a sharp beam. It has a surprisingly high color temperature, resulting in a bluish-white beam. Because there is no fragile bulb and filament, you can beat the hell out of this thing, pack it in your checked baggage, drop it, kick it, whatever. It keeps on tickin’. LEDs are cheap and last forever (five times longer than the bulb in the Light Cannon - assuming you don’t break that one). Furthermore, the power consumption of this device is so little compared to any non-LED torch, that any sacrifice in lumens is petty compared to overall performance from dive to dive. Typically you can get 10-15 dives out of a single charge of the batteries. The net effect is that you can leave your batteries or charger at home and head out on your dive trip with just your torch, making the eLED the most affordable, rugged and dependable dive light for travel. This is why my top pick between these two amazing torches is the UK Sunlight C8 eLED.

Oh, did I mention that it only costs $85 from UWS?

Entry Filed under: Gear, SCUBA