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LAMP TILLY TEC W30 BACK-UP
Appeared in DIVER September 2009
After my adventures with the Tilly Tec TT2-LED 2000, a lamp so bright it left a trail of bedazzled fishes and cooked coral, I took the little W30 Back-up torch with me to the British Virgin Islands.
IT IS AROUND 20CM LONG, so it protruded from my BC pocket when I wasn't using it, but it comes complete with long lanyard and a karabiner clip so it was securely hooked to a convenient loop in that pocket and there was no risk of me losing it.
The unit looks as if it has been milled out of a solid lump of Delrin, with a comfortably ribbed finish to give a good grip.
Power Source
This lamp is powered by three AA batteries.
I used rechargeables with a three-hour burn-time. If you use alkaline batteries, instead of going out after three hours, it gradually dims and will give light for around two more hours,
enough to allow you to see your instruments.
The batteries are simply inserted inline into the otherwise solid plastic handle.
Light Source
A single high-output LED set in a reflector and mounted behind a lens provides the light. It is said to be almost indestructible.
Switching
All the working parts of this lamp are encased within the lamphead, which screws down to make contact with the batteries, facilitating switching on and off. The batteries are protected from flooding by a long thread and three O-rings. It is best to turn this sort of lamp on before entering the water and to leave it on until you are safely out again.
Beam
Although it is called a back-up light, I used it as my main light source on Caribbean night dives. The beam proved more than bright enough. It had an extremely even super-bright hotspot, plus a series of concentric halos that could light up sleeping animals without disturbing them.
COMPARABLE LAMPS TO CONSIDER:
Seac Luce LED £67
Halcyon Scout £110
Fa & Mi Power LED18 £125
SPECS
PRICE £119
BATTERIES 3 x AA
BURNTIME 3-5 hours
DEPTH RATING 200m
CONTACT www.godive.net
DIVER GUIDE 
