It is a problem divers in the Pacific Northwest share with cave divers all over the world...find a way to illuminate your dive while keeping with longer dives. The problem has long been when you find a good dive light that is bright enough it runs down quickly. If it is a light that will last longer, it is also so bulky you hardly have hands for anything but carrying your dive light. A long battled problem...yes, but now divers everywhere can combat this age old problem with a new age solution by way of Edge Dive Tech in Mill Creek, Washington.

EDT has been providing cutting edge underwater lighting technology for the past several years. They are committed to bringing divers the most advanced, highest quality, lights in the world. EDT owner John Braun is very proud of his company. Family owned and operated, everyone is involved from his wife, Molly (the accountant) to daughter Kristin (the website designer) to son-in-law Roger (the IT guy) to Jeremy, the young mastermind behind the design of the lights themselves. "We are all involved, which makes doing the business a lot of fun," says Braun who is the master salesman. "The design is ours, the business model is ours and together, as a family, we have developed our company into one with a work ethic we can all be proud of."

EDT is a fairly young company however they have busted onto the scene in a very big way. "We began building customized LED lights because of our son Jeremy," Braun explains. "Jeremy is what I could consider the closest thing to a genus at 23 years old. He took up diving, saw a need for better lights and figured it all out. He is truly an amazing kid, and I'm not just saying that because he is my son."

Braun says Jeremy learned to dive on the Sound through a one on one dive experience but now Jeremy is an advanced diver with every certification possible. "He was into racing for a while, along with our daughter, and from that he began to design cameras which could be used inside of cars. He did the same thing with the lights, he saw a problem and said, 'hey I can fix that'. At 23 years old Jeremy has been self-taught and has found the designing and engineering process pretty easy. Now he, along with good friend and co-worker Cody are heading into the discipline of robotics to give their lights an extra kick. "Cody loves programing and robotics so he was a ready-made fit into our family business," Braun says. "Together, with Jeremy, who knows what those two boys will come up with next."

Braun says their LED lights currently range from 1200 lumens to 9000 lumens, which is the brightest in the world. "We choose to do LED lights because they last a long time and they don't generally break," Braun says. "The divers down in South American love them for cave diving. I am unsure why but the LED lights penetrate better than other lights, especially in murky water which can be real important to a Pacific Northwest diver."

What began as a small family business is now a worldwide phenomenon and EDT now does business all over the planet. "I just got off the phone with a guy in South Africa, it is all pretty amazing," Braun says. "We even have developed a couple of lights with the economy in mind so they are affordable."

So what is next for EDT? Braun says it's a surprise best held onto for the 2011 DEMA show. "We have a huge surprise for the DEMA show. It will be something no one in the world has ever seen."

For more info on EDT visit their website at www.edgedivetech.com. ■