Solus 1000W LED on test

[Mark Chase]

Solus 1000 Test report

NOTE TO READERS
I don’t work for Solus, Barry at Diver Tec or any one else who makes money out of diving and personally I own a Salvo 21W and a Halcyon 10W HID. I was asked if Id like to do a kit test on the Solus 1000 and I said yes I’d love too. That’s it, I am not getting paid. I did it for fun.


FIRST IMPRESIONS

Barry sent over the torch in a pelican case and after unpacking it my initial thoughts were. Wow it big! The head looked big (which is odd as the Salvo is bigger) and the canister is both chunky and it felt heavy. There was no way of mounting the torch so I rigged it with two Jube clips and a webbing loop off my Halcyon 10W Then I tied a bolt snap to the torch head so I could clip it off. There is a Goodman’s handle for this torch but it wasn’t supplied and I was a bit disappointed because I am no so used to using a Goodman’s handle it felt odd not to have one.

Salvo 21W on the Left Solus 1000W on the right



Side View



The web site doesn’t show a picture of the Goodman’s handle for the 1000W version but I am assuming it’s similar to the 500W in that it clips around the actual torch head. I have to say the version I have seen for the 500W is functional but ugly. It’s also pretty expensive at 82euro for the 1000W version.

My next impression was of the strength and build quality. It feels hewn out of granite. Its mill spec aluminium body just exudes solidity. The head feels heavy and hard it feels unbreakable. At the dive show they were apparently breaking walnuts with the head to demonstrate how tough it was and how you couldn’t break the bulbs. I franticly searched the house for a walnut but alas I couldn’t find one. You know how when you hold a chain saw you get an overwhelming urge to chop down a tree? Well that’s how the Solus felt. I was desperate to put it through its paces as a torch and I wanted to hit something with it :D


MY TORCH HISTORY

Now when I first got into deep dark wrecks I purchased a 50W Halogen Custom Divers torch off of Zak. I thought it was epic. Compared to the pathetic torches I had owned before it was mighty impressive. My dive buddy Andyp was waxing lyrical about the new Greenforce Tri-Star LED torch. He waffled on about colour temperature and burn times and got all moist over it, but sadly when it finally turned up and we dived it beside my 50W Halogen unit it turned out to be desperately out classed. It didn’t cut through the water and it just wasn’t that bright. Having witnessed what was at the time claimed to be the best LED torch on the market I wasn’t rushing out to get one.

Sadly my beloved Custom Divers torch flooded; ironically on my first ever dive with a DIR diver, Bob Cooper. Bob was a great diver and seemed to know his stuff and he was using a Halcyon Torch. He reckoned they were good so I went out and bought a 10W HID Halcyon. Whilst not in the league of Bob’s torch, it was a massive upgrade from my 50W CD. AndyP binned the Tri-Star and he got one too.

I still have my beloved Halcyon 10W and its still on its first bulb some three years later. AndyP managed to break his a couple of weeks ago and grabbed a 21W Salvo tp replace it. I had succumb to shiny kit fever and purchased one of the very first Salvo 21W HIDs that entered the UK. Since getting the 21W I have never craved another torch. It just does everything I need, in spades. It’s superb at illuminating my diving no matter what the conditions. It’s also brought light signalling into my every day diving only being useless for signalling in the clearest of water on the brightest of days.

When I read the claims that the Solus 1000 LED was a match for the 21W HIDS I was sceptical. If it was going to impress me it had to be as good as the Salvo 21W on a side by side test.

COMPARISON TEST

Facts and figures:

Solus 1000W
Cost: £860 (Goodman’s handle add £54)
Burn Time: 2.5 Hours on 1000W and 5 Hours on 500W
Charger: Included
Charge Time: 4-6 hours for a full charge
Mounting Kit: Not Supplied


The charger is neat. It’s a base plate you stand the canister on and it charges through that. No lids to remove no O rings to fail. A good solid state compliment to the solid state LED head. There are concerns over problems charging the unit on a rocking and rolling boat but I understand that problem has been looked into. Personally a big elastic band would do the job and I don’t see the problem but that’s just me.

Having spent £860 on your torch you then have to figure out how to mount it and how to deal with the head seeing as it doesn’t have a Goodman handle. I opted for two large Jube clips and a webbing loop. I then cam banded the unit to the 02 cylinder of my CCR but I could have put it on my belt webbing if I was OC. I added a small bolt snap to the head so I could clip that off and I was ready to dive.

