Mike
Clark write up for Scottish diver with m
Ferei
W170 Dive Light
The
Ferei W170 is the top of the range dive light from this Chinese manufacturer. On
unboxing first impressions were of a very high quality piece of kit, which comes
in a very nice bag ideal for stowing the torch, straps and chargers. It’s a
nice package.
Turning
on the light is amazing as the pure cool white light is very bright at 2200
lumens.
Wanting
to charge the torch up and get it diving was my priority as it is an exciting
product but the instruction booklet supplied with the torch is terrible and in
no way tells owners all the information they need to know about the torch
features. (the manuals for the other models are
a bit better English but the 170 is definitely Chinese English)I found
out more by getting hands on and finding things like the 3 power modes by
accident. The torch comes with 3 charging parts. A car charger which is highly
useful. There is the standard charging cable which as normal goes into a box and
then plugs directly into the torch and this is the setup for the AC charging at
home. I am unsure if you use the box section when charging in the car?? (straight
connection)But I think not. I haven’t found any info on that yet, which
isn’t very good (clearer manual required). Good points though are that the
torch is fully sealed so you do not have to open up the torch to charge it. This
does leave the charging point exposed to salt water. It’s clearly stated that
this charging point needs to be rinsed and dried after every dive in salt water.
Once I figured out how to charge the torch a red LED illuminated on the plug and after 3 hours it turned green. This torch takes 5 hours to fully charge but after 3 and 4 hours the charging is at 80% and 90% respectively. Full charge is said to give a run time of 95 minutes at full power. This should just about give you time for 2 good wreck dives. If you are like me and like to do long shallow scenic dives this run time may be a bit short. You don’t need to use full power all the time though and can easily move to mid power which will suit this type of diving. I would have liked to see a slightly longer burn time on full power though, as you do need it if you are in murky water. A new version due ofrom 2014 has a longer burn time but with no price increase
The
head of the torch is also sealed and contains an American Cree LED surrounded by
an aluminium reflector all behind a toughened ultra-clear optical lens.
The
torch itself is a lantern style and has a very comfortable rubber coated handle,
with lanyard attachment points fore and aft. It is constructed with a Type III
military grade hard-anodizing aerospace-grade aluminium body (sounds good). This
is said to resist scratching and corrosion. I will need more time to see if this
is the case but after my testing so far the unit is bearing up remarkably well.
So
this package on the face of it looks good, here is how I got on underwater.
On
land the light was very bright with a large intense hot spot surrounded by a
nice even halo. Underwater I noted as you would expect that the halo focused a
bit making the beam narrower. This was good as too wide a beam is like full beam
in the car in the fog. So at full power (because I hadn’t as yet found out
about the other settings) the torch performed very well illuminating the murky
depths of Loch Long. One thing I did note was a slight fogging of the lens. The
cold water and the intense heat from the LED must have caused this although the
torch does have inbuilt heat sinks. This cleared as soon as I left the water and
I have found no information to know if this is normal when in cold water?
It
was on my second dive of the day when I experienced a brilliant feature built
into this and I believe all of the Ferei dive torch range. After 60 minutes run
time the torch blinked. Initially I got a bit of a fright but I did remember
reading about this. When the battery level reaches around 20% the LED will blink
once every minute for the remaining 20 – 30 minutes of burn time. As LED
torches either have power to work or not this I think is a brilliant idea, once
you know about it that is!
After
the dives
I
had a good look over the torch after the dives. All trace of the lens fogging
had disappeared. After the rough treatment I had given the torch there were only
a few light scratches. What I did note was that a fine coating of rust had
formed on one of the exposed charging terminals. The worst of this was removed
with a cloth but it will require dedicated attention after every dive trip to
keep it in tip top condition.
Cost.
This
torch retails for £676 if you look it up on Amazon and you do have the option
to buy it in gold as well as black colours. Thankfully though you will not need
to pay that amount as John Hewitt of Red Hat Diving is selling this torch at
around £300. Check out John’s
website at http://www.johnhewitt.com
where you know you will be
able to buy with confidence.
Conclusion
Pros
This
torch is powerful and well made from quality products. It produces a brilliant
white light with a pleasing beam ideal for diving in UK waters.
Great
plug in charging without opening the torch.
Reasonably
fast charging 80% charge after 3 hours 100% after 5hours.
Excellent
low battery warning.
Can
be charged in a car ideal for the traveling, camping diver.
Very
comfortable to use.
Cons
I
would have liked to see a bit longer burn time to ensure 2 dives on full power.
This will only be a problem if you are in the water for more than 95 mins with
the torch on.
I
didn’t like the fogging of the lens. It’s likely just due to the heat of the
LED but I can find no information about it.
Lastly
that exposed battery terminal will corrode if not cared for.
At
time of writing an up rated version of this torch has become available with 3
LED’s in the head. This produces around 2960 Lumens and has a burn time of
over 2hrs. This all sounds good if it can do all this.
Mike Clark
Comment added by John Hewitt. Nov 2016
I am still using the original version that was tested by Mike in 2013. The factory retrofitted the later back to it to stop the problem mentioned by Mike and it is still out powering everyone elses torch 4 years later and still at the 2013 price. Grab one now, you won't be disappointed.