Light EDI-T D2 lamp

THERE WAS A TIME when all motorcycles were made in the Midlands, all cameras were made in Germany and all diving lamps were made at home from a length of drainpipe, a big battery and a car headlamp.
Times change. Now, despite the nationality of the brand, many diving lamps seem to emanate from China, and the Edi-T range has attained a certain familiarity, as typified by the Edi-T D2.
Setting off for a series of flights halfway round the world with excess-baggage charges to match, I was happy to pack it alongside my other gear. The EDi-T D2 weighs only 265g, including its battery.
At only 16cm long, this handy-sized, hard-anodised aluminium lamp will easily stow away, and makes a good back-up lamp.
A nice touch is the webbing holster provided for it. This can be attached easily by threading
its loop through a harness strap or even a weightbelt. Naturally, it comes with a lanyard.
Of course, if using it as a back-up lamp you want to know that it’s going to work the moment you need it, and the Chinese manufacturers were at the bottom of a steep learning curve only a couple of years ago, when reliability was a problem.
The importer in Yorkshire tells me that it rigorously and individually tests every lamp, including for watertightness to 10 bar of pressure, before it goes out.
It has had few returns, I was told, which is a very different story to that told by the unsuspecting importer that originally decided to bring these lamps to Britain.

Light Source
The Edi-T D2 has the often-seen high-output CREE LED set deep inside a parabolic reflector. As it is such a point-source, it should be able to project the light forward very efficiently. The manufacturer claims an output of 250 lumens.
In fact, although it seems bright enough, the beam at 2m distant is quite patchy, with a big peripheral halo, but there is a usable hotspot, so unless you are shining it at a blank wall, as we do for our tests, you may not notice that.
The hotspot at that distance is about 30cm across, so you can see that it is otherwise a very narrow cone of light.
This is usually the preference of those diving in less-than-clear conditions. However, using it as my main light within the bowels of Truk wrecks, I found that I needed to scan it around and often missed important features that became apparent to me only when I reviewed the LCD of my camera, which had the benefit of the broad light of its flash.
I’ve always said that the most important feature of any lamp is that it works when you need it, and this narrow beam might be the one that eventually gets you out of a difficult situation.

Power Source
This lamp proved less bright than one that used a very similar front end, and I put that down to the battery power.
The end unscrews to release the 3.7V 2500mAh lithium battery, which is placed in its special cradle and recharged fully in less than two hours. The charger has an indicator LED that changes from red to green when charging is complete.
The unscrewed end is protected from leaks by two O-rings in-line, and two spare O-rings are supplied. The lamp is depth-rated to 100m.
The maximum burntime for a fully charged battery is said to be two hours. That should be enough to see you out of trouble, and I bet we’ll soon see divers in more-tropical conditions using the Edit-T D2 as a main light for night dives.

Switching
There should be no worry about ingress of water via any through-body connections. This lamp uses a magnetic switch operated by a rotating collar that gives three brightness settings (one-tenth, half- and full-power) as well as a flashing strobe function and an SOS feature.
The collar is slightly slippery for a massively gloved hand, but it has good détentes for each position, and the whole thing fits very comfortably in the palm of the hand.

Postscript
Alas, although the Edi-T D2 worked faultlessly, when the time came to replace the battery in the torch after charging, it was found to have ceased working.
The torch was not flooded, and we can only assume that this was a battery fault.
I got the importer to send me a replacement battery and it worked without hesitation after I recharged it, so problem solved.

COMPARABLE LAMPS TO CONSIDER:
Hollis LED 5, £72
UK SL3 eLED, £48
Aquatec Aqua-Marine LED, £78
Mares EOS 3, £85

SPECS
PRICE £74
DEPTH RATING 100m
POWER SOURCE Rechargeable lithium battery
LIGHT SOURCE 250 lumen CREE LED
SWITCHING Magnetic (five settings)
BURNTIME 2hr
CHARGING TIME 2hr
WEIGHT 265g
CONTACT www.cressi-sub.net
DIVER GUIDE