Sadly the sea wasn’t ready for me. Gales swept across England and my diving was blown out for three weeks so I decided to bench test in the back garden.

The Solus didn’t get off to a great start.

Test one was the burning bush @ 8m range:

Pick one here is of the bench mark Salvo 21W HID



Pick two is of the Solus 1000W on max power.



The Solus was obviously bright but much more defused than the Salvo. I didn’t see this as a problem in terms of illuminating the wreck but signalling may be a tad compromised.

Test Two was the Tree:

Pick one again Salvo 21W



Pick two Solus 1000 on max power



Quite obvious here that the Salvo is a light saber. It has an intense hot spot where as the Solus has a wide less defined blast of light. However on the tree test i thought the Souls had the more usable beam. I coud see it lighting up a much more friendly area of a cave or dark penetration wreck dive.

Pick3 Side By Side on the lawn



The Solus is on the right and is all but lost against the intense beam of the Salvo. It’s bright but not as bright as the Salvo which is very focused and hot in the middle with a softer hallow of light around the edges.

Round 1 to the Salvo. Or is it? Is it good to have such an intense laser beam of light? Does this help or hinder a dive? I started praying for fine seas so I could find out.

DIVING WITH THE SOLUS

As mentioned I mounted the Solus on my 02 cylinder of the CCR via a cam band and webbing loop. The clipped off head caused no problems and in this configuration the light cable was adequate without being too long and baggy. Today’s dive was the Andaman at 54m following weeks of crap weather in October. Unsurprisingly it was naff viz of about 4m and totally pitch black at max depth.

I was tasked with running a line from the shot at 40m across to the wreck for the nitrox divers on OC who didn’t want to do 53m. The task loading was increased by not having a Goodman’s handle so I got off to a bad mental start with the Solus.

Having sorted out the transfer line I found my buddies had buggered off and I was alone in the pitch black sea. However the Solus was doing a dammed fine job of making me feel better. The light beam was very bright and illuminated a good area in front of me making searching for and actually finding my buddies pink line a breeze. The wide light beam that had looked week in my back garden was looking pretty dammed impressive at 53m in crap viz.

I soon found my erstwhile buddies and carried on to have an enjoyable dive and to be impressed with the Solus as a torch. I soon forgot the annoyance of it being hand held and instead enjoyed the way it lit up the wreck.

I was impressed.

I tried out the simple and efficient switch mounted on the torch head and switched between 500 and 1000W. I was surprised at the minimal difference between the two settings. Yes there was a reduction in illumination on the 500w setting but not so mach as you were rushing to switch back to full power. I actually found 500W to be more than adequate.

At the end of the dive I was very impressed with the torch. The weight of the battery pack had not affected my trim, as I feared it might, so the buoyancy characteristic of the large diameter case must compensate for the weight. I really liked the switching mechanism being on the head no more fafing about behind me in 5mm semi dries trying to flick off the power on the Salvo. Nice.

I managed two more dives with the Solus 1000 and the more I used it, the more I liked it. It was now firmly in my books as a torch I would pay good money for. What I needed now was a side by side test with a Salvo.

Once again the weather took control of my planes and after three blown out wreck dives I decided enough was enough and I drove down to Vobster with Janos and Howard to video a side by side test.

Video is wonderful. You can sit back in the comfort of your chair and be much much more objective about the results of your diving and equipment when you watch it later in the day.

We did a couple of dives and the second one we videoed. It was to 20m in about 5m of viz in fresh water with a lot of sediment particles and an over cast gray cloudy sky. I decided to video and give over the torch to Janos. He ran it for the dive and mid way he switched on the Salvo 21W for a side by side comparison.

The first thing I noticed was that the Solus1000 does actually have a light sabre effect unlike any other LED primary torch I have seen. The Salvo is more intense sure but the Solus holds it own quite well. The colour temperature isn’t far off the Salvo either. The blue white which is the must have colour of any fashion conscious tec diver these days, is definitly present with the Solus 1000.

When down loading the video, let it fully load before playing as not to do so will cause it to cut it short. If you don’t make the credits you haven’t reached the end.



IN CONCLUSION

So you have seen the video you have seen the photos. Simple question is the Solus 1000 as powerful as the Salvo 21W?

