Dive “beacon” xtar or orca

[lexvil]

Overall a thing that may or may not matter but due to unusual circumstances I have been diving in about 6 weeks so I start looking for projects.

Anyway there have been some posts from the manufacturers recently, it’s an item I don’t normally have a call to use but I looked and these are pretty cheap.
I bought the Xtar SD1 kit, $30 and it comes with a rechargeable 16340 battery and an Orcatorch SD01 orange beacon (looks more yellow than orange)

Xtar comes in disposable packaging, it includes a lanyard and carabiner and the Orca comes in a cool little zippered package also with a lanyard, both include spare orings.

Xtar has 8 options 4 colors and a flashing version of each color, Orca just flashes, it used a AAA battery and is much less bright

These things have their place, tank markers for night dives to marking exit points. Both are metal and plastic construction and very well made, the Xtar is the more versatile I think but that cool little pouch of the orca…

Good news is the Xtar fits in the Orca pouch

 

[Eric802]

Is the Xtar positively buoyant? One of the beefs I've heard about the Orcatorch beacons is that they're negative, so they won't float up above your tank.

 

[lexvil]

Is the Xtar positively buoyant? One of the beefs I've heard about the Orcatorch beacons is that they're negative, so they won't float up above your tank.

No, both sink like a rock. Probably have to rig them to a rubber ducky for them to float up .

 

[heftysmurf]

For what it's worth, underwater during night dives, OrcaTorch is certainly plenty bright, at least in my experience. I'm sure I can post a pic after work.

 

[lexvil]

For what it's worth, underwater during night dives, OrcaTorch is certainly plenty bright, at least in my experience. I'm sure I can post a pic after work.

No doubt it’s all you need.

 

[rob.mwpropane]

No experience with Orcatorch one but I like the Xtar one that I have.

That is a nice little case. I clip mine off with a bolt snap to the milk crate I drag around.

 

[coolfilmaker]

I bought one of the Xtars a few months ago and it has a serious design flaw. You change the mode of the light by twisting it off and then on again, but the design is sensitive enough that a light tap from knocking into your tank can also trigger the mode change. I will turn it on before a dive and get out with a being a different color. At least it doesn't turn off completely.

 

[lexvil]

I bought one of the Xtars a few months ago and it has a serious design flaw. You change the mode of the light by twisting it off and then on again, but the design is sensitive enough that a light tap from knocking into your tank can also trigger the mode change. I will turn it on before a dive and get out with a being a different color. At least it doesn't turn off completely.

I’ll check mine later to see if that happens as a design flaw or maybe it’s just a defect of yours.

I’ll let you know

Ok, mine will do this too but it takes a pretty sharp hit to switch! I can’t picture a normal situation where there would be a hard enough hit for this to happen in the water but maybe shortening the leash a bit will help by cutting down the momentum?

 

[stuartv]

I got one of these the other day after y'all were all talking about them.

Mine will do it, too, but only if I whack directly against the battery end, hitting it axially. Obviously, it is making the battery inside move towards the butt end and momentarily break contact internally with the dome end.

The only way I could see that happening by accident is maybe if you did a giant stride into the water and it hit your tank as you hit the water, or something like that.

If it's happening easily, I would suspect the spring inside that holds the battery is defective.

 

[stuartv]

Since they are negative, how do you actually attach it to your tank and ensure that it doesn't move around and end up between the tank and the diver's head/neck/back where it becomes much harder to see?

I could maybe see a short leash around a yoke knob. But, for those of us that dive with DIN regs that is not an option...