Diving LED Flashlights

How to Choose a LED Diving Flashlights

Scuba diving is an incredible way to explore the ocean depths and see marine life up close, but if you’re considering diving after dark or in low-light conditions, you’ll need a reliable LED diving flashlight.

We carry some of the highest quality diving flashlights on the market in our store and have put together some key points and standout features below to help you choose the best light for your next dive.

Types of LED Diving Flashlights

There are three main types of diving flashlights on the market today: Canister lights and hand-held flashlights.

We’ve found that hand-held dive lights are by far the most convenient and popular option for casual divers due to their compact size and ease of use, so we keep several hand-held models in our store.

Why Do You Need An LED Diving Flashlight?

Most customers who buy a diving flashlight are interested in diving at night or doing deep dives or cave dives where light penetration from above can be limited.

Diving lights also come in handy for getting a clear reading on unlit scuba gauges, and for signaling or getting the attention of any partners you dive with.

How Bright Should An LED Diving Flashlight Be?

For night diving or deep diving, you’ll want as bright a flashlight as you can get. 1000 lumens is a popular maximum output for the industry, but we have some lights in our store that can produce even more than that.

If you’ll be diving in cloudy or murky water, however, using a bright light can actually make it harder to see (similar to driving in fog) so you’ll want to make sure your diving flashlight also has a lower setting (400 lumens or less) for maximum versatility.

What Size Should An LED Diving Flashlight Be?

The ability to easily use a diving flashlight with one hand is important, so the size of your hands (and whether or not you’ll be wearing gloves) are the main factors to consider when choosing a size.

For most customers that means you’ll want a light that is under six inches in length and around 1 inch in diameter at the handle.

Weight is much less important for a diving flashlight because the weight of all your gear essentially drops to zero once you’re floating in the water

Other Features To Look Out For:

It may sound simple, but a good lanyard attachment is a crucial feature for a diving flashlight to ensure an accidental drop doesn’t resign your light to the ocean depths.
It is also recommended to have a backup flashlight in case your main flashlight stop working while diving.
A long runtime is important as well. You definitely don’t want to run out of light halfway through a dark cave. Most dives will be limited by the amount of air in your tank, so just make sure your runtime at a full charge is longer than the time you’ll be spending underwater.

Submersibility rating is important here too. Although most dives are limited to 40 meters due to the risk for nitrogen narcosis, all of the lights in our store are rated to a full 100 meters or more for customers who enjoy more challenging deep dives.