The JOBY gorillatorch is awesome
One of the folks representing JOBY dropped me a line out of the blue to big up the GorillaTorch, a light emitting cousin of the GorillaPod, and I couldn’t resist taking a look, if only to use it as an excuse to get my hands upon the legendary GorillaPod itself.
Much to my surprise, however, the GorillaTorch is awesome, really, really awesome. It’s clearly a product from a distinguished family of awesome and is, in fact, so awesome that I couldn’t even wait for the long weekend to bash out a review.
So, why is the GorillaTorch so awesome? Well, imagine the versitility and flexibility of a GorillaPod with a compact and ridiculously bright torch attached to the end instead of a camera. This is exactly what the GorillaTorch is, an absurdly simple use of the GorillaPod gripping mechanism which makes it, without a doubt, hands down the best torch I’ve ever laid my hands upon.
Of course, I haven’t reviewed many… or any torches for that matter, but I’ve got a power-cut Maglite knocking around the house, and have used many compact traditional and LED torches in my time. The truth is that none are so elegantly useful and full featured as the GorillaTorch. This wonder somehow produces a blindingly bright light from an LED smaller than a small sequin, 65 lumens in fact, which in itself is impressive. But if that intensity is too much for you, you can use the rotating power switch to reduce the brightness of the torch to a comfortable, workable level.
If the brilliant amount of light it can produce isn’t justification enough, the GorillaTorch can anchor onto pretty much any surface. You can wrap it around pipes, branches, your arm, mount it upon your shoulder, wrap it around the handlebars of your bike and more… and all this can be done without taking into account the powerful magnets in each of its three rubber feat. Employ the magnets and you can anchor it to smooth, metal surfaces such as your fridge, car or other appliances, the underside of a metal sink, and even the metal parts of a light fixture… a great way to replace your useless lights with a bright torch in the event of a power cut.
The magnets in the JOBY GorillaTorch should not be underestimated. They’re enough to affix it securely to an upside-down, suspended surface, and I was even mad enough to try hanging a carrier bag of junk, weighing it at 765grams, to the GorrillaTorch which I had clamped to my light fixture. It stayed put. That’s nearly a kilogram of additional weight.
Suffice to say, there’s really no way I can fully stress the purebred awesomeness of this torch. Whether wrapped around a loft rafter, anchored onto pipes, attached to the wheel arch of your car, or placed in any other creative situation, it eliminates the need of a third party to hold and aim your light source and allows you to work safely, and with a sufficient but not too intense level of light in a variety of situations. It’s truly a brilliant invention and if I could be bothered to knock up a Gadgetoid “Really Rather Good” award for it, I surely would!
It’s currently available for £16.99 at Play.com, which is pretty expensive for such a small torch but a hell of a lot better than the alleged and painful £29.99 RRP. Believe me, this is the handiest torch you will ever buy.