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Which is better Square or Round? Well of course both are wrong. The ideal
housing would be spherical. And guess what? It has been done.

Back in the late 70s I had eight torches made by Spirotechnique in my dive
centre in Cyprus. The torches contained 4 D cells and were ball shaped.
Imaginatively, they were called the Spiro Ball Torch. They were about as
convenient to carry around as a bowling ball. They also used to lock up so
that you needed to use a mallet and drift to unscrew the front after a dive.

They had a magnetic reed switch which had a few divers navigating in ever
decreasing circles on night dives when they held them to close to their
compasses.

In spite of the fact that they had such a superb design concept they also
regularly flooded in less than ten metres. We would tip the water out of
them and flush with fresh water then maybe local zevanier which is an
illegal alcohol made from grape skins. I didn't have an ultrasound cleaner
back then but used to stick the zevanier filled ball torch in the spare
wheel on the bonnet of a Land Rover on tickover for a while which is just as
good. (For severe cleaning cases, leave it there during a bit of off-road work.)

So basically they were crap. They don't make them anymore.



Mark Caney
Scubex, Cyprus

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