Light and Motion has gone above and beyond with their new GoBe lights. The first thing I noticed about these lights was how small, yet powerful, they are. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been on a night dive where the dive boat handed me a large, bulky light that has little illumination power underwater.

These lights also represent a huge advancement in the dive industry, as they’re the first ones specifically designed to work both underwater and above water — that’s right, they won’t burn your hand off if you need to use them above water. They’ve also been built so that you can change the light heads, offering many more options for outdoor activities.

What lamp heads can you choose from?

GoBe+ 700 Wide

Featuring a 60-degree flood beam, optimized to fill your entire field of vision with smooth, even lighting. Perfect for illuminating base camp, taking videos or photos, or exploring open areas.

GoBe+ 700 Spot

Featuring a powerful 20-degree beam, optimized to eliminate hot spots and provide an excellent balance of beam distance and viewing angle for a variety of uses.

GoBe 500 Spot

Featuring a 20-degree beam, optimized to eliminate hot spots and provide an excellent balance of beam distance and viewing angle for a variety of uses. The only difference between this one and the 700 Spot it the lumen power.

GoBe Nightsea

The GoBe NightSea delivers the perfect wavelength of blue light to excite otherworldly fluorescence. Features a phosphor flip-cap to easily switch between the blue NightSea and a white navigation light.

GoBe+ 500 Search

Optimized to deliver maximum penetration with a tight 8-degree spot beam, the GoBe+ 500 Search is ideal for any situation where both beam distance and run-time are key, such as search-and-rescue, signaling or technical/cave diving.

GoBe+ Red Focus

The GoBe+ Red Focus offers a pure, red wavelength of light in a perfectly smooth 60-degree beam, with discreet visibility and preservation of your night vision. This is an excellent focus light for wildlife an underwater photography, or for enhancing your night vision.

GoBe+ Action Camera Kit

 

I was lucky enough to test out some of these lights on my last dive trip. The first set up I used was the GoBe+ Action Camera Kit (pictured above). This kit comes with two GoBe+ 700 wide lights, two bar mounts and an action camera tray with two locline mounts. This is definitely a great out-of-the-box lighting solution for any GoPro user; the two 700-lumen lights do a great job lighting up-close environments and have a 60-degree beam. On full power, these lights can last over 1-and-½ hours (self-tested). 

GoBe Focus

Next I tested the focus light, which offers a 60-degree beam of pure red wavelength. Why would a diver want to use this? Because red light is great for night dives and photography, and red light doesn’t disturb animals at night. Mandarinfish, for example, appear at sunset — for only seconds sometimes — to mate. It is nearly impossible to focus without a light during sunset, and normal light from the sun or from a yellow fluorescent light can be a huge deterrent for mandarinfish when it comes to making an appearance. Since these lights can be used topside as well, you could use the red light for camping, night walks, or any other nighttime activity you can think of. All the bases have the same power levels of low, medium and high, and I was very pleased with it on night dives, where I could see my subject perfectly through my lens while only using red light.

GoBe Search

The GoBe Search light is best used for activities like searching or cave diving, with its much narrower beam angle of 8 degrees. This concentrates the beam of light significantly so you can highlight a specific area.

The following chart explains the different types of lights in the GoBe line:

 

Once it’s time to cool down, the light will circulate air and water through ventilation ports behind the light head and through the body of the torch, and thusly the GoBe is able to provide efficient thermal management underwater and on land.

“GoBe is the culmination of 24 years of design expertise in underwater and bicycle light engineering,” says Daniel Emerson, CEO of Light & Motion. “GoBe’s factory sealed, external charging design goes anywhere you can go.”

 

As for charging, the GoBe provides a factory-sealed system, so you never have to open the light and change batteries. Simply slide on the USB cable and plug it into any USB port.

 

Overall the GoBe system is a worthwhile investment for any diver. You can use these lights in and out of the water, switch the light heads to provide the specific lighting you need for almost any scenario.

You can buy these lights online at LightandMotion.com