I recently received this light from OrcaTorch, a Chinese manufacturer that specializes in personal lighting gear, including several models for Scuba diving. They sent it to me to review for my YouTube channel. The light arrived in December when most divers up north are drying out for the winter, but couldn’t wait to unbox it.
This is a powerful canister-style dive light in a sturdy case, and is perfect for travel. The complete kit weighs less than five pounds, and the light itself with batteries weighs under three pounds. The kit comes with four 18650 rechargeable batteries with an easy-to-use LCD charger, the torch, battery canister, a heavy-duty connection cable, extra O-rings, and a lanyard.
I charged the batteries using the H4 intelligent charger featuring an informative display that shows charging current, voltage, time, and the type of battery charging. It kind of makes me want to buy four more batteries just so I can see the difference in charging characteristics. Assembly is easy and operation intuitive. Who needs an instruction manual nowadays?
The head of this light is packed with a collapsed Goodman-style handle that can easily be assembled without tools. There are hex bolts already in place and a key is included for tightening. These bolts are for adjusting the width of the handle. That’s a nice feature for the northern diver who needs thick gloves most of the time! Tightening the bolts after each dive wouldn’t be a terrible practice because you don’t want your handle to come apart underwater, right?
The battery compartment is sealed with three O-rings, and it’s good to know there are three extra O-rings in the case. Smart design, OrcaTorch. Put in four batteries, two positive side up and two down, screw the whole thing shut, and you’re ready to use your new light. Easy!
To activate this light, turn the switch on the torch head 90 degrees from the locked to the unlocked position. Press the button once for full power, 2700 lumens. Press it again for the medium power setting at 800 lumens, and once again for the 150 lumens low power setting.
Four Cree HXP70 LEDs power this light. Let me tell you, if you haven’t witnessed 2700 lumens from a single source, you will be impressed with how bright it is. I’ve gone night diving many times and found myself inside shipwrecks wishing I had more illumination power. Now I do.
I can’t wait to field test this light on the next Lake Superior shipwreck I explore in the spring!