OrcaTorch D630 V2.0 Review

[rob.mwpropane]

Are you comparing it to an LX20, or an LX20+?

I remember the conversation. It was the LX20+ from here;

Sold! - Dive Rite LX20+ Primary light

Dive Rite LX 20+ primary light. Comes with everything, like new. Only used on a few dives. $400 pickup in Gainesville, FL or I can ship for $15 additional. International shipping possible for additional expense.

scubaboard.com

 

[RyanT]

sorry @stuartv, LX20+

 

[dwrdnet]

I didn't really feel the need to write a formal review, but since I've gotten a some good hours with the light I figured I could add to this one. This is my 1st corded light so I'm still working a lot of things out but yesterday was the 1s time I felt really comfortable using it. I was playing with it in the quarry and I was impressed by how bright it was. The quarry is dark and "smoky" in places and this thing just punched right through it. I was comparing it to my buddies light and it just blew his out of the water. It was like comparing a pen light to a police spotlight, lol.

I stowed the can as far back on the right as possible and out of the way and ran the cord across the front (as I guess you're supposed to). Still need to adjust the goodman handle some. I added a bolt snap on the light to tie it off, found a pretty good video (to me) of how to set a corded light up (below). I do plan to add another attachment behind the light head to hang it from a double ender if needed so it's not blinding my buddy clipped off.

I still need to work on stowing the cord away after I clip it off in the waist belt, but even practicing with a deco tank yesterday I didn't get tangled up at all (which I have before). Before I would get a little worried about burn time with a cordless light on a goodman handle and have even had mine die after a full day of diving. I don't think that's a concern anymore.

Really interested to see how long this lasts being a somewhat of an off market light or "less expensive" light.

The only real complaint I have is when I make the goodman handle bigger I'm not sure it'll still fit in the case right. It's tight now, and I could really use another 1/4" or so. So the padding in the case might need to be cut. But that's not a huge deal. From what I understand V1.0 didn't come with a case at all, so I guess I should be grateful

Here's the video that put some pieces together for me;

Do you still have some sort of special price on the D630? If so, please send me a message, as I am looking to probably get one of these as a starter primary light.

 

[rob.mwpropane]

I am planning on placing another bulk order if anyone is interested in these? Everyone that has bought one seems to be pretty happy so far, at least I haven't heard any complaints.

I can get pretty much and light of the same brand for a little less than retail. Help save people some money in this horrible economy.

 

[lukeb]

@RyanT thanks for the great review and especially the comparison to the LX20+. You helped me make the decision to get the OrcaTorch 630. I also got a great deal from @rob.mwpropane !!!!

I am excited to get it and test it in the caves.

 

[stuartv]

My OrcaTorch D630 V2.0 arrived recently. A big thanks to @rob.mwpropane for getting me a deal on it!

It arrived in a nice case, similar to the one that accompanies the bigger DiveRite lights. The hard goodman handle seems to be well-designed and it actually feels more comfortable on my hand than the DiveRite goodman handle. Externally, the build quality seems quite good. The canister has a velcro "fold over" strap to attach to your harness. I know that some manufacturers overstate their output claims. I went out at night and did a side-by-side comparison with my DiveRite LX20 that is rated at 1500 lumens. I don't know if the Orcatorch is putting out 4000 lumens, but it is substantially brighter than the LX20! Without having batteries in the head, the OrcaTorch is a little lighter on my hand than the LX20. The weight of the LX20 doesn't really bother me, but it's still nice have less weight on your hand.

Note: The OrcaTorch is a can light with twice the battery capacity of the LX20, so I get this isn't an apples to apples comparison, but it's what I've got in other lights, so I was using it for comparison.

Finally, I did a burn test. I put the light head in a bucket of water and took a picture each hour on the same camera settings. By eye, or from the images, I didn't notice any dimming after an hour of run time. By the second hour, it did seem to have dimmed somewhat and it continued to taper off slowly after that. At the 4.5 hour mark, it was flashing red, indicating less than 10% battery. At that point, I did a side by side comparison again with a fresh LX20 (rated at 1500 lumens). The LX20 was brighter, but not by a huge amount. I'd estimate the OrcaTorch was still putting out something like 1000 lumens at the 4.5 hour mark. Now I'm just looking forward to getting it in the water!

Ryan, since this thread just came back to life, I happened to look at your photos again. That photo "Initial" and the photo "1 Hour" appear to be the exact same photo. Are you sure you got those right?

 

[RyanT]

Hi Stuart, I actually think I mixed up the 3 & 4 hour photo. The 3 h looks a little dimmer than the 4 h. I am confident that the initial and 1 hr photos are correct. I didn't notice any drop off in light at the 1 hour mark. It looks like the electronics maintain a continuous output for the 1st hour and then let it start tapering after that.

 

[RyanT]

To be clear, continuous output may actually be a little more than 1 hour since I didn't notice any drop-off at the 1 hour mark, but didn't check again until 2h.

 

[stuartv]

Hi Stuart, I actually think I mixed up the 3 & 4 hour photo. The 3 h looks a little dimmer than the 4 h. I am confident that the initial and 1 hr photos are correct. I didn't notice any drop off in light at the 1 hour mark. It looks like the electronics maintain a continuous output for the 1st hour and then let it start tapering after that.

I'm just saying, the Initial and 1 Hour photos you posted are literally the same photo.

You can look at them and see they are exactly the same. They are also exactly the same number of bytes in file size - which none of the other photos are, and which would not be expected after applying lossy compression (i.e. JPEG) - if they were actually 2 different images. The posted files do not have metadata embedded, so I cannot say exactly what date/time they were taken, but it doesn't matter. It is clear that "Initial.jpg" and "1 Hour.jpg" are actually the same image.

There may not be any difference in output after 1 hour. I'm just saying that we cannot see that because you didn't post 0 hour and 1 hour photos. You posted one of those twice, so of course they look the same to us.

I'm not trying to b!tch you out. I'm just calling it to your attention that there was a slip-up there somewhere.

 

[RyanT]

Hmmm, thanks for catching that! Yep, it does look like I accidentally posted the same image twice....not enough coffee? At any rate, I'm looking at the images on my camera and indeed, the first two = initial and 1 h do look like the same brightness. What I should have done ideally is set up a tripod and then shoot an image every 1/2 hour. Now the they holidays are here, maybe I'll do that.