I received the OrcaTorch TD01 for free to review, and I wanted to share my thoughts here with everyone. I was not asked to leave a review here.
For context, here's a post announcing the light: NEW RELEASE OrcaTorch Mazu TD01 Dual-Color Dive Headlamp
The light comes well packaged in a carry case. Included is the light, GoPro style mount, head strap with GoPro style mount, spare o-rings, battery, usb cable for battery charging, and two gopro style mounting nuts.
The head strap is an interesting idea, but I'm not sure I would want to dive wearing it. I'd be concerned it would interfere with my mask or slide off. I did not test the head strap underwater. It works fine wearing it on my head outside of the water and could be used as a GoPro mounting option when doing something outside of the water too.
The battery is a Lion 18650 and has a USB port for charging. I have dive buddies who have similar batteries and I've witnessed them charging their batteries in their car on the drive to dive sites. I don't use the USB charge port because I have a Lion battery charger. This is also the same battery size of other OrcaTorch batteries, so it's nice to collect an additional battery which can be used in other lights. I've used the light on two different occasions, once on a beach night dive where I wore it on my mask GoPro mount for lobstering and on a 3 tank dive trip where I mounted it on the front of my BlackTip DPV. The beach dive was around 2 hours of continuous use and the 3 tanker was around 2.5 hours of use. The battery appeared to easily handle these dive times.
Regarding the light itself, my favorite part is the GoPro style mount. I have and use GoPros, so I have many ways I can mount and use the light in and out of the water. I was told that the light was safe to use out of the water. I have not checked whether it gets too hot or not. On my night shore dive, I mounted the light on my mask while lobstering. IMHO this was awesome. Everyone else was carrying a torch and trying to manage holding their lights, clipping their lights off, etc. so that they could then use two hands when catching a lobster. I always had two hands and the group of divers I was with thought it was pretty cool. It made catching lobsters at night MUCH easier. The downside to having the light mounted right above your eyes is the backscatter. Visibility was questionable at times, and it was harder to see long distance.
On the 3 tank boat dive, I mounted it on the front of my DPV. I used it to scan under ledges. Again, it was nice being hands free of a torch. I could slow down my DPV and ride along the ledges with the light shining into the ledge. The challenge I had was when a lobster was deeper in a hole and I needed a light to strategize how to get the lobster out, it meant positioning my DPV to look under, which isn't convenient, so I used a torch I had clipped to a D-Ring in that case.
The light also has a red light mode, two strength modes for the white beam, and flashing red.
Two downsides: Using this as a standard torch light in your hand would be cumbersome because of the orientation. The other is that the light switch knob is easily bumped and turns the light on. While on the boat and having it attached to my DPV, 2 times the light turned on while things were being moved around during surface intervals. One other thought, the white light is not diffused, so using it as a focus or video light wouldn't be ideal.
Final thoughts: It's a unique light because of the orientation and mounting bracket. I plan to use it on night dives when doing photography. I might try using it as a red focus light with my camera rig or wear on my mask as my primary light. Battery life is on par or better than my Sola lights (which I use for photography often). I really like this light and plan to use it often.
For context, here's a post announcing the light: NEW RELEASE OrcaTorch Mazu TD01 Dual-Color Dive Headlamp
The light comes well packaged in a carry case. Included is the light, GoPro style mount, head strap with GoPro style mount, spare o-rings, battery, usb cable for battery charging, and two gopro style mounting nuts.
The head strap is an interesting idea, but I'm not sure I would want to dive wearing it. I'd be concerned it would interfere with my mask or slide off. I did not test the head strap underwater. It works fine wearing it on my head outside of the water and could be used as a GoPro mounting option when doing something outside of the water too.
The battery is a Lion 18650 and has a USB port for charging. I have dive buddies who have similar batteries and I've witnessed them charging their batteries in their car on the drive to dive sites. I don't use the USB charge port because I have a Lion battery charger. This is also the same battery size of other OrcaTorch batteries, so it's nice to collect an additional battery which can be used in other lights. I've used the light on two different occasions, once on a beach night dive where I wore it on my mask GoPro mount for lobstering and on a 3 tank dive trip where I mounted it on the front of my BlackTip DPV. The beach dive was around 2 hours of continuous use and the 3 tanker was around 2.5 hours of use. The battery appeared to easily handle these dive times.
Regarding the light itself, my favorite part is the GoPro style mount. I have and use GoPros, so I have many ways I can mount and use the light in and out of the water. I was told that the light was safe to use out of the water. I have not checked whether it gets too hot or not. On my night shore dive, I mounted the light on my mask while lobstering. IMHO this was awesome. Everyone else was carrying a torch and trying to manage holding their lights, clipping their lights off, etc. so that they could then use two hands when catching a lobster. I always had two hands and the group of divers I was with thought it was pretty cool. It made catching lobsters at night MUCH easier. The downside to having the light mounted right above your eyes is the backscatter. Visibility was questionable at times, and it was harder to see long distance.
On the 3 tank boat dive, I mounted it on the front of my DPV. I used it to scan under ledges. Again, it was nice being hands free of a torch. I could slow down my DPV and ride along the ledges with the light shining into the ledge. The challenge I had was when a lobster was deeper in a hole and I needed a light to strategize how to get the lobster out, it meant positioning my DPV to look under, which isn't convenient, so I used a torch I had clipped to a D-Ring in that case.
The light also has a red light mode, two strength modes for the white beam, and flashing red.
Two downsides: Using this as a standard torch light in your hand would be cumbersome because of the orientation. The other is that the light switch knob is easily bumped and turns the light on. While on the boat and having it attached to my DPV, 2 times the light turned on while things were being moved around during surface intervals. One other thought, the white light is not diffused, so using it as a focus or video light wouldn't be ideal.
Final thoughts: It's a unique light because of the orientation and mounting bracket. I plan to use it on night dives when doing photography. I might try using it as a red focus light with my camera rig or wear on my mask as my primary light. Battery life is on par or better than my Sola lights (which I use for photography often). I really like this light and plan to use it often.