Answer? No

So why buy one? Because it’s pretty dammed close. Doesn’t sound like a good argument for buying a £860 torch with no mounting kit and no Goodman’s handle. If you spend £860 on a torch you want it to exude sex. You want David Beckham to be willing to sacrifice his left bollock to own one; you want it to be the envy of all and second to none.

In this respect the Solus 1000 doesn’t quite pull it off. The beam is not quite laser sharp enough and it’s not quite bright enough. The canister is a little bit bulky and the Goodman’s handle is expensive, looks ugly and not a complement to the design of the torch in any way. You can’t even claim the benefits of the legendary LED burn time. 2.5 hours is significantly less than the Salvo will do on the same battery pack. 5 hours on the 500W setting is only 1 hour more than the Salvo 9.5AH equivalent. Its like opting for a diesel variant only to find its economy is less than the petrol version;

So would I buy one?

Yes I would.

Why?

Well the simple fact is it’s a stunning torch. Simply stunning. It is more than capable of illuminating any wreck under any conditions and provides the diver with a better field of vision than the Salvo. Yes I know the Salvo can be altered to widen the beam but in doing so it looses any power advantage it had over the Solus and frankly the light is horrible and wishy washy with a hot spot in the middle. I NEVER have my salvo set to wide beam.

No, I would buy the Solus because its solid state LED bulbs are virtually indestructible. Offer me a Solus 1000 or a Salvo 21W to go into the arse end of a cave and id chose the Solus in a heart beat. Ask me to chose a torch to go dive some remote far away place where spare bulbs don’t exist and id take the Solus.

I hazard a guess that even though the Solus is about the same price as the 21W salvo, over the lifetime of the torch (33,000 hours burn time for the Solus) you would spend significantly less money on the Solus than on the HID equivalent.

The Solus is not going to find a customer base in the DIR world because it’s just not sleek enough for the stile conscious diver. They will argue that the reduced signalling efficiency of the Solus rules it out but the fact its no where near as sexy looking as the Salvo or Halcyon torches will I suspect be a strong reason. A shame because as a group based in the cave diving world, the reliability of the LED head would otherwise be a strong selling point.

Personally I won’t be selling my Salvo and getting A Solus. However I would never have sold my Custom Divers 50W Halogen if it had kept working. As and when my Salvo reaches the end of its serviceable life I think a Solus would be at the top of my shopping list. Either that or if I get angry because the HID bulb has blown on me before or during an important dive.

I will be trying cave diving big time next year and if I get into that I will be very seriously considering a LED torch. It’s that solid unbreakable feeling I got form the Solus that impressed me the most. The fact it was almost as good as the Salvo was really a secondary issue.

ATB

Mark Chase

Further information and costing for the Souls can be found here Divertec Ltd

Answers to frequently asked questions on the Souls can be found here SOLUS Submersible Products - FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

ADDENDUM

Since writing this report a few points have been brought up and some have changed:

1: The price for the Souls will from now on include the Goodman's Handle and a mounting kit

2: The Solus is a 12 degree beam and a new 6 degree beem is in the pipeline that should improve signaling significantly

3: The comparative price for the Salvo 21W range from £680 for a 2 hour burn time to £850 for a 5 hour burn time which can only be matched by the Solus on 500W setting. The pricing for the Salvo torches can be found here: Salvo HID Torches, 21 Watt NiMH lights at divingniknaks the UK's No 1 scuba gear online store

[Clare Gledhill]

Excellent report Mark - thanks for taking the time and effort.

I have to say you are right that this DIR diver would not be interested - although it would be fantastic to see LED lights take off. The reason I would not be interested though would be a bit different.

I've done a few dives recently with a buddy using video lights (a cave dive in Florida, the Justicia in Donegal and the Illinois in the channel). All were dark.

I found it annoying that without a spot to signal with I could not judge how far away my buddy was - the fact that a bright light was shining behind me was not enough to judge distance at all. When scootering it was maddening - one minute I would check and john was two metres behind - the next he was almost out of sight.

The lack of a goodman handle would be a real p.i.t.a. as well - especially running a line or using a scooter. I daresay that could be got around but remember that when scootering a webbing loop simply will not be effective as it is hard to pass from hand to hand quickly and smoothly.

It does look like LEDs are moving in the right direction though. Kevin mentioned that a buddy in Florida is using a back of the hand 5 hour burn time LED light - and carries another 5 hour battery in his pocket to switch over. The way forward? Almost certainly - just not there yet.

