Arc AAA

Anybody know where I can get an Arc AAA? --a secret source, a hidden supply, an unopened "spare" that you bought just in case?

Thanks,
Hutch4545

(I'm not holding my breath) <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Campmoor has the AA, not sure about the AAA. You could call or email CountyComm. They had AAA's at one time. They aren't on their webb site anymore, but would be worth a call incase they had too few to advertise or a couple left in the retail store.I'm kicking myself for only getting 1 when I did.

I struck out on both. Thanks for the info.

Keep 'em coming.

Thanks,
Hutch4545

They're selling on eBay for at least $50.

Hi
Apparently http://www.peakledsolutions.com/ were the makers of the parts for Arc flashlights.
I got this info from outdoorsupplies.com - http://66.147.225.206/ who are the european suppliers. I know they also deal within the US. Give them a try (email first) if you want.
On the same subject, has anyone dealt with Peak Led solutions before or tested thier products?
Cheers

EDIT
"Fools rush in..." A quick search of this forum for "Peak Led" (sans quote) resulted in hits from Paulr and Groo. I suggest you read thier posts,,

Try the "for sale" boards at www.candlepowerforums.com

My understanding is that the Arc company is no more, or at least is not making the lights any more.

CountyComm reported on CPF that they have no Arc AAA's to sell. They did a recent inventory, so I'd call that final.

When prompted about making an Arc AAA clone, they demurred. Basically, they say that their government market is mainly focused on AA's for minilights and so wouldn't be interested.

IIRC, they still have the CMG Infinity Ultra in type III hard anodizing, so that's a decent competitor if you can't find an Arc. They also have keychain lights with slide switches in packs of 20, for a dollar per light.

I personally carry the Infinitiy Ultra-- it's big compared to the Arc, but fine for me. It's nice and bright, and in an emergency can be used to anchor small ships. <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Best bet is Ebay. Second choice would be CPF. Good luck they are disappearing fast! The good news is that Peak make "almost" as good of a light and in time there will be better lights on the market anyway. Arc may be gone but they blazed a trail that many are sure to follow.

I've bought stuff off of a seller on ebay named surefireparts. John is a good guy to deal with.

I bought a Arc AAA from him a few weeks ago. Haven't opened it yet. Don't know if I want to yet. My EDC Arc is doing well for now.

Hmmm. My EDC is an ARC AAA-P and I have an unopened last-generation AAA-P stashed. I use the EDC several times a day - usually just 10 - 20 seconds at a time. I also still EDC Photon IIs...

But at this point - ARC out of business - as others have suggested - try out Peak LED offerings. The new "snow" LED color looks particularly interesting, although it appears to me that the head is a tiny bit larger diameter than the body. The ARC AAAs are now collector items, but the Peaks are in production - just tools, not collector's items.

I wouldn't touch a Peak while Peter was in business, but now I will - I'm ordering some for Christmas gifts this year. They seem to be a decent company after all is said and done - even loyal ARC fans are buying Peak stuff.

And - read the output vs LED life info on the Peak page. This was not "news" - the ARC AAA does overdrive the LED - hard. It's a fact that the useful life of the white LED in an ARC AAA is in the range of several hundred to a thousand hours (probably noticable diminishing of output as early as 300 hours). Peak has some very valid points on the topic. They could just as easily drive theirs as hard as ARC did and they explain simply enough why they do not without slamming any competitors. Design decision. The custom shop will give you the higher output if you really want it.

I'm a fanatic about my EDC ARC but I know it will diminish noticably as I continue to use it <shrug>. I'm not knocking Peter's product and from MY customer point-of-view, ARC (and Peter personally) set a heck of a high bar for other companies to reach for. But alas - ARC