Recommended torch

Skylark

Skylark

Well-Known Member
Joined
4 Jun 2007
Messages
7,667
Location
Home: North West, Boat: The Clyde
Visit site
There are frequent posts from people asking for a torch recommendation. Here’s one that I have just bought and I’m happy to recommend it, albeit it’s a diving lamp.

Quality diving lamps are notoriously expensive so I was skeptical when a friend told me about this one. It’s a very powerful hand torch, about 10 inches long. It has a weighty, quality feel. It comes with rechargeable batteries. These need to be removed to charge using the charger supplied. It is sealed by double o-rings.

Cost is £70. It would make a good boat torch.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wurkkos-Underwater-Flashlight-Rechargeable-Waterproof/dp/B085L9QR4R
 
I quite like the 4 quid aluminium ones with the zoom lens.

I have a 2AA pocket dive torch with a pretty bright halogen bulb, I think it cost about a tenner 20 years ago?
Don't get many hours from 2 AAs but always good to have in your pocket on other people's boats.
 
KompetentKrew said:
I've found cheap torches so unreliable.

Wurkkos, however, is on the list of recommended brands maintained by Reddit's flashlight forum.

They also a smaller, more affordable model: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B088ZG2661
Click to expand...
One with a 'strong magnet' might not be ideal for the helmsman,

Back in the day 'dive torches' were desinged to operate in water and might overheat in air. Don't know if that's still the case.
 
Wing Mark said:
One with a 'strong magnet' might not be ideal for the helmsman,

Back in the day 'dive torches' were desinged to operate in water and might overheat in air. Don't know if that's still the case.
Click to expand...
Apparently, and for this reason, the Wurkkos scuba torches have built in temperature regulators that lower the power if they detect overheating. "Can safely be used on land" the manufacturer says.

The DL70 has even more lumens than the DL40.
 
I would only buy and carry now a torch set up as a headlamp. So convenient and tend to be similar to torch just reshaped. LED and lithium batteries mean even cheap torches are really good. Preferably get one with replaceable 18650 battery and don't buy Chinese 18650. ol'will
 
Wing Mark said:
Back in the day 'dive torches' were desinged to operate in water and might overheat in air. Don't know if that's still the case.
Click to expand...
In the 80s and 90s, the dive lamp of choice by the majority was made by Underwater Kinetics. I’ve bought the lamp in my OP as a replacement for my rather old UK D4R. I remember well, many years ago, a dive buddy owned the larger UK800R. He left it switched on in his dive bag after a weekend trip to the Farnes. Back home, he found that the lamp had melted.

LED bulb technology has largely consigned this story to the history books. The OP torch is waterproof to IPX8, 150m. It is incredibly powerful but can burn for >3 hours on this setting and more than 24 hours on its lowest power setting. It’s perfectly happy underwater and on dry land. A far cry from the past.

Torches to be avoided underwater and probably in any water environment, sailing, are those with plug-in USB port charging. Sooner or later the socket will leak and/or fail.
 
I used to spend a fair amount of time underground and tried many torches. For onboard use I would look no further than a
lenzer P7, small, powerful and will work when you need it to.
 
I've never had a problem with any of the cheap and cheerful LED pocket torches I've had from Aldidl. I don't know about one in every pocket, but I do have two or three on board and a couple in the car. In terms of brightness and beam shape, they're up there with the AA Maglight I had years ago, but the batteries last for ages and, having several, I can usually find one.
 
Cannot imagine why on earth anyone would pay £70 for a torch, but to each his own
I carry a handful of the cheap & cheerful cree ones on board & always have one in my oilies, plus a couple on deck at night as they tend to roll out of sight or, typically, under the liferaft just as I need one.
What I do hate are those head torches. I was out with a chap who was wearing one, on my launch, ferrying people to & from their boats after the old gaffers race at Stone one night. Every time he looked at me he blinded me & I could not see a darned thing all night.
 
The first design feature of a boat torch, for me, is that it is not round/cylindrical. Boats move around, so will your cylindrical torch if you put it down whilst you work on something. Head torch for me.
 
Skylark said:
Are you a diver?
I bought it primarily as a diving torch. For that recreational activity, especially in UK waters, it is a steal.
Click to expand...
I am not disputing that, but you said that it would make a good "boat torch" so i feel justified in my comment. Having to take the batteries out when leaving the boat would be an annoying issue if leaving for a while as well.
However, to each his own & many feel that there may be a degree of quality worth paying for & I can understand that if diving.
 
Daydream believer said:
Cannot imagine why on earth anyone would pay £70 for a torch, but to each his own
I carry a handful of the cheap & cheerful cree ones on board & always have one in my oilies, plus a couple on deck at night as they tend to roll out of sight or, typically, under the liferaft just as I need one.
Click to expand...
The reason I'm prepared to consider it is that about half the cheap and cheerful torches I've bought over the last few years have died already. In many cases they've lasted less than a year, and they've had quite light use, but they're so cheap it's not worth sending them back.

Your luck must be better than mine, since you don't seem to share this frustration.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Other threads that may be of interest

Bouba
Keeping warm in bed on these cold nights
2
Replies
25
Views
663
Mr Googler
Mr Googler

Share this page

Top