[tim]

Super report, thankyou Mark! Having had HIDs fail on me at bad moments on trips where it's hard to cosset kit I've been watching the LED market with a lot of interest for a while. From the garden photos I'd expected the Solus to be a backscatter nightmare underwater yet in the video it does as you say have a very lightsaberish effect. Any idea why this is, out of curiosity? I'm guessing each individual LED must be focused somehow - do they have individual lenses/mirrors?

I'd be interested in seeing the reaction of fish and also cephalopods to the Solus. I've always gone with lights which can go to a wide beam so if I meet something like an octopus on a night dive I can admire it at the edge of the beam without making it flinch by putting the spot on it. Having moved to the 21W light I've found fish often look uncomfortable in the 21W spot (I can understand it - I do!) so will often go to wide beam for that too. The Solus looked like it ought to work well with a diffuse beam for wildlife viewing from the garden shots but the underwater stuff made me wonder.

Thanks anyway for taking the time to make a very informative and interesting report!

Tim

[Mark Chase]

Quote: (Originally Posted by tim)

Super report, thankyou Mark! Having had HIDs fail on me at bad moments on trips where it's hard to cosset kit I've been watching the LED market with a lot of interest for a while. From the garden photos I'd expected the Solus to be a backscatter nightmare underwater yet in the video it does as you say have a very lightsaberish effect. Any idea why this is, out of curiosity? I'm guessing each individual LED must be focused somehow - do they have individual lenses/mirrors?

I'd be interested in seeing the reaction of fish and also cephalopods to the Solus. I've always gone with lights which can go to a wide beam so if I meet something like an octopus on a night dive I can admire it at the edge of the beam without making it flinch by putting the spot on it. Having moved to the 21W light I've found fish often look uncomfortable in the 21W spot (I can understand it - I do!) so will often go to wide beam for that too. The Solus looked like it ought to work well with a diffuse beam for wildlife viewing from the garden shots but the underwater stuff made me wonder.

Thanks anyway for taking the time to make a very informative and interesting report!

Tim

I dont think Dave will mind me nicking these




As you can just about see each LED has its own lense for focus. For reasions i dont fully understand the beem in air is very defused but in the water it tightens up and gives a much more obvious column of light.

ATB

Mark Chase

[Rich Walker]

Mark,

Can you show us the light in your pond?

Cheers,

Rich

[Fiona]

Quote: (Originally Posted by Mark Chase)

Solus 1000 Test report

There was no way of mounting the torch so I rigged it with two Jube clips and a webbing loop off my Halcyon 10W Then I tied a bolt snap to the torch head so I could clip it off. There is a Goodman’s handle for this torch but it wasn’t supplied and I was a bit disappointed because I am no so used to using a Goodman’s handle it felt odd not to have one.



COMPARISON TEST

Facts and figures:

Solus 1000W
Cost: £860 (Goodman’s handle add £54)
Burn Time: 2.5 Hours on 1000W and 5 Hours on 500W
Charger: Included
Charge Time: 4-6 hours for a full charge
Mounting Kit: Not Supplied

Frankly for over £800 I would expect the mounting kit to be supplied and a handle included - hey but what do I know

[Divingniknaks]

Mark good review, well done for taking the time.

Just to correct something if I may. You say they are "about the same price"

The Solus with Goodman by your figures comes out at £914.

The Salvo 9A 21W including Goodman as std is £780 delivered (UK).

Just to make it an accurate comparison on price.

Sorry if that appears picky.

Cheers for a good review of both lights, and an insight into Chez Chasey back garden .

.

[tim]

Quote: (Originally Posted by Mark Chase)

As you can just about see each LED has its own lense for focus. For reasions i dont fully understand the beem in air is very defused but in the water it tightens up and gives a much more obvious column of light.

Thanks Mark! I can indeed see the lens setup in those, great. If you ever get a good answer about the whole diffused/tight beam in and out of water please do post it here as I'm very curious now! I bet it's something incredibly simple which we should have thought of ;-)

Tim

[GLOC]

It might be something as simple as diffraction/refraction in air/water.

[Mark Chase]

Quote: (Originally Posted by Rich Walker)

Mark,

Can you show us the light in your pond?

Cheers,

Rich

?? Pond isnt that big Rich. What are you trying to see? the Vidio of Vobster seemed a better demo but i can do it if you like.

ATB

Mark