Northern Divers Fusion X Torch - Reviewed by Mike Peakman

As a professional diving instructor I demand the best equipment. It needs to work reliably and consistently day in and day out. When I first acquired this torch I was impressed by its light output and ease of operation. The fact that they used a magnetic switch as opposed to a twist type switch was good - no accidental turning the wrong way! I took it on a wreck dive for its first dive and decided there and then that it could replace my main torch for all but the darkest caves. Then I got out of the water! It had flooded! First dive, 35m, the lens was full of water! To its credit, it still worked! I contacted Northern Diver who agreed to provide a replacement, claiming it was the first time it had ever happened to that type of torch. The replacement duly arrived and it more or less lived in my BCD pocket. Being an LED torch, repeated on/off cycles should be no problem. Sadly, not the case. After less than two months the switch failed. I couldn't turn the torch off. I contacted Northern Divers who agreed to replace the torch claiming it had never happened to that type of torch before. So, onto the third torch. After just a few weeks, it too failed. This time the switch sometimes failed to turn on the torch and sometimes when on, it would flicker and go off. Again I contacted Northern Diver. So far, they have not replied. It is a great shame because it is a reasonably priced torch (under £40) but it is unreliable. I know my equipment gets heavy usage and a month with me is probably more dives than some people do in a year, but surely any piece of diving equipment should last more than 40-50 dives? PS: I finally got a reply from them and we agreed that I would have a full refund on the purchase price rather than keep trying torches. Mind you, they did want a purchase receipt as proof of purchase, despite the torch having 'Northern Diver' plastered all over it. Given the hassle, you would have thought they would have overlooked that small point!

Brightstar Dark Buster - Reviewed by Mike Peakman

I have the 21W version and it is superb! There is also a 25W version. It has an HID bulb and can happily be used in or out of the water. Once on, it obliterates any other torch around and provides so much light, that even on a night dive, it is pretty much like diving in the daytime, which actually, can be its downfall! Too much light can be as bad as not enough. In this case, a lot of the night life is scared away and so I tend to keep it for caves, dark wrecks and other areas where I simply want to light up the scene. The charging system and accompanying goodies are all excellent. There is an intelligent charger than can be run from either the mains (240v) or a car charger. There are two carrying handles, one being a 'kowalski' style grip, the other a 'gun' style handle. There are three filters which can be easily fitted without recourse to breaking any seals. Charging the torch is simply a case of removing a screw at the back and plugging in the charger - not quite as good as some that have the charging contacts permanently available, but better than, say the Underwater Kinetics (UK) rechargeable that require the complete torch to be disassembled to recharge the battery, stressing the main O-ring every time - which incidentally was why my previously owned UKD8 bit the dust. Are there any down sides? Apart from the fact that it is an HID bulb which means that once it is on, it should be left on for the whole duration of the dive, its major drawback is replacement batteries! It is extremely difficult and expensive to replace the battery. There is one UK distributor who are not easy to find and the cost of the battery is £88! They do offer to replace the battery and O-rings free of charge though which, if you are living in the UK is worthwhile. For those of us further afield, shipping the torch to the UK and back is simply not worthwhile. Would I recommend it? Of course I would.