REVIEW – Joby Gorillatorch Flexible LED Flashlight

Ever wanted to have a flashlight on hand when you are working on your car or installing new parts on your computer? It can be a pain having to dedicate one hand to holding the flashlight, so you may be interested in the added convenience of something like the Joby Gorillatorch. In effect, you get a flashlight mounted on a Gorillapod.

As you may recall, we gave away a Gorillamobile for iPhone last month and this is a very similar product from the same company. Instead of giving you a way to mount your iPhone or digital camera in a certain position, this one comes with a pre-installed LED flashlight.

As before, you get three flexible legs that can be used to wrap around just about anything. Each leg is about five inches long and is comprise of several rubberized segments. The build quality is the same with all the other Gorillapod products from Joby, so you don’t have to worry about this breaking apart. It’s much better than the $3 knockoff that I bought in Taiwan. The segments are softer and more pliable.

Aside from the obvious flashlight mounted at the top, the other major difference with the Gorillatorch compared to other Joby Gorillapod products is that this one has magnetic feet. The magnets are actually reasonably strong, as I was able to hang the Gorillatorch using just two of the feet magnetized to a couple screws in the wall.

For power, the Gorillatorch takes three AA batteries. The package comes with three alkalines, but you could just as easily swap these for your own rechargeable NiMH batteries instead. One side of the Gorillatorch screws off reasonably easily to give you access to the battery compartment.

According to the packaging, you can get anywhere from 20 hours to 80 hours of life, depending on your usage patterns. This is because the Gorillatorch allows for different levels of light. The dimmest setting is quite dim, whereas the brightest setting gives a fairly concentrated beam.

There is an evenly distributed “aura” around the main focal point at the brightest setting. I would have really liked if Joby provided a way to adjust the distribution of light. I know that there are a lot of flashlights out there with an adjustable ring that lets you do this. You can have a very narrow beam of extra bright light or you can be a wider beam to cover a larger area. Since the Gorillatorch uses a single LED light and a reflector, I’m thinking that this may or may not have been possible.

I can see how the Gorillatorch can come in very handy in the most awkward of situations. This is very versatile, since it can be secured to just about any surface. The magnetic feet are a definite plus, as is the weatherproof and shockproof design. You get up to 65 lumens of intensity.

The Joby Gorillatorch retails for $29.95 from the official website. You can probably find it at retailers that carry other products from the Gorillapod family too.

Overall Rating: 7.5/10