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 MIDE 2008 is coming on 4^th to 6^th July at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  As Malaysia’s premier dive show, it has many supporters & partners such as Tourism Malaysia, KLIA, WWF, DAN, SSI, PADI, NAUI & Scuba Diver Australasia; to name but a few!

I went to ADEX 2008 with the thought of buying several new pieces of dive gear, some new diving apparels and look for my dream toy (a rebreather!).  The show is held bi-annually in Singapore, at the Suntec Convention Centre, as I was attending on Trade Day it was typically empty. 

I arrived at 11am just as it was opening, may of the booths where not completely setup and there were lots of people running around with trolleys full of boxes.  As I walked around the booths, greeting many of my friends, I noticed there was a definite lack of dive shops and manufacturers.

I was surprised by the absences of people like Problue, etc; although Mares had a small booth just displaying a few products.  The Scuba Pro booth was combined with the local dealer The Scuba Shop, and OMS with its dealer Waikiki.  Ralftech had a large booth as usual, with lots of gear and promotions, Oceanic had a small range of its products; and Seakodive brought along its variety of accessories.  Beuchat was also present showing its 2008 collection, along with its local distributor; Dive Junkie where also present selling their great range of diving T-shirt’s.

But lacking were the many local dive shops selling BCD’s, Regulators, Fins, etc; that said there were 3 (Friendly Waters Sea Sports, Submersibles and LG Importers).  Both had a reasonable selection of gear, at good discount prices.

It seems the show is going down hill, a few years ago there were many more retailers selling equipment.  As well as more diving apparels, latest/greatest technologies, manufacturers and exotic resort destinations!

Maybe the increasing number of dive exhibitions in the region is taking its toll on what used to be one of the only ones in South East Asia.  I’m planning to attend the Malaysia Dive Expo in July, and am hoping that it is better!

But I did have a chance to see my latest dream toy, the Poseidon Discovery rebreather (formaly known as the CIS Lunar); the latest generation of recreationl Closed Circuit Rebreathers…

The Nocturnal Lights SLX 3 LED light is a great dive/photography light, 300 lumens and 4 hour burn time!

BUT….

It can be improved, as standard it uses the popular Lumiled’s Luxeon LXHL-MW1D LED; these Led’s where the best a few years ago (producing about 100 lumens at about 1 amp). But today there is the new king of the LED hill, Cree there high power LED’s are rated at 228 lumens at 1 amp!

So it seems only logical that I should try an upgrade of my SLX from the Luxeon LED’s to the Cree! 

The Cree LED’s are available on the metal star heat sinks the same as the Luxeon parts so they are a direct replacement! I ordered 3 of the Cree parts from Deal Extreme, and promptly dropped them into the unit. 

Replacement was simple just remove a few screws to get at the LED`s; then each LED is held in place by two small screws! Unsolder the wires; lift off and place the Cree`s in the right orientation and your away!

Here is a short tutorial on how I done it!

Open the unit, and remove the 3 screws here, then lift off the reflectors:

Remove the two screws the retain one of the LED’s, and de-solder the wires:

Solder the wires onto the new LED (make sure the polarity is correct!), and refit the screws:

Repeat for the remaining 2 LED’s…

Refit the reflector plate, don`t forget the 3 plastic washers!

Once it’s all done, and reassembled, time to test! Fit the batteries, and turn on….

My goodness, gracious me…it’s like having a mini sun! 

Finding somewhere great to dive isn`t always as easy as it would seem, peoples opinions on what is good and bad are different.  One person can have a bad experience at one location, and that taints there experience/opinion for the future! 

I found this article which list 33 of there top dive sites around the world, worth a look if your doing some research!

www.otbeach.com/news/resorts-and-fun-activities–11/33-of-the-best-diving-sites-in-the-world–446.html