Several misunderstandings in choosing a diving flashlight, don't be fooled
When choosing a diving flashlight, many people will be fooled. On the surface, it is really good, but in fact, these are only the basic functions of diving flashlights. It is an essential tool for diving, so when we choose a diving flashlight, we must not be fooled by the following major misunderstandings.
brightness
Lumen is a physical unit that describes luminous flux, and it is no exception to measure the brightness of a flashlight. How bright 1 lumen is, the expression is more complicated. If you are interested, you can Baidu. In layman's terms, a 40-watt ordinary incandescent light bulb has a luminous efficiency of about 10 lumens per watt, so it can emit about 400 lumens of light.
So when it comes to choosing a diving flashlight, how much lumens should we choose? This is a very broad question. The depth, purpose and technique of the dive are all factors in choosing brightness. And the brightness is also divided into spot lighting and astigmatism lighting. Generally speaking, entry-level diving lights and torches with 700-1000 lumens can meet the basic needs. If it is night diving, deep diving, cave diving, etc., it needs to be brighter. 2000-5000 lumens will do. More enthusiast-level senior enthusiasts like 5000-10000 lumens, which is high-end demand, very bright, and can meet any purpose. In addition, for the same lumen, the purpose of concentrating and astigmatism is completely different. Concentrating is mostly used for long-range lighting, while astigmatism is only close-range, wide-range lighting, mainly used for photography.
water proof
Waterproofing is the first guarantee of diving lights. Without waterproofing, it is not a diving product at all. The waterproofing of diving lights mainly involves the body sealing and switch structure. The diving lights on the market basically use ordinary silicone rubber rings. , In a short time, the waterproof function can be achieved, but due to the poor elastic repair ability of the silicone rubber ring, it is easily affected by high and low temperatures, and has poor acid and alkali corrosion resistance. It is used several times. If it is not replaced in time, it will lose its sealing effect Will cause water seepage.
switch
Many flashlights on Taobao that claim to be able to be used for diving always show off the so-called "magnetic control switch", which is a cool selling point for "players" who play with flashlights. The magnetron switch, as the name suggests, is to use a magnet to change the magnitude of the current through magnetism, open or close, but the magnet has a very large instability, the magnet itself will be eroded by seawater, and the magnetism will gradually weaken over time. , the sensitivity of the switch will also be reduced. At the same time, the most fatal weakness of the magnetic control switch is that it is easy to accumulate salt or sand in the sea water, which makes the switch unable to move, resulting in the failure of the switch. Another point to note is that the earth itself is a A larger magnet will generate a magnetic field, and the geomagnetic field will also have more or less influence on the magnetron switch! Especially in the case of photography and photography, the impact is very large. Foreign flashlights generally use thimble-type mechanical switches. The advantages of this switch are very obvious, the key operation is safe, sensitive, stable, and has strong directivity. In the case of high pressure in deep water, it can still operate stably. Especially suitable for photography. However, the price of diving lights of foreign brands is high.
For people who are not particularly familiar with diving flashlights, the above points are easy to be hooked. I hope this article can help everyone understand diving flashlights more, so that we will not be fooled when choosing.
brightness
Lumen is a physical unit that describes luminous flux, and it is no exception to measure the brightness of a flashlight. How bright 1 lumen is, the expression is more complicated. If you are interested, you can Baidu. In layman's terms, a 40-watt ordinary incandescent light bulb has a luminous efficiency of about 10 lumens per watt, so it can emit about 400 lumens of light.
So when it comes to choosing a diving flashlight, how much lumens should we choose? This is a very broad question. The depth, purpose and technique of the dive are all factors in choosing brightness. And the brightness is also divided into spot lighting and astigmatism lighting. Generally speaking, entry-level diving lights and torches with 700-1000 lumens can meet the basic needs. If it is night diving, deep diving, cave diving, etc., it needs to be brighter. 2000-5000 lumens will do. More enthusiast-level senior enthusiasts like 5000-10000 lumens, which is high-end demand, very bright, and can meet any purpose. In addition, for the same lumen, the purpose of concentrating and astigmatism is completely different. Concentrating is mostly used for long-range lighting, while astigmatism is only close-range, wide-range lighting, mainly used for photography.
water proof
Waterproofing is the first guarantee of diving lights. Without waterproofing, it is not a diving product at all. The waterproofing of diving lights mainly involves the body sealing and switch structure. The diving lights on the market basically use ordinary silicone rubber rings. , In a short time, the waterproof function can be achieved, but due to the poor elastic repair ability of the silicone rubber ring, it is easily affected by high and low temperatures, and has poor acid and alkali corrosion resistance. It is used several times. If it is not replaced in time, it will lose its sealing effect Will cause water seepage.
switch
Many flashlights on Taobao that claim to be able to be used for diving always show off the so-called "magnetic control switch", which is a cool selling point for "players" who play with flashlights. The magnetron switch, as the name suggests, is to use a magnet to change the magnitude of the current through magnetism, open or close, but the magnet has a very large instability, the magnet itself will be eroded by seawater, and the magnetism will gradually weaken over time. , the sensitivity of the switch will also be reduced. At the same time, the most fatal weakness of the magnetic control switch is that it is easy to accumulate salt or sand in the sea water, which makes the switch unable to move, resulting in the failure of the switch. Another point to note is that the earth itself is a A larger magnet will generate a magnetic field, and the geomagnetic field will also have more or less influence on the magnetron switch! Especially in the case of photography and photography, the impact is very large. Foreign flashlights generally use thimble-type mechanical switches. The advantages of this switch are very obvious, the key operation is safe, sensitive, stable, and has strong directivity. In the case of high pressure in deep water, it can still operate stably. Especially suitable for photography. However, the price of diving lights of foreign brands is high.
For people who are not particularly familiar with diving flashlights, the above points are easy to be hooked. I hope this article can help everyone understand diving flashlights more, so that we will not be fooled when choosing.