How to Choose the Best Dive Torch for Spearfishing, Lobster & Crayfish Diving

When you are diving in open water, searching caves and ledges, diving at night or dealing with low visibility, your torch becomes more than a convenience. It is an important piece of equipment that directly affects your visibility, confidence and success underwater.

Not all dive torches are designed for the same job. Choosing the right one means balancing beam shape, output, runtime, size and handling around how you actually dive.

Here is what to consider when choosing your next dive torch.

1. Choose the Right Beam

For spearfishing, lobster diving and searching reef structure, a narrow, focused beam is generally more useful than a wide flood beam.

A focused beam:

• Cuts through suspended particles more effectively

• Helps minimise backscatter

• Reaches deeper into caves, holes and ledges

• Concentrates the available light where you are searching

• Avoids unnecessarily illuminating the surrounding water

Wide flood beams have their place in underwater photography, video and close-range diving in clear water. However, they can produce more backscatter and lose effective reach when visibility deteriorates.

All Nautilux torches use focused beams designed to punch through the water and direct light where it matters and not into the surrounding haze.

Visit our FAQ page for more information about beam shape.

2. Useful Output Matters More Than a Peak Number

A high lumen figure can be impressive, but maximum output is only part of the story.

Some torches produce a brief burst of maximum brightness before stepping down or fading significantly. For real-world diving, the output that remains available throughout the dive is more useful than the number produced immediately after switching the torch on.

Useful output depends on:

• LED efficiency and quality

• Driver regulation

• Battery capacity and condition

• Heat management

• How gradually the output changes throughout the runtime

Nautilux evaluates runtime and output under controlled conditions to provide realistic figures based on usable light, not simply the final moment before the torch shuts down.

3. Match the Runtime to Your Diving

Consider how you actually use your torch.

During most daytime spearfishing and lobster dives, the torch is switched on while searching structure and switched off during surface intervals or while swimming between areas. Night divers are more likely to operate their torch continuously.

Our current approximate continuous runtimes at maximum output are:

One hour 20 minutes of continuous runtime represents approximately 80 one-minute searches. One hour 40 minutes represents approximately 100.

When used intermittently between surface intervals, each model can perform throughout a full day on the water. Divers undertaking particularly long or demanding sessions should still consider carrying a spare battery.

Visit our FAQ page for more information about runtime testing.

4. Consider Battery Quality and Availability

The battery has a major influence on output, runtime and long-term reliability.

Quality lithium-ion cells provide:

• Stable voltage

• Dependable output

• High capacity for extended runtime

• Hundreds of charge cycles when correctly maintained

• The option to carry and install a spare battery

Nautilux torches use replaceable rechargeable 18650 or 26650 lithium-ion batteries. The Pocket Rocket and Darkside use compact 18650 cells, the Explorer uses one high-capacity 26650 cell, and the Powerhouse uses two matched 26650 cells for maximum power and runtime.

Replaceable batteries also allow you to extend your dive day without having to replace the entire torch when a battery eventually reaches the end of its service life.

5. Look for Construction Built for Real Diving

Spearfishing and lobster diving can be hard on equipment.

A dive torch may be knocked against rocks, scraped through caves, dropped on a boat deck or concrete ramp and repeatedly exposed to salt water.

Important construction features include:

• Aerospace-grade aluminium housing

• Corrosion-resistant anodised finish

• Tempered-glass lens

• Secure magnetic switching

• Impact-resistant construction

• Textured finishes and knurled edges for grip

Nautilux torches are drop-tested to two metres onto hard surfaces and built to handle demanding real-world dive conditions.

Effective heat dissipation also allows Nautilux torches to operate both in and out of the water, making them suitable for diving, camping and use on boat decks.

6. Keep the Controls Simple

Complicated button combinations and excessive modes may sound useful on paper but can become frustrating underwater, particularly while wearing gloves or concentrating on other tasks.

Look for:

• Intuitive switching

• Clear output control

• Positive tactile feedback

• Easy operation while wearing gloves

• A sensible number of useful modes

Nautilux torches use simple magnetic switching designed for easy operation underwater. The Pocket Rocket, Darkside and Powerhouse provide straightforward high and low settings, while the Explorer offers smoothly adjustable output for greater control.

7. Select the Right Size and Mounting Setup

Nautilux offers four different models across three practical sizes.

Pocket Rocket

Serious power in a small package. Compact enough for everyday pocket carry, capable of serving as a minimalist primary torch and dependable as a backup.

Darkside

Built on the compact Pocket Rocket platform with a dedicated red beam for lobster hunting. Its small profile makes it ideal for mounting to loops and snares.

Explorer

The smooth all-rounder. It balances output, extended runtime and easy handling, with adjustable brightness for different conditions.

Powerhouse

The most powerful and longest-running torch in the Nautilux range. It is designed for demanding sessions, large caves and ledges, and longer night dives.

Useful carrying and mounting options include:

• Wrist lanyards

• Wetsuit arm and leg pockets

• Sleeves, tops and socks

• Lobster loops and snares

Our low-profile Torch Clamp securely mounts the Pocket Rocket or Darkside to lobster loops and snares, keeping the light aligned with where you are searching.

8. Check the Sealing and Depth Rating

Water ingress is one of the most serious risks for any dive torch.

Reliable waterproofing depends on:

• Quality O-rings

• Clean, accurately machined threads

• Secure lens construction

• Correctly fitted seals

• Proper tightening before entering the water

Every Nautilux torch is IPX8 pressure-tested to 100 metres and uses double O-ring sealing at threaded sealing points.

Even a well-designed torch still requires basic maintenance. Always completely tighten the housing before entering the water, rinse the closed torch in fresh water after diving and regularly inspect the O-rings for sand, hair, cuts, flattening or twisting.

Read our complete Torch Care guide before your first dive.

9. White Light or Red Light?

White-light torches provide maximum visibility and remain the best general-purpose choice for most diving, spearfishing and night diving.

The Darkside serves a more specialised purpose.

Its dedicated red beam remains clearly visible to the diver while providing a stealthier way to search for lobster. During real-world underwater use, the lobsters encountered showed hardly any reaction to the red light.

The Darkside is designed for divers chasing lobster and searching reef structure, caves, holes and ledges with less disturbance than a bright white beam.

Things look different on the Darkside.

Why Divers Choose Nautilux

Nautilux torches are designed for spearfishing, lobster diving and demanding underwater use in Australian conditions.

Every Nautilux torch features:

• A focused beam designed to minimise backscatter

• Quality LEDs and effective thermal management

• Dependable, real-world runtime

• Replaceable high-capacity lithium-ion batteries

• Aerospace-grade aluminium construction

• Tempered-glass lenses

• Simple, glove-friendly magnetic controls

• Compact, practical handling

• IPX8 pressure testing to 100 metres

• Double O-ring sealing

• An 18-month warranty against manufacturing defects

Real-world tested and proven dive after dive by actual divers.

Whether you choose the compact Pocket Rocket, adjustable Explorer, powerful Powerhouse or red-light Darkside, you are getting a purpose-built dive torch designed to perform where it matters.

Read our customer reviews to see how Nautilux torches perform in the hands of other divers.

Final Thoughts

The best dive torch is not necessarily the one with the highest lumen figure.

It is the torch that provides the right beam, useful output, practical runtime, dependable sealing and a size that suits the way you dive.

Choose equipment built for real underwater conditions and supported by a company that understands how divers actually use their gear.

If you need help selecting the right Nautilux torch, contact us. We are always happy to help.