Review of Kraken Sports NR-1200 Lumens LED Dive Light // Diving Torch Performance // Perfect Travel Dive Light
After much research, many dives, and a lot of wear-and-tear, we decided to upgrade our respective dive lights to the Kraken Sports NR-1200 Lumens Dive Lights. I’m going to go thorough our “oooh’s” and “ahhhh’s” in the order of most functional and convenient.
So far, I’ve used this light several times in Florida as well as in Cuba, in low-light conditions, bright conditions, and depths to 107 feet. It feels great in the hand, is compact and sturdy, charges quickly, and I love it!
Directly Charge the Battery
The Kraken Dive Light comes with a battery charger, however, the battery itself is it’s own charger! Yes! You plug a micro-usb cable right into the battery itself, and it charges. Talk about awesome space-saving functionality!
This technology is still new enough that it surprises people. In Cuba, everyone wanted to see and hold the battery. The space-saving aspect of this type of battery was a novelty, and we sure appreciated while packing light for travel. That charger was just one less charger, one less thing to bring.
The torch does arrive with a battery charging cradle, in case you’re more comfortable using those. Wait – did I just go on about the battery before the actual beam? Yes, I did. The battery is the most fascinating feature to fellow divers!
It is a lithium battery, so we only charge it when we are around. The model of the battery is 18650; I’m unaware if it fits anything else. Charge time is three and a half hours – more than a surface interval, but less time than preparing and eating a big dinner while discussing the day’s dives.
Helpful Battery Level Indicator
The battery level indicator – there’s no wondering if your dive light is going to last to the end of the dive. The Kraken 1200 has a push button on/off switch, with a built-in battery level indicator surrounding the on/off button.
At full charge, the ring around the power switch glows blue. When you are at 50% power left, it turns green. Then, when your battery life is diminished to 25%, it turns red, and finally, flashing red. That way, if you are on a higher light level, you can choose to turn it down to eke out a little more time.
So far, I’ve only “gotten into the red” once. Toward the very end of a second hour-and-a-half dive, with the light on 50% for spotting shark teeth on a bright sandy bottom, I did finally get to see the button surround turn red. Funny enough, I was rather happy to see it because it meant I could choose to reduce draw on the battery, and it meant that my trusty light had lasted over two hours.
On the packaging, the torch specifications list 90 minutes as the burn time. That must be on full power.
Since lithium batteries don’t slowly dim, but abruptly die, this feature allows you to know that your battery is almost flat.
Brightness Modes
This tough little light has five modes! They are 100%, 50%, 25%, SOS, and Strobe.
Recently we were shark tooth diving in Venice, Florida, and I discovered that 100% was too bright for finding teeny shark teeth. I reduced to 50%, and had a much better view of the sandy bottom without too much reflection bouncing back at me.
The lumens, or light output, of this light is 1200. A lumen is a measurement of light brightness versus energy use. For recreational use, 300-500 lumen is sufficient, even for use with a GoPro. Serious photographers may use as high as 2500 lumens, but for recreational diving, 1200 is plenty.
Waterproof
Down to 100 meters is the rating spec for this Kraken dive torch. That’s 328.084 feet – certainly deeper than I plan to take it.
Thoughtful O Ring Inclusion
Included with the light are two spare o-rings; how smart is that?!
In our dive kit at home, we include a teeny pot of Trident Silicone Lube – it’s .25 ounce; a lip balm is .15 ounce, just for comparison. The pot is a tiny bit over an inch tall and wide – perfect for travel.
For home, you can stock a larger pot of silicone grease at a lower price per ounce. It’s not only great for your dive lights, camera, GoPro, and other o-rings; but also it’s great for sealing around mask and mustache!
Lightweight and Compact
For travel, we really were ready to stop carrying radar detector-sized lights, and two sets of eight “C” batteries. All that weight in our dive bags added up to some heavy luggage!
Just so you know how much weight we saved by switching lights, which really was our main goal next to a smaller item in our bags, we reduced by a pound and a half! Our former every dive carry lights weighed in at two pounds fully loaded with batteries; the Kraken is under a half a pound!
The exterior is “aviation grade anodized aluminum” according to the packaging. I’m not quite sure what that means, however, it seems tough. As soon as you take it out of the box, it just feels right in your hand. It’s well-balanced, bumpy enough to be grippy, and the right diameter and length.
Beam Angle
The Kraken NR-1200 light has a beam angle of 10°. While this possibly could be considered a bit narrow for everyday recreational diving, so far, I’ve loved it.
Today’s primary lights are the size of previous backup lights, due to LED technology and battery improvements. Along with those advancements comes a wide variety of availability in beam angle.
Beam angle is the angle your light can project from side to side. While you are above water, not wearing a mask, you probably can see 180° or close to it. Wearing a mask limits you to closer to 100°.
Above the water, when I run in the dark, I use running lights. I’ve noticed that I can either have a light that really floods my immediate area under my feet, or one that pinpoints a mailbox in the distance. Your flashlights probably do the same.
Beam angle means you may have different lights for different uses; sometimes you want to see further in the distance, sometimes you desire more flood for photography.
7 – 12° is yields a narrow, focused beam, great for caves and wrecks. It will shine further, and not give you a lot of particulate backscatter.
