Light Scubapro NOVA LIGHT 230

This had a switch that was difficult to operate under water, and it didn't produce a huge amount of light once you got it working.
The Nova Light 230 has a very nice anodised aluminium body, about 25cm long, and is much more usable. It has a very business-like rubber grip at the front end. In fact it exudes good quality, and it even comes with a springy lanyard so that you don't lose it. Be careful how you fit its little karabiner, however, or you will.

Light Source
I get irritated by manufacturers that boast of the output of their lamps in lumens, when I believe it is the light measured in lux that arrives at the subject that counts.
The Nova Light 230 is rated to put out 230 lumens from its single modern high-output LED. Thanks to a well-designed reflector, most of this gets pushed forwards, where you want it.

Power Source
The first thing I did incorrectly was to put the three C-cell batteries in the wrong way round.
It wasn't my fault. It's unusual but this lamp demands that you put them in negative end up.
A call to James ("didn't you read the instruction manual?") at Scubapro put me right. It was lucky I didn't check with the Scubapro website, where it says that the lamp takes three AA cells. I could have arrived in Egypt without the wherewithal to fire it up.
I'm told that a set of batteries will last anything up to 18 hours. That's a long time.
Built-in electronics ensure that the light output remains the same throughout the life of the batteries. The only problem I foresee is that it will be very hard to keep track of how much you've used the lamp, and it will inevitably run out of steam at an awkward moment.

Switching
It may be an easy engineering solution, but screwing down the head to make contact with the batteries assumes that the user has dexterity and finesse.
Don't those guys at Scubapro know that they're dealing with divers?
There may be a lot of thread onto which to wind down, but I wouldn't risk turning this lamp off under water in case it flooded.
It's better to enter the water with it switched on and leave it like this until you are safely out again.
Remember, one of the most commonly heard expressions among divers is: "Doh!"
Beam
The lamp produces a tight spot of light at around 10° that penetrates the water. Add to this a weak peripheral halo that's quite wide by comparison and lets you know what's in the shadows without startling it, or yourself.
The good thing about the tight spot beam provided is that it gives little glare in the form
of backscatter, which is important when diving in water that is full of particulates.
I lent it to an Italian diver who was very proud of his little £270 LED lamp (made in Spain). He had to concede that this Scubapro was equally effective, when he returned from a night dive.

COMPARABLE LIGHTS TO CONSIDER:
Seac Luce LED, £69
UK SL4e LED, £64
UK Super Q LED, £95

SPECS
PRICE £79
LAMP Single high-output LED
BURNTIME 14-18hr
DEPTH RATING 120m
BATTERIES 4 C
WEIGHT IN AIR 465g (inc batteries)
CONTACT www.scubapro.com
DIVER GUIDE