video light deal: Evolva Future Technology D02

[stuartv]

I received my Evolva lights today. I put a 26650 battery in one, an 18650 battery in the other, and an 18650 battery (the biggest it will take) in my Archon D11V (same LED emitter as the Orcatorch D810 mentioned above) and compared them all. The 2 Evolva lights looked the same, to me, and they were quite a bit brighter than the Archon. The specs would suggest that the Evolva lights should be around twice as bright as the Archon and they looked it.

For the price, these Evolva lights seem awesome!

 

[JohnJDS]

Nice, thanks for comparing.

 

[Dave Grandy]

I'll second that .. thanks for the comparison...That's awesome ... I ordered a third for another set up... here's hoping they pass the depth test

 

[fmerkel]

I picked one up to test. Just got done putting a battery in it. Good machining, anodizing seems decent, threads are excellent, switch works well. Seems solidly built. Nice even light. Gets mildly warm on land so the thermal path should be OK.
Doesn't compare to my Sola 1200 ($400) or my wife's Laluz ($200), but for less than $40 hard to complain. I hope to take it out for a wide angle dive on Sat. I'll be using it as a focus light, not a video light.

Addendum: The first light test was with old cells. I put a fully charged good Panasonic in and it made a huge difference. It could almost compete with the Sola on high and a bit brighter than the Sola on Med. Obviously the driver is very voltage dependent so the light will dim with use, not unexpected on a cheap light. The bigger and better the battery, the brighter it will be. (Sola does not have that issue).

 

[Compressor]

I bought the EVOLVE from Amazon and just came back from Bonaire. I was pleased with its performance but if the ambient light is good, then the lights have only a small effect. Having said that, they are well built. I cannot believe their price. I'm thinking of buying another one too to compliment the first.

 

[fmerkel]

Dive went fine, light performed OK. Not an optimal dive to test the light out but I didn't have any problems with it. Battery was a Thorfire 3000mA (confirmed on Opus analyzer) 18650, which is just a rebranded Panasonic 18650BE. Dive was 66 feet for 64 minutes. I deliberately left the light on for about 10" after the dive and came back with 3.47v. Charging now, I'll report when finished.

 

[fmerkel]

Battery took 2445mA to charge. Since it worked I'll power it with a 4000mA, 26650 next dive.

 

[Compressor]

In close proximity, like macro, the lights perform well especially in places like crevices. In broad daylight at depth, I found it to be somewhat weak. But as in post above, I will add a second light and should be getting better results.

 

[JohnJDS]

Had a successful freedive with a pair of these lights with fully charged Panasonic 18650 3000mA batteries. I set them on high and had them on and off throughout the 90 minutes on the water, without any problem.

Not very deep, 12 - 18 meters, but 20 - 30 dives so lots of up and down. No problems with water seals. Overall, they do what I needed which is to light up 9 - 18" in front of my dome. I wanted light for deeper stuff close up, and dark holes and pockets.

 

[jxo]

Grabbed 2 of these. What a crazy value. Curious if anyone is mounting these lights with something other than the ball mount. I had them in an Ikelite rig with dual strobes on a triple ball clamp. During a macro dive, I moved the strobe positions a lot. So I had to constantly reorient the video lights. The ball mount on the video lights barely screws into the light body. One ripped off while moving the light. It also unscrewed easily.
Seems like a YS mount holder and YS mount may be a better option. But finding the right one may be a challenge.