This was part of the sample from OrcaTorch. Complete kit, CW emitter
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Presentation: This light comes in a quality hard plastic case with real hinges and latches. It is lined with soft cloth covered foam. Items include, the Flashlight, the wireless charging puck, the power wall adapter, a 12v cig lighter car adapter, a set of spare o-rings, an 18650 battery tube, and a 26650 cell.
This light is heavy duty yet fairly light, weighing in at 11.71oz or 332g with the 26650 cell installed. It feels really good in the hand and is well balanced. You don’t get the feeling like this will slip out of your hand. The size of this light is not substantially larger than a standard C8 type flashlight.
The construction of this light is nothing like I’ve seen before. Very innovative if you ask me. The main battery tube is actually sleeved with an inner-tube, to provide the positive electrical connection to the tail cap for the wireless charging. The machining is accurate and fine. The tube threads are squared off trapezoidal threads. The black anodized finish is also smooth and flawless.
I am not certain how the driver is attached to the head of the light or the pill (if there is one). It appears pressed in, but since I’m not able to get the bezel off for fear of damaging the light, not able to tell. I can say that it isn’t going anywhere, and the positive spring is stout with 3 very clean solder joints attaching it to the driver. The tail cap has the same stout spring perfectly soldered. I’m not able to remove the tail cap from the battery tube either for fear of damage, but looking down the tube, you can see the circuit board is connected to the inner tube via copper contacts.
The included 26650 is a 4000mAh cell. The included 18650 battery sleeve is a quality black hard plastic tube made to fit this light. It is not some cheap plastic tube like I’ve seen on other flashlights. Although button-top batteries will work fine, your standard flat-top is what is recommended. I charged the 26650 to full charge on my Opus, then ran a complete discharge. The capacity showed 5495mAh
I then ran it back to full charge and it showed 5145mAh. It seems they have underrated this 26650 cell by a substantial amount.
Wireless charging: This is where this light really stands out in my opinion. The charging base is a hard black plastic puck that uses the included wall plug or the included 12v car lighter adapter. This is a true “wireless” charging base. By that I mean, no electrical connection like the Olight flashlights use, but true wireless, like a cell phone wireless charger. When the light is fully charged, you get a green led light, while charging, the button is half green and half red. The charger even senses the flashlight when held an inch above the charger. When removing the light from the charger, the light automatically turns on in low mode. When the power goes out, or the unit is unplugged while the flashlight is sitting on the charger, the light automatically turns on in low mode. Personally, I dislike micro USB ports on flashlights, and don’t use them, because they eventually break, become loose, or leak water. This is a great system if you have a power failure at night. I could have use this when I lived in a hurricane prone area of Virginia !
Flashlight function: Very simple straight forward operation. It has 4 brightness modes, 1 strobe, and 1 SOS mode. One click of the button and it comes on high, one more click medium, then low, then moonlight (fairly bright moonlight). Turn on and hold the button for a couple seconds and it goes into strobe, one more click and into SOS. To turn the light off from the standard modes, you cycle through them to off. The button is a very high quality soft but accurate click button, so just a couple quick clicks and the light is off. I don’t know what the lumens are for the different modes, but they seem evenly spaced. Compared to my other lights, I would say the manufacturer’s description of the high mode is accurate, being right around 1000 lumens.
The LED emitter is a cool white with a nice hot spot and plenty of spill… OrcaTorch says NW is available, but only in quanity
This light has a few built in protections. While it is a constant current light, it has both a step down function as well has an over-heat sensor. It also has over charge and over discharge protection. I discharged a battery down to 3.3volts and inserted into the light to test the discharge protection. The light immediately stepped down to low. I left it on for a while and it eventually shut off. Pulled the battery, put it on the Opus charger, and it read 3.2volts. So that must be where the protection shutoff is. Also, I ran the light for about 10 minutes on high, and while it was warm, it didn’t get hot, so I don’t know at what point the over-heat sensor comes in to play. (OrcaTorch says Low Voltage cutoff is 2.8v).
Waterproof: IPX-8 is considered waterproof to a few meters, with the caveat that it’s “defined by the manufacturer”. My personal standard is, if it’s not a “dive light”, then it’s not 100% waterproof. However, it should withstand a torrential downpour of rain and being dropped in the snow or a puddle with no ill effects. That said, I ran this flashlight under the faucet for a good 10 minutes with no water leakage what so ever. The lens never fogged up, nothing. Good, that passes my standard of waterproof. Just keep the o-ring lubed and you won’t have any problems.
In conclusion: I feel this is an excellent build quality light that does what the manufacturer says it does. Comes with a complete ready to use kit, and the wireless charging system is just outstanding. I believe OrcaTorch has a winner here.
Subjective is the tint of the emitter. NW needs to be available as an option.
The price is also subjective. While there may be some out there, I’ve never seen a “true” wireless charging light, let alone one that handles 26650 and 18650 batteries, and this kit is complete. No need to purchase quality batteries or a quality external charger, they are included.
Another subjective point is, not everyone likes the flashlight to turn on in high mode at first click, but some do. When taking it off the charger, it comes on in low mode. Not everyone likes having to cycle through the modes to turn the light off, but I will say the quality of the switch does make it very easy to quickly click through the modes to off.
A couple beamshots. (I will add a couple more outdoor shots tonight as well).
Thanks for listening. My first review here, so chip away at it if you wish !!
Here is the link to the album of pictures as a whole.
http://imgur.com/a/Rzmix