Review Orcatorch T30

For submission to the flashlight reviews forum.


I want to write a little Review about the Orcatorch T30 i got directly from Orcatorch as a sample. This will be my first review here. The light i received is the "old" version with XM-L2 U2 emitter and 980 Lumen but they updated the light to XP-L V3 with 1000 lumen now. The rest of the stats are identical to my sample.


The light is in their tactical 1x18650 line with tailcap clicky and sideswitch for mode changes. The light features a charging port and that is more or less the biggest difference to the T20 model.
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First some measurements i did







The light comes in a standard (white/orange) package like most other flashlights on the market




Here is an overview what you get with your light. A manual, some spare o-rings, a manual, USB cable and a warranty card.





Unfortunately the light dont use a standard micro USB Port as you can see here, therefore no rubber flap to protect the port was used.





The Orcatorch labeled holster is pretty standard



Now to the light itself, i made a little Gif to show you the light better. The T30 has the typical tactical shape like for example the Olight M22 which is the first light i have in mind when i think about tactical 1x18650 lights. The light arrived with a already installed clip and tactical ring for "cigar grip". I noticed that some flashlight manufacturers have rather loose tactical rings, this one sits firmly in place. I had to remove the clip after the little photo shooting since i am no fan of clips in combination with larger non EDC lights.




some more pictures to show the machining of the light better. No imperfections or silver parts in the black anodizing.








The head and tailcap from inside, the tailcap has a spring loaded pin instead of the more usual bare spring. I like those spring loaded pins since i have several 18650 batteries with scratch marks from bare springs, some of them pretty deep. Since the light has two springs it wont loose contact when you use the light on a bicycle for example.



This copy has a XM-L2 U2 emitter but newer versions will feature the XPL V3 emitter. It also has a double sided coated glas lens, Stainless steel crenulated bezel which can be unscrewed easily and a smooth reflector. I think you can see the violet shimmer of the coated glas. According to the manual the XM-L2 emitter puts out 980 lumen on turbo, 300 on high, 50 on medium and 1 lumen at low. The light also has a strobe and SOS mode. Runtime on turbo 4 h 10, 7h on high, 32h on medium and 1980h on low. 23331cd and 305m beam distance.




The tail switch is a forward clicky and it has to be the stiffest clicky on any light i own, i dont think its a negative thing, it feels very solid. The light will tailstand because of the additional fin's around the switch.



I checked all of my 18650s with the light and they all fit, even the thicker NCR18650 (2nd from the left) and the LG HG2 flat top cell (first) will fit. There is a tiny amount of rattle when you shake the light with the HG LG2. The NCR18650 wont fit all of my lights because of the thickness. Orcatorch sell their own 18650s which i used for the runtime test.



Here is a "group shot" of the light together with some other lights in that class for comparision. As you can see the T30 is a rather tall light. Most other 1x18650 tactical lights are shorter these days. Only the more "oldschool" Thrunite Lynx is taller.



Lets see what the charging function can do. As i wrote before the light dont use the micro USB Port which i would have prefered. There is a little indicator LED as well as you can see. The picture shows the low voltage warning LED in action, it will go solid red when the voltage is low, it wont blink. I dont know the exact voltage value under load when this happens but as soon as the indicator light appeared i removed the battery and i measured 3.3V. Despite the charging port the light has an IPX8 rating.





The same indicator light also functions as a charging indicator. It shows red during charging and goes solid green when the light is finished. You have to turn the flashlight on when charging otherwise the LED will show yellow, it will also show yellow when the battery is inserted wrongly during charging. Note, there is no low voltage cut off feature, so the light will continue to drain battery until its empty, so i would recommend protected cells only. On the other hand in a emergency situation a light without low voltage cut off might be handy since the light will continue to glow for a long time. I usually prefer lights with a low voltage cut off. The charging current of the light is 0.5A and it wont overcharge your batteries. My 18650 cell had 4.17V after charging was finished.








Here is a little runtime test i made with the T30 (turbo mode - 3400mah). The light has no low voltage cut off so i called it a day after a while otherwise the light would have glowed forever
The test is based on the brightness in Lux @ 1m (in percent) and time in minutes. My runtime data is much longer than the diagram shows but its kind of pointless to show since the light will continue to glow for hours in a very low mode until the battery dies.





The T30 has a CW tint like the majority of flashlights. I made a little comparision to show you the tint better





The UI of the light is very simple, the mode sequence is Low>medium>high>turbo (side switch). The tailcap clicky will turn the light on or off and you get momentary on since its a forward clicky. A long press on the side switch will give you strobe and another click SOS, of course from on. It has mode memory as well.


Here are some white wall beamshots of the light in all modes and some Klarus XTQ1 comparision shots.




Klarus XTQ1






Some outdoor shots (forest at night), the little white table is 51 yards away.




GIF








I couldnt find any major flaws, for some people the missing low voltage cut off will be a negative point and the missing micro USB port. I prefer using protected cells only and the only unprotected cell i own is the LG HG2 which i had to buy because my on the Road M6 accepts only unprotected cells (I wasnt aware of that when i ordered the OTR M6). Thats why the missing low voltage cut off doesnt bother me that much. I like the good machining, the stiff forward tailcap clicky and the mode spacing. Some people will like that i couldnt find any visible PWM, i couldnt care less about that problem since im not sensitive to PWM. Feel free to ask if you have any questions (im sure i forgot something) and note that the light uses a different LED now, so the tint or the beam could be a bit different now.
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