LIGHT S-SUN HIGH POWER HEADLAMP

Undaunted, he sent me a bigger, improved version and I have to say that it works. I lent it to a friend to try, and he was disappointed.
He was trying to use it as a focusing light for his underwater camera, but failed to understand how the multi-angle mount worked. He told me that, although he considered it bright, it never pointed to where he needed it.
The lamp slides onto its mount in the same way as modern bicycle-lamps do.
In fact, this lamp is directly descended from those intended for use on bicycles and, as anyone knows, China is a land where bicycle transport is very popular.
The difference is that the mount, with its soft pad, straps to your head with an additional elastic loop that passes over the top of your head to keep everything secure.
The mount then cantilevers away from your head and also rotates, so that you can point it exactly where you need it.
There's a certain amount of resistance as it clicks from one setting to the next, otherwise it wouldn't stay where you wanted it, but spend a few seconds getting it right before you get in the water and it works well.
If only my diving friend had taken the time to discover this.
If I have any criticism, it is only that the lamp is made entirely of plastic. This begs the question of how it will survive the cruel treatment dished out by those divers who stand about on your kit in a crowded RIB after a dive.

Light Source
The light comes from a single high-output LED that is set well back in a highly polished parabolic reflector.
One glance tells you how efficient this is going to be. The LED fills the reflector when you look at it.
It's very bright when you switch it on and you can do this without worry, even when the lamp is not submerged, because so little heat is produced. If you've been blinded by a cyclist with his lamp on full-beam at night in the Twickenham area, that'll be me!

Power Source
A bayonet mount is combined with a single O-ring to keep the water away from four AA batteries, which are accessed simply by giving the front section an eighth of a turn.
This O-ring looked a bit skinny for my liking, but it proved itself and there was no leak.
I haven't checked it out, but the manufacturer claims a massive 60 hours of burntime.
That's so long that you might have trouble keeping track, and find that the light doesn't work at some point in the future just when you wanted it.
I therefore suggest that you fit new batteries at the beginning of each dive trip and consign the partly used ones to your bicycle lamp or something else less crucial.

Switching
A single push-switch gives sequential switching. The first push gives maximum brightness, the second half-power and the third quarter-power. Another push will put it into flashing signal strobe mode, and a final push switches it off.

Beam
Because of the depth of the parabolic reflector, the beam given out by this lamp is exceedingly narrow, but precisely formed and very bright.
The designer of the lamp has got all the light focused forward, and that is why it's important to adjust the head-mount so that it points to where you need it. When you do this, it's very effective indeed.

COMPARABLE LIGHTS TO CONSIDER:
OMS K2 Headlamp, £110

SPECS
PRICE £55
BATTERIES 4 x AA
BURNTIME 60 hours
EXTRAS Head mount
WEIGHT 275g
DEPTH RATING 100m
CONTACT www.aqua-sun.co.uk
DIVER GUIDE