Review: ThorFire S1 Diving Light

Mine works as a dive light quite nicely. I tied a tag line on it and tossed it out into 20 some feet of water and let it sit all night on the lake bottom. Lens are crystal clear with no fogging. If you really felt you needed to tie a lanyard to the slots in the tail, a metal ring should be used. Aside from the edges, the slots are too narrow. A lanyard is much better suited through the large holes in the handle. Glad the handle is tight, and if it wasn’t, I would locktite it on. Cannot be compared to land lights in any way IMO. This amount of weight is not a consideration in the water.

I personally really like the light, and so does my neighbor up at Lake Michigan. He dives for a living doing recovery, moorings, and pier work.

I can only base my review on my sample and with water already in the head from factory testing it is a fail. I figure I got a bum sample but that’s what was sent so that’s what is reviewed. It seems as if it should be good underwater if there were no issues with waterproofing. How is the control ring on your and your friends? Amazon sells it for under $100 and they claim list is over $250. Build quality is just not there, even for a $100 light. I’m glad yours was a good one.

I think condensation is normal in diving lights. Probably just had air that couldn’t escape. Gopros also get condensation in there waterproof housing.

It’s ironic how they state that it might be hard to unscrew the body, as it was tightened for the diving test. It is a standard construction just like for example the Skyray King, with the exception that it uses two rings. Water resistance has nothing to do with how tight you screw the battery tube on the body; greasing the rings helps water proofing, but not how hard you tighten the battery tube…

I see what you are saying. I’d like to know if anyone else had moisture in the head from the factory. If I could open it and dry it out I might try that but it all seems to be glued tight from the factory. Again though, moisture in the head isn’t the only issue with his light. Build quality is nowhere as good as my S70, for example. Rough control ring and poor anodizing are other issues to name a few.

There’s no excuse TF sending you a bum sample, but a purchaser would send back to amazon, and get a replacement, I think the quality is there. The light is built like a tank, which is what a diver needs. No amount of anodizing is going to survive being beat and banged around, but this light should. Especially with the stainless steel bezels. My neighbor used my light on 3 dives, at my request, inspecting some mooring anchors. He liked the magnetic ring switch. Found it easy to use with gloves on.

I plan on using it to drop off the side of the boat to attract fish at night.

I don’t believe my review sample had any condensation or fogging. I’ll have to take another look and check back in.

I also noted the roughness of the control ring in my review, that aspect of it definitely feels unrefined. Anyone try to spray some lube (chain lube, WD40, etc) around the ring?

WD40 is a poor lube. It’s a water displacement, WD, get it?
Generally not a good idea to use petroleum products of any sort around dive lights, if you want them to remain water tight. The O-rings are often petroleum based, like dissolves like > it eats them.

Agreed, and I have no intentions of using mine underwater, though water resistance is always a good thing.

I’m not too big on WD40 either (for lubrication), I was just trying to think of something thin even that would work it’s way under the ring.

Sidenote, I looked specifically for condensation last night and couldn’t see any in my light.

Is the battery compartment sealed off from the light head? I would doubt it.
Open it up, put it in a large container with a bunch of desiccant and let it sit a few days. Slightly warm would be beneficial (heating pad on low, top of a running computer, etc).

Or pack the battery compartment with them, and change out a couple times. I save the little ‘pillows’ from medication/vitamin/etc. containers just for such a purpose. You can renew them with warm dry heat. Warm an oven to low, turn it off and put them inside for 30” or so. Keep in a sealed jar.

I am not sure i got the TD26 so i can not comment. Mine was dry but i would suppose with the flashlight being hot and the water cold you could possibly get condensation from trapped air? I took mine underwater and it was fine. I think my head is sealed lol i am just thinking there is probably a few people who would really want to seal my actual head! I put a video up of mine being used underwater. Its one of those things you have to use it to understand it i guess. I scratched my anodizing but that was my fault i fell and hit the light lol.

I will also add if you can get your light apart it would be awesome to mod imagine the output it could handle with all that weight.

