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Wicked Lasers - The Torch

Author:	Jason Dumbaugh
Date:	2008.09.19
Topic:	Miscellaneous
Provider:	Wicked Lasers
Manufacturer:	Wicked Lasers

Wicked Lasers - "The Torch"

Introduction:

One of the most important things to have is a good flashlight. Today, Wicked Lasers has sent us the "brightest" flashlight in the world - The Torch. We say "brightest" in quotes because it's still being reviewed by the Guinness Book of World Records. With a whopping 100W bulb and 4100 Lumens output, Wicked Lasers claims that their Torch will burn paper, light matches, and even cook an egg. Today we plan on testing the Torch to see if it can do just that.

Wicked Lasers' Take:

Currently being reviewed by The Guinness Book of World Records, The Torch is the world's brightest and most powerful flashlight. This flashlight is easily capable of melting plastic, lighting paper on fire within seconds, and if you want, frying an egg or a marshmallow on a stick! At 4100 lumens, The Torch is 100 lumens more powerful than The Polarion Helios, the former most powerful flashlight. Looking to buy a bright flashlight? This flashlight torch will not disappoint you.
So how did we make such a powerful, bright flashlight? The Torch uses an incredible halogen light bulb rated at 100 Watts and runs on a custom built high voltage rechargeable battery. To keep the front lens from shattering due to the immense heat generated, The Torch flashlight is equipped with a specialized heat resistant glass lens and is encased in a durable, military grade aluminum case.

Specifications

Packaging:

Wicked Lasers packages their Torch Flashlight in a cardboard box. Once the box is opened, there are three boxes, along with the user's manual. The largest of the three boxes, approximately 15" long, contains the Torch (top), while the box on the left contains the charger, and the box on the right contains the battery.

Box and manual

Package contents

Everything seemed to be quite secure, and all parts arrived intact and scratchless.

A Closer Look

Battery

Head/lens

The battery is quite interesting, and seems to consist of 12x 3A NiMh batteries - 14.4V. The charger also connects to the battery in a unique fashion - there are magnetic leads that hook on. There is an option to charge at 0.9A or 1.8A. The 0.9A charge is suggested for battery packs between 1100mAh and 2100mAh. Larger batteries (over 2100mAh) should use the 1.8A charge cycle. It also uses a pulse/negative pulse charging technology, which increases the battery's cycle life. There is a temperature lead you can attach to the battery which monitors how hot the battery gets (shown in left picture).

The flashlight itself is very impressive and sleek looking, and has a nice weight to it. Since it's manufactured from aircraft grade aluminum, the user won't feel the need to be gentle with it. The lens is quite thick, and is heat resistant due to how hot the flashlight gets. The aluminum acts as a huge heatsink, and helps to cool the flashlight off nicely. There is a good grip on the light, in case your hands get sweaty from holding it.

Head

Tail cap

The head of the flashlight has a nice look to it, and proudly displays the Wicked Lasers logo. On the rear of the flashlight, we see the twist off cap that holds the battery, and the on/off button.

Charging

The Torch arrived with a fairly dead battery, so we stuck it right on the charge. There is a light on the charger that turns red when it's charging, and green when the charge is complete. The first charge took about 30 minutes to complete. After playing with our new toy for a while, the battery life only seemed to last about 1 minute. We were very concerned, since it's supposed to last approximately 15 minutes. After a second charge, our battery life increased to approximately 2:30. We noticed a trend with the recharging cycle adding to the total battery life, until we reached approximately 8 minutes. After that, the life seemed to level off and not rise above 10 minutes.

This was rather disappointing since the battery is expected to last 30 minutes. Imagine this: you get lost in the woods and have your torch flashlight with you. The best use in this scenario is to light a fire and call it a night, rather than try to find your way out with 10 minutes of battery life.

Testing

We started out testing our Torch flashlight by burning a piece of paper. The charge only took about 20-30 minutes, and we were expecting approximately an 8 minute battery life. SURELY, a flashlight couldn't set paper on fire, right?

That was quite impressive, the ball of paper was merely dust by the time The Torch was done with it, but can it light a cigarette? While we were getting ready to film one of our tests, Fernando happened to walk out with a cigarette in his hand. We told him we'd gladly light it for him...with our flashlight. Fernando graciously helped us out in the name of science.

Fernando thanked us and went on his way. After a quick re-charge, we decided to see if the Torch could melt plastic. We looked around the labs, and all we could find was our trusty iButton. You may not recall the iButton, but it was an item we attempted to review this past April. The battery life on the iButton lasted all of 30 seconds, and refused to recharge afterwards. We couldn't help but label it one of the worst products we've ever reviewed.

We were impressed at how the Torch obliterated the iButton, and decided to move on to our final test: Cooking an egg. This doesn't seem physically possible, since we're talking about reaching the boiling point of an egg. We first cracked an egg into a greased Pyrex dish, and sat it on top of the flashlight. On the Wicked Lasers website, they use a metal dish, which I'm sure conducts heat much more than our Pyrex. The Pyrex dish seemed like a more real world situation, so we decided to test it instead.

As you can see, The Torch cooked the egg, but cracked the lens! This was because no heat could escape from the lens, it was direct light the whole time. Wicked Lasers sent us 3 replacement lenses, which was very nice of them, but I wouldn't suggest the user trying it at home. It doesn't even seem like replacement lenses can be purchased on their website, though I'm sure it's possible through customer service. The lenses were very easy to replace, however. The egg was almost completely cooked when our battery died, though I would suggest stirring the egg more - we had a burn spot!

Gallery (from WickedLasers.com)

Final Thoughts and Conclusion:

With the war between Mag Light and LED flashlights, the Torch burns out all of its competition. With a 4100 lumens output and a sturdy aircraft aluminum shell, it's meant to take whatever you dish it. The lens was the only thing that DIDN'T pass our intense tests, though I can't imagine anyone buying this light to cook eggs. The only reason it DID break was from covering the lens and keeping the hot air inside. The light can be seen for from the farthest of distances, and it's bright enough to let you detail your car in pitch black. The bottom line - If you can afford to spend $300 on a flashlight, you will get your money's worth.

The Wicked Lasers Torch Flashlight can be purchased for $299.99 from WickedLasers.com.