Original Review: Review: Orcatorch D620
This review is a supplement to the original review written here. That original review was written after several weeks using the OrcaTorch D620. This updated review is written two years and quite a few (???) dives later. It appears in narrative form detailing events over the past two months. I was in contact with OrcaTorch continually after the first incident. We exchanged over 20 emails.
In my initial review, I expressed concern about the light control button. Instructions emphasized keeping it in the locked position when not changing the setting. That button is small, and over time I found it increasingly difficult to turn in either direction while wearing gloves. On a cave diving trip in Mexico in October, I could not get it into the locked position with my bare fingers after a day of diving. I put the light away in my gear bag and then charged the batteries when I got back to my room. When I put the batteries (all reading fully charged) in the next day, the light would not turn on. I feared it might have turned on in my bag and been ruined.
Back in the USA, as a result of discussions with OrcaTorch, I tested each of the batteries individually in a single cell light, and two of them would not power that light, even though the charger indicated they were fully charged. We concluded the batteries were defective, even though they had been charged only a fraction of the advertised number of charges they would take. I therefore purchased 6 more of those expensive batteries—two to replace the defective ones and four as a set of backups. The light worked with new batteries.
Our emails also discussed the button problem. I found I could turn the button with a pair of pliers, but I could not turn it by hand. I worked it back and forth many times with the pliers, hoping to loosen it up, but I still could not do it by hand. OrcaTorch had no suggested solution for that. They asked about salt encrustation, but the light had been used exclusively in fresh water for about 8 months.
I next used the light with brand new batteries on a decompression dive with a maximum depth of 200 feet. It worked fine. I charged the batteries and used it the next day on a dive to 240 feet. It worked fine until the shallower decompression stops, at which time I discovered that it only had two working settings—on and off. I shut it off. After the dive, it would not work at all.
When I opened the canister, I saw it was about half full of brown water. The canister had leaked. It had been screwed together completely, and the O-rings looked fine. When I contacted OrcaTOrch, they asked me to send a video of the canister with the water still in it, but I had foolishly poured it out before contacting them. I put the canister in water overnight, and it did not leak a bit. I can only conclude that the leak was caused by the 8 ATA of pressure on that dive.
Since reliability is a critical factor in a light like this, I won’t be using it again. Luckily, I still have two older canister lights that work fine, but I am now in the market for one I can trust.
This review is a supplement to the original review written here. That original review was written after several weeks using the OrcaTorch D620. This updated review is written two years and quite a few (???) dives later. It appears in narrative form detailing events over the past two months. I was in contact with OrcaTorch continually after the first incident. We exchanged over 20 emails.
In my initial review, I expressed concern about the light control button. Instructions emphasized keeping it in the locked position when not changing the setting. That button is small, and over time I found it increasingly difficult to turn in either direction while wearing gloves. On a cave diving trip in Mexico in October, I could not get it into the locked position with my bare fingers after a day of diving. I put the light away in my gear bag and then charged the batteries when I got back to my room. When I put the batteries (all reading fully charged) in the next day, the light would not turn on. I feared it might have turned on in my bag and been ruined.
Back in the USA, as a result of discussions with OrcaTorch, I tested each of the batteries individually in a single cell light, and two of them would not power that light, even though the charger indicated they were fully charged. We concluded the batteries were defective, even though they had been charged only a fraction of the advertised number of charges they would take. I therefore purchased 6 more of those expensive batteries—two to replace the defective ones and four as a set of backups. The light worked with new batteries.
Our emails also discussed the button problem. I found I could turn the button with a pair of pliers, but I could not turn it by hand. I worked it back and forth many times with the pliers, hoping to loosen it up, but I still could not do it by hand. OrcaTorch had no suggested solution for that. They asked about salt encrustation, but the light had been used exclusively in fresh water for about 8 months.
I next used the light with brand new batteries on a decompression dive with a maximum depth of 200 feet. It worked fine. I charged the batteries and used it the next day on a dive to 240 feet. It worked fine until the shallower decompression stops, at which time I discovered that it only had two working settings—on and off. I shut it off. After the dive, it would not work at all.
When I opened the canister, I saw it was about half full of brown water. The canister had leaked. It had been screwed together completely, and the O-rings looked fine. When I contacted OrcaTOrch, they asked me to send a video of the canister with the water still in it, but I had foolishly poured it out before contacting them. I put the canister in water overnight, and it did not leak a bit. I can only conclude that the leak was caused by the 8 ATA of pressure on that dive.
Since reliability is a critical factor in a light like this, I won’t be using it again. Luckily, I still have two older canister lights that work fine, but I am now in the market for one I can trust.
? and you are instructor 
