I love to use strobe lights on wrecks!!! They are a fantastic navigation tool, and the brighter they are the better they do what it is I want them to do. I use them to mark the anchor line or stage bottles, as well as for navigation inside or outside the wreck. I regularly use more than one at a time. Deep inside a dark wreck, nothing gives me that warm and fuzzy feeling on the way out, like seeing the strobe in the distance.
Doc Edgerton invented the strobe light in 1931, but the strobe lights themselves for use underwater have been kind of disappointing until recent history. If you watch my Andrea Doria video from 1991, you will notice that the strobe light I drop at the beginning of the dive to mark my entrance/exit from the stairwell, is not working by the time I am ready to leave. At the other end of the stairwell, I use a flashlight instead of a strobe, simply because I did not own another strobe that was working that day. Reliability is important if you are using it for navigation, and reliability used to be a tall order.
The latest strobe lights from Tektite are the best I have ever used. They are rugged, bright, and reliable. They have a few models that work for me. The Strobe 200 uses 2 C-cell alkaline batteries. The multi function Strobe 3500., runs on 3 C-cell alkaline batteries. My favorite is the Tekna Lite 6 Strobe, which runs on 2- CR123A Lithium batteries. I think so much of the Tekna Lite 6, and I think that strobes are so important for wreck divers, that I give one to each of my Advanced Wreck, and Combo Advanced Wreck/Deco students.