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Wauw you got some balls there Johnny! Receiving a light with water on the inside (though very hard to see, you actually say water on the lens and reflectors, dang just on one lens or reflector would have been enough for me to contact Thorfire and ask what is up) you bravely go on! And you even go on with such confidence you put a cell in the holder the wrong way. Man I would be on my toes and start with a drained cell just to see what is going to happen.

I see you did not try to remove the bezels as ferocious as the plastic part covering the driver or the handle. The pics do show that you got rid of the water, how did you do that?

Ah and of course, what did Thorfire say about the issues?

Doesn’t look air tight. Small holes in the pill, probably a crack around the edges of it. Pretty low air exchange though. Drying it out would take awhile.

FWIW I have a sealed diopter (magnifying lens for dive camera) that has been on hoards of dives. When I rinse it in warm water it fogs a little. Goes away as soon as it’s cooled off. This is a typical problem with dive camera gear. We often put desiccants inside the housing to prevent this. Going from warm>cold may create condensation if the warm air had a lot of moisture.

Nah, the water is still in there. To get those bezels off I’d have to make a special tool. Pliers and snap ring pliers don’t do the trick. I think they are glued on for better seal.

I told Thorfire to expect an unhappy review but haven’t heard back yet. Not everyone who gets free review lights is afraid to be honest and unbiased. I always call it like I see it and always will. I told them to take it as constructive criticism. The light has great mass but aside from the water in it the quality overall just isn’t there. Lots of potential with this light but not in my sample. I know some feel I was unfair but it is what it is. We’ll see how they take it. I was hard on Thrunite once or twice but they still love me. :stuck_out_tongue:

Hmm it is still there, maybe fill the tube with rice?

And, did you get the water out?

I checked mine out a little more closely, had given it to my son since it is so sturdy and stays cool no matter how long it is on. This feels really safe and nice.

There is no water.
And thanks to your attempts I did not try to remove the handle since I want to keep it looking nice. After giving the handle a lot of force yes it is possible to move it a little bit, it is not visble (the end of the handle moves maybe a quarter of a millimeter but it can be felt.

Then a funny thing, we need kids sometimes to see simple solutions.
I saw my recently turned 12 year old use this heavy monster with one hand.
How strong the power of suggestion from reading a review is, astounding, even I having one was thinking it needed two hands to operate.
And then I see one little hand do it…
And well you must have big hands if your pinky is not able to hold on (your pic above make t look like your hand is about my size and my four fingers hold the handle just fine but hey :wink: )

But my son holds the handle with his middle-, ring finger and pinky and uses his thumb and index finger to operate the switch ring.
So I tried it and well it works like a charm.
So I put on my toughest leather garden gloves and lo and behold, it works like a charm so I think divers can do it like that too :slight_smile:

JM , My sample was crystal clear inside the head and lens both. I tied mine off in the pond down where I do most of my testing for 7 1/2 hours and brought it back to the house and took apart what I could of the light and NO sign of moisture anywhere. The Lens / Bezels were all I could not get loose , but I looked very closely and no moisture as I say. My control ring also does not seem to be like yours as it is kind of stiff but moves fairly smoothly , it can be moved with the thumb but takes a little effort to do it that way and IS easier to use the control ring with 2 hands (1 hand holding handle). As far as the Anodizing mine looks to be “good” (not perfect but good) I did note in my video review about the SHARP edges on the lanyard holes also , as I felt the same as you in that they would cut a string attached lanyard.
My review HERE if you are interested in seeing the water submersion (or anything else for that matter) The light going into water (pond) starts at 5:30 of the video , coming out of water at 6:54 and the Teardown and still beamshots (couple of comparison shots with S70 also) immediately following that.
Note the teardown was done about 5 minutes after the light came out of the pond , as soon a I walked in the house with it.

You can take the light apart fairly easy! JohnnyMac get modding lol! This light should have enough mass for 3 XHP70.

I sat my light on my desk turned it on high for between 10 and 15 minutes, and it was only warm, not hot.

I have no problems with the selector ring either. I mean, it’s not like it’s on ball bearings, but it has to stay separate from the housing as a dive light should.

Do you think you could actually run a triple XHP50/70 in it?