Mark Evans: OrcaTorch boast a plethora of dive lights in their line up, and the D710 is the perfect addition to your diving arsenal as it ticks multiple boxes.
Made from corrosion-resistant, durable hard-anodized aluminium and toughened glass, the D710 is depth-rated to 150m, meaning it is suitable for all but the most-elite of deep-water explorers who are venturing below this depth (which is literally a handful of people).
Its compact size makes it ideal for a back-up torch – it is easy to tuck away in a drysuit or BCD pocket – but with its 3,000 lumen capabilities, it is more than bright enough to warrant use as a primary torch, especially if you are a travelling diver. This would be great for warm-water night dives, or explorations of shipwrecks or caverns, and with the former, you might even find it needs knocking down to a lower power setting, as it really is bright.
OrcaTorch claim the beam distance from the D710 is 150 metres, and I can well believe it – even in the depths of a UK quarry with questionable vis, the beam sliced through floating detritus and went a good distance. The 6 degree beam angle greatly helps with this – yes, there is some ‘bleed’ off to the sides of the main beam when you need to illuminate something without ‘lighting it up’ – a sleeping parrotfish, for instance – but that solid shaft of light really does penetrate through the gloom. It is also great for signalling to your buddy.
That mega 3,000 lumen is ‘turbo mode’, as OrcaTorch refer to it, and that is only on for a very short time – one minute – each time you access it. However, the 1,700 lumen ‘high’ setting, with a burntime of one hour 40 minutes, is still extremely bright for the size of the torch, and there are then ‘Middle’ (800 lumens, three hours 40 minutes burntime) and ‘Low’ (400 lumens, seven hours 40 minutes burntime) settings.
All of the settings are cycled through by pressing the titanium button on the side. You can even ‘lock’ the torch into shutdown state to prevent accidental activation while in transport. This button even features a nifty LED power indicator – green shows over 30 percent charge, red is between ten to 30 percent charge, and flashing red means you have less than ten percent charge remaining. This button is easy to locate and operate even in cold water wearing thick neoprene gloves.
The D710 runs on an OrcaTorch 5,000mAh rechargeable battery, which has a built-in USB-C charging port, which makes charging a doddle – just open the torch, remove the battery and plug it in. Much less faff than having a separate charger.
While some divers will love the ‘techie’ black, the D710 also comes in three bright colourways – red, blue and green. The red and blue are particularly striking and stand out from the crowd.
The D710 comes with a padded, zippered case, the rechargeable battery, USB charging cable, spare O-rings, and lanyard.