12 – 20° provides a good recreational diving compromise – it’s a fairly structured beam, with enough distance and width for diving at night or peeking into holes during the day.
20 – 75° is pretty wide. Sometimes this means the light will zoom in and out, or adjust. You might have had a flashlight like that in the past – one that you twist to bring the beam in narrower or wider. This range is still great for day or night diving.
90 – 140° is wide, more of a flood like photographers or someone taking video would want. The light won’t penetrate as far, but will flood the closer area.
Color Temperature
The Kraken NR-1200 color temperature is 6,000-6,500K. The K is for Kelvin, the “temperature” of light. 10,000 K is a blue sky day, 1,600K is like the light from a candle. 4,500K is similar to late afternoon sunlight.
This means at depth, this torch can mimic bright overcast daylight. For an entire scale, Tovatec offers a nice graphic. For information on Kraken video lights for phtography, mozaik uw cameras has some good information.
Last Detail; Carry Bag
Who would have predicted that the bag for the light would bring such delight – but it’s just one more aspect of this light that is so well thought-out! It holds the light, the charger if you wish, and there’s even a separate hook-and-loop tab closed pocket for the battery.
In fact, the bag is so handy that it now houses my Kraken 1200 and its charging cable, my backup Princeton Tec and a spare set of batteries for it, and my water-activated tank light. I decided it was the perfect spot to stage all “lighted” items.
Litium Battery Caution
I’m going to reproduce the battery caution exactly as it is on the bright yellow warning sheet. We’ve started only charging lithium batteries while we are able to oversee the charger. No more leaving them charging while gone.
“Incorrectly charging battery may cause the battery or components to overheat. Overheating may result in fire or explosion of the battery. Always wear safety glasses when using the battery charger. Charge battery in an open area away from combustibles. Should the battery be miss handled. (sic) dropped or damaged in any way do not recharge. Recycle or discard correctly. Follow your government guidelines.”
Pound for Pound; Our Swaps
We’ve been carrying the Princeton Lights for years. They work great, are reasonably priced, however, we just wanted smaller and lighter.
• Princeton Tec Sector 5 LED Dive Light (550 Lumens): 1.4 pounds plus four C-cell batteries at .66 pounds total weight 2 pounds.
Currently our lights of choice:
• Kraken Sports NR-1200 Diving Light 1200 Lumens: under 1 pound with batteries. And smaller, too!
Backup Lights
Due to the expenses associated with diving, we are always cautious when upgrading. We talk over purchases, put them on “wish lists” and reconsider buying new items, and we try to determine if we already have something that would do the job. “Use What You Have Decorating” is our motto, and so, our former “just in case” lights we carried during the day are now still in use.
Our Princeton Tec lights have become our backup lights. I have the Princeton Tec 40, and Bill has the Princeton Tec Impact XL. They have never failed us, they’re a great entry-level light, they are dependable and simple to use. The price point is extremely reasonable. Until you are sure of the need for an investment in more expensive lights, these will do the trick. Ours both use traditional batteries.
No More Single-Use Plastic Lights
Rather than a couple chemical lights every single night dive, we opted to reduce our plastic use by using water activated lights that weigh about the same, but last 500 hours – hopefully eliminating every single snap light for the rest of my life.
• Trident or Innovative New Water Activated Marker Light: 3 ounces but lasts 500 hours, eliminating 497 ounces!
Books I’ve Been Reading for Refresher Knowledge
• Naui Scuba Diver Open Water textbook. It’s been over 30 years since I got certified, and you won’t believe how much you have forgotten! Great review! – 15 ounces
• The PADI Open Water textbook: I’m interested in comparing the two.
• Scuba Diving Hand Signals Book: Who knew there are different hand signals for different types of sharks?!
Our Local Dive Club
• The NAS Jax Skin and Scuba Diving Club: Please check out our site, and if you’re in the area – permanently or just visiting – we’d love to have you join us!
Protect Our Oceans
• Here’s an easy way to do your part in saving our oceans. Do your research! Then order reef-safe sunscreen, hair products, and mask de fog at Stream2Sea.com, use my code “KimW” for 10% off. AD: affiliate links used. Stream2Sea Sunscreen for Face and Body SPF 20 or Stream2Sea Tinted Sunscreen for Face and Body SPF 20 more online!
• For bleeding control training, I’m taking the Tactical Casualty Care from Crisis Medicine with code “DeepWH” you save 20% on the TC2 course, which I highly recommend. You need more than basic First Aid when you are far from help, as we are when we head offshore to dive, or even in the springs.
• MyMedic also features Individual Bleeding Control Kits and my code “KimW” will save you 10% on your purchase. You should bring one to your dives! We do… It’s better to be prepared than to be unprepared. You can spot our kit velcroed to the headrest of the backseat in this video.
• Use of my Amazon Affiliate links does not increase your cost, but may return to me a small percentage of your purchase, which helps me bring content to you, and purchase more supplies for my classroom. Thank you for your support!
What to Watch
DWH YT Water Activated Night Dive Tank Lights // Deep Water Happy
DWH YT Self-Draining Dive Booties // DeepWaterHappy
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