Guys, calm down... We are all bummed that Arc went belly up, but there is no need to pay $50 for a AAA. <img src="/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

Peak Solutions sells the AAA "prototype" which is identical to the Arc AAA, except that it isn't hard anodized. I have bought two of them so far, delivery was very fast, and the lights are as good as the Arc. Not only that, but they are half the price of the AAA at $15.

http://www.peakledsolutions.net/disc.html
(scroll down the page for the prototype)

Hard to beat... I am going to pick up a couple more for christmas gifts.

Greg

Not that I know of. The whole thing was far more complicated, but as I understand it, PEAK's initial supplier was under contract to ARC and for reasons already beat to death (one-sided) in CPF, stiffed ARC while helping set-up PEAK. Worse, some of the Peak principals were directly involved ARC --> PEAK - a modern tragedy and no one has all the FACTS - it was one of the most bitter and acrimonious thrashings I've ever lurked. As noted elsewhere, still bitterness in many folks about the whole thing. If you're really curious, there's a few hours of reading over on CPF...

Coming back to the real world, ARC is out of business and PEAK is in business. If Peter ever starts this back up (something ARC-like), I'll be standing in line as a customer. There were more controversies around ARC than just this one, and a rational person would suspect at least a small bit of fire underneath all that smoke. As far as I know, the first significant problem was a real stinker - only in America - stupid-make-you-crazy litigation by a really large company against ARC - ARC lost - also debated ad nauseum on CPF. So with that taste in our mouths, many automatically viewed subsequent allegations as if ARC was a faultless underdog and therefore "the other guys" were dastardly SOBs.

What I know is that I do not know all the objective facts. Whatever they are, it is rotten that ARC is out of business - and I do not know that ARC was totally blameless. I like to assume they are, but who knows <shrug> won't bring them or their wonderful products back.

HTH,

Tom

As an engineer at heart, it always seems unnatural to me that making a good product is not enough. I've been involved in several projects which turned out very good products, and through no fault of my own or my team the product was unsuccessful. Bad marketing, bad business, bad timing, or just bad luck is enough to make a superior product unsuccessful. It's disturbing as an engineer to not have your products do well, and it's also disturbing as a consumer when you can't buy the products you want.

Ah I must have missed all that in CPF ... it's been a few weeks since I check the posts closely over there. That clears up A LOT! <img src="/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

Well I don't know about the regular ArcAAA but paid nearly $40 for my ArcAAA-P well before the company went under and I feel it was worth every penny (which is ironic since I was skeptical at first then grew to love it dearly). That being said, I would place an order right now for one of the 1.5v AAA 1 LED White Aluminum ( Prototype ) lights from Peak if they were in stock but they are not! For $14.95 it's worth it to get one and compare it side-by-side with my AAA-P. I'd be happy to post some side-by-side pics of the lights, the beams, etc once I get it in and compare it with my ArcAAA-P... that is if they are ever back in stock.

I got a arc aaa (color: uv) for $50, let me know mint condition

I also have ARC AAA (UV) that I have never used. It is like new $50 if anyone wants it.

Tom

You guys know those can easily be converted to white light right? Don't discard them just because they are UV. There are plenty of people over at CPF that can give advice on converting them.

FWIW, Peter Gransee is back with a new ARC and is taking pre-orders on a new Arc AAA.

-john

Thanks for the info John.