We received another field report on the Dual HID, similar to Jack's.

This time it's from Greece!

For several months, I have used the NiteRider Dual Beam HID light heads as primary light in all of my cave dives in Greece and abroad. My dives in the overhead environment typically run much longer most of the times occur in demanding environmental conditions.  These dives generally average from 50 to 120 minutes in water of 10c in a wide variety of salinity conditions.  It is essential that the cave diver’s primary light be manufactured to withstand these conditions both for exploration or training dives.

My light system utilizes the fixed focus 6 degree 10 watt HID dual lamps. My decision for a dual bulb light is the increased redundancy in case of a bulb failure in a remote place or during an exploratory dive you have the luxury not to abort the dive. For me the dual system is like having 1+ light devices, in the same pack.  I prefer 6 degree lamps because they provide a well focused and balanced white light, that is suitable for our overhead conditions here in Greece.   

The Nightrider dual HID light is powered by a 13.2v Four Amp Hour Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) Battery Pack.  The battery pack is from  a highly impact resistant material. The light head housing is very small and ergonomically suited to carrying just the light, sans a Goodman Handle, directly in your hand. But you can place it in a helmet like most of us in Europe. Above water the helmet mount option is not so heavy, but below the water the helmet mount is very useful keeping hands free plus the vertical movement of the head set is very advantageous for close or survey work, and with a slight adjustment you can easily communicate with your cave companion or student without to blind her. 

The canister is sized enough to provide a number of mounting options.  I wore it on my right side  attched either to the cylinder or to my backplate waist belts.  All Niterider 13.2 volt systems come with an 11” wet connect cable attached to the canister and a 33” wet connect cable attached to the HID light head. This system is perfect for the underground travelling cave – sump diver. 

I was more than pleased with the overall performance of this light system.  They performed very well in reduced visibility conditions. I agree that as a general rule, cave divers should not exceed over half the known burn time of a battery.  For 4 amp hour NiMH batteries that are fully charged, that would be approximately a 2 hour dive on the single light head, and one hour for the dual light head. But I wanted to test it in a very intensive two hours training dives during the last PSAI full cave diver course I contact in Greece. The reason was to check if I can depend to the estimated duration that Niterider claims.

For a continues dual bulb operation the system holds for up to 115 minutes of bright white light, and then it was fading to a “blueish” colour, more than enough to follow a guideline for return, or reading the instruments during decompression. I even switch off one bulb and ignited again after some second and the system respond without a problem- superb!!!! Finally if you consider that these test conducted in 10c water temperature the result is astonish.         

I do not know Tom Carroll and Henry Hester in person, but regarding customer service, and support  they are very friendly and always ready to respond and support even the most unusual requests. I consider Niterider’s whole product range as one of the best and affordable technical lights and of course, Niterider Dual Hid lights are my personal choice.

Photos: Nectarios Katrivesis

Argyris Argyriadis
PSAI Trimix & Full Cave Instructor