Archon D32VR and W40VR Review

[Scubagirl62]

Well I just returned from a 40 dive Indonesia trip taking with me both the D32VR and the newer W40VR. Here is a bit of a report. First some photos.



The lights are compact and bright. The W40VR nicer with the magnetic switches controlling the lights vs. the D32VR where you have to twist the end to open and close an electrical contact. The W40VR also has added purple and UV lights in addition to the white and red that both lights have. The white light of the W40VR is also brighter. Both take the same battery. Now off diving.

D32VR
Good news first. The D32VR worked fine as advertised. The red and white lights are quite bright. I used it on all day and night dives. The flicker problem reported earlier when videoing on the low setting seems to have been solved. This YouTube link shows a brief video shot at night with the D32VR on low setting Night dive, Flores, Indonesia using Archon D32VR light - YouTube . The red light is bright enough to use at night to see.
Bad news. The on-off mechanism is by physically turning the body of the light in order to make or break the battery connection. At the point of contact, there is some aluminum to aluminum contact and I noticed some fine aluminum shavings starting to accumulate inside the battery compartment. Wiped it out with some cloth, but this can't be good news for long term use. The depth affects the ease of turning the body as well.

W40VR
Well, the light flooded on the first dive. Badly and it happened pretty shallow. And yes, I certainly did a number of sink and camera bucket tests first. The Chinese supplier has been contacted and the light is being returned. Standby for an update.

More later.

 

[Interceptor121]

Knowing how the Canon cameras like to saturate red it is apparent that the D32V is much colder than the advertised 5000K

I would say is even colder than a daylight temperature and looks very similar to my epoque lights (same bulb but specs of 7000K?!?)

 

[dbeat]

Any news on the w40vr?

 

[gummybun]

Still no word? Since April???

 

[the_dragon_no1]

Been usimg my d32vr for over 100 dives.. no problems at all! Just clean the threads/inside cap regularly, and clean/lube orings..

 

[gummybun]

The 32 has established a pretty good rep it seems, but the 40, or 34 depending on the market, has more than one mention of flooding in the shallows and no 5star praise or any exhaustive review anywhere in my brief search. Is it the o-rings or the new mag switches? Has the manufacturer fixed it? Are the old faulty units still floating around the 'sites' left to sink the reputation of the brand? Who knows? Too bad 'cause it seems like a very sweet light on paper. And Xmas is getting close!

 

[the_dragon_no1]

Agreed. Me myself will never even buy a magnetic switched light. . Never... to much leaks with them! The twist on/off is the most secure i belive... same as the DoingItRight guys belive when it comes to they're tech diving and backup lights. . Only twist mechanism that counts.

 

[Scubagirl62]

Well, I received a new W40VR from the supplier who was very good to deal with. It looked like an upgraded model. Took it with me recently to Maui where it performed flawlessly. I had it to about 80 feet. Back to the Philippines in Feb where it will be my main light. I'll report again then.

 

[marc.collin]

i saw it seem to have some clone of the dv32r

eternalfire d32vr
Six Finger sf-xp02
...
...

any bad news with your d32vr?

 

[tamas970]

I was considering the bigger brother D36VR - but after reading the issues with the switch I don't know, which light to choose...
I really need the lumens (gopro video on shallow reefs) + want to keep the budget <5-600$, but a flooded light would be the worse.

I have the older D32VR right now, but that's too weak for daytime use and flicker at medium settings.

Does anyone know the HDVSEATEK lights? They seem to provide nice $/Lumen value...