NiteRider NR4000

Imagine, if you will, making your next dive with one eye covered. Or with darkened glasses that block out half the light. Or half way through the dive, you can no longer see. Or you only see the underwater world through tubes that block out half of what is around you.

You'd be cheated out of half your dive. That wouldn't be fair. Yet I bet it is happening to you on every dive you've been making without your even knowing it. You're being cheated out of half the light in your dive because of the natural filtering of water. Within the first 10 to 20 feet of water, all red and yellow is gone; 40 feet down, greens have faded. And 60 feet below, everything is pretty much shades of blue and gray. On top of that, depending on the water clarity, much of light can be gone.

You've probably heard more than once about the benefits of carrying a dive light with you underwater. An underwater light will bring out all the colors you've been missing, and that's a lot. Reds and yellows explode into your eyes. Even blues become more vibrant. Suddenly, you get to see ALL the underwater world. But you will need a large, powerful light and most divers simply do not want the encumbrance of a large light as they dive. Either that or they just plain forget.

NiteRider has a solution. The NiteRider concept is simple: A small, lightweight but very powerful lamphead is mounted on the head with a battery pack mounted elsewhere, either on the tank strap or cummerbund. Light is directed where you look and because of the lamphead's lightweight and small profile, you hardly know it's even there.

I was first exposed to NiteRider gear with their Sport Diver model. This inexpensive model uses a single lamp in the lighthead and compact battery pack. I found it ideal, especially for night diving with my camera. My strobe modeling lights acted as primary lights while the NiteRider helped as a general light and to help me read my camera settings.

My obtaining a much more powerful and sophisticated NiteRider NR4000 was with the intent of exposing that part of the underwater world that is often hidden, muted, too often without even realizing it.

My first dive with the light was not what you'd expect but it really proved the NR4000's worth. The beaches off Malibu have many excellent diving opportunities but not always the best water clarity. This was one of those days. Visibility was running 10 feet at best. We swam out to out to a small reef I knew to be colorful. Descending 25 feet, the dirty water filtered the light quickly. Even so, the reef was pleasant as usual. Then I turned on the NiteRider. Wow! Not that the reef was without enjoyment before but colors and detail now lit up before my eyes. It was like taking off dark sunglasses in a room with subdued lighting - no, better - I'd brought floodlights into that colorful room.

The NiteRider NR4000 is capable of delivering up to 32 watts of eye-popping power in a unique way with two lamps and up to 18-power setting combinations. This is a sophisticated system designed to give you as much power as you'd like, for as long as you'd like.

Heart of the system is a 4th generation 8-bit RISC microprocessor. Battery charging, discharge and life is carefully controlled and monitored by this system.

On the lamphead is a 12-watt lamp and a 20-watt lamp. These can be used separately or together, controlled by a switch atop the lamphead (there is also an 'off' position). Both the 12 and 20 watt lamps used separately will give you variable burn times. In addition, the battery pack has six power levels giving you a total of 18 possible power settings and burn times, ranging from an estimated 1.8 hours up to 24 hours.

The battery pack is about the size of an average book and about one pound negative in the water. The pack has a LED "fuel gauge" that shows you how much power you have remaining, a very nice feature. The switch on the battery pack moves two ways. Pushing and holding the switch up turns the unit on in increments of six power settings. Hold the switch up for a couple seconds and the lamp will go into a flashing "beacon" mode, useful for signaling. Holding the switch up for several more seconds and the lamps with then blink "SOS" in Morse code, an obviously useful feature in emergency situations.

A tough cord connects the headlamp to the battery pack. A two-pin connector joins the cord that can be disconnected and reconnected wet. I suppose the battery pack is swappable underwater but I did not have the opportunity to try it.

The package comes with a fully adjustable headband mount as well as wrist mount and handle. All of this, along with a charger, fits nicely into the carrying case provided.

Is this light for every diver? Probably not, although I think all divers would enjoy it. The NR4000 is a bit on the expensive side but the value of what you get is excellent - a lot of light delivered in an easy to use way. This is an ideal light for the more serious diver that finds themselves diving in moderately deep to deep or dark waters regularly.

NiteRider makes a full range of dive lights. For more information, visit the NiteRider website at www.niterider.com or call 619-268-9316 for a dealer near you.