Beam Comparisons for LED Dive Lights

Dive light designers must balance light output, beam width and power consumption when creating a light. An increase in light output either shortens burn time or requires a larger battery. Tighter beam widths increase the distance the light can travel but decreases the total area being illuminated. These considerations, as well as reliability and maximum depth ratings, also have a major impact on the component costs. As a result there is no 'perfect' dive light, each design incorporates various tradeoffs that make it more or less suited to a specific diving application. Matching the light to the specific dive requirements can have a significant impact on the enjoyment of the dive.

The photographs below illustrate the differences between a variety of primary and backup LED lights: Dive Rite RX2 and Lux4, Light Monkey 21W, Hollis 16W, Intova Nova and Ultra, and the I-Torch Tek and Plus. In a darkened room, the lights were pointed at a white semi-gloss painted wall at a distance of about 6 feet, with a soda can positioned on the wall between the two beams. The photos were all taken at the same time, with the same camera settings, and have not been retouched.

All these lights are so bright they max the center of each beam in the photo to pure white... thus it's difficult to get a feel for relative intensity from the photo alone. We've included our impressions of the relative intensity in the descriptions. We have also begun measuring actual observed light output of these lights ourselves using a TES-1335 light meter. Our measurements are taken at the exact center of the beam from a distance of 6 feet and are expressed in units of lux not lumens (see our Tek Tip at the bottom of this page for an explanation of the difference.) Keep in mind that the lighted area of the beam can have a drastic effect on these results. For example I-Torch Plus and the Tek are the exact same LED module with the exact same amount of light output: the Plus has a very wide beam measured at 30 lux and yet the Tek has a much tighter beam measured at 820 lux!

	Dive Rite RX2 Low vs. High Setting The low setting (960 lux) of the Dive Rite dual power RX2 12W is approximately 50% of the high setting (1920 lux).
	Dive Rite RX2 LED vs. Dive Rite LUX-4 Side-by-side, the Dive Rite RX2 (1920 lux on high setting) and the Dive Rite LUX-4 (1500 lux) are remarkably similar. The slightly brighter RX2 spills a bit more light and thus has a little bit wider beam at 18-inches vs the LUX-4 at 14-inches.
	Dive Rite RX2 vs. Light Monkey 21W The Dive Rite dual power RX2 12W (1920 lux Hi and 960 lux Lo) four LED array is not as tightly concentrated, at around 18-inches in diameter, compared to the Light Monkey 21W (3400 lux) single LED, at about 12-inches. The color temperature of the Light Monkey LED is very cool white when compared with the Dive Rite RX2.
	Dive Rite RX2 vs. Hollis 16W The Hollis 16W single LED beam is more tightly concentrated, at around 12-inches, compared to the Dive Rite dual power RX2 12W (1920 lux Hi and 960 lux Lo) four LED array, which is about 18-inches in width. The color temperature of the Dive Rite RX2 is a warmer color when compared with the Hollis LED.
	Light Monkey 21W vs. Hollis 16W These lights are very similar, the Light Monkey 21W appears to us to be brighter, but not a major difference. We measured the beam width of both lights at about 12-inches.
	Intova Nova vs. Intova Ultra When compared side by side, the Ultra (4300 lux) beam is more tightly concentrated than the Nova (2500 lux), but the Ultra also has a much larger area of spillover outside the center beam. If you examine the photo carefully, you will notice that the Ultra is spilling a wide cone of low intensity light around the center beam.
	Intova Nova vs. I-Torch Tek In this comparison the Nova (2500 lux) is brighter overall has also has wider beam than the I-Torch Tek (820 lux). The difference in color can also be seen, with the Nova looking slightly green compared to the cooler I-Torch Tek.
	I-Torch Plus vs. I-Torch Tek The I-Torch Plus and Tek handheld lights look very different in a side-to-side comparison. The narrow focus of the Tek (820 lux) light is quite apparent next to the very wide focus of the Plus (30 lux). The color of the two lights is the same in the center, although the Plus warms up a bit at the edges. The Plus is a good choice for recreational night diving. We also noticed that the beam spread of the Plus is very even with no hot spots, making it a good choice as a low cost photographers key light.

Tek Tip Tek Tip Symbol

Lux versus Lumens

Various dive light manufacturers use different methods of determining light output, plus expressing them in different forms of measurement. Describing any dive light in terms of the radiant lumens specification of the entire light output for a raw LED module (including IR and UV wavelengths we can't see) at maximum power under laboratory conditions can be very misleading. What matters is the visible light from the LED that bounces off the reflector and passes through the lens. The quality of the reflector and lens, as well as the actual amount of power delivered by the battery have a major affect on the amount of light that reaches the target.

At a minimum, dive lights would be better described by the system lumens, which is the amount of visible light emitted by the entire system of battery, bulb, reflector and lens. In our opinion, using lux measured at the target is the best way to describe the brightness of dive lights. The difference between the lux and the system lumens is that the lux takes into account the area over which the light beam is spread. The lux is the visible light measured at the target distance, not the bulb. A light of 1000 lumens, concentrated into an area of one square meter, is said to illuminate that square meter with an brightness of 1,000 lux. However, the same 1000 lumens, spread out over ten square meters, produces a much lower illuminance of only 100 lux.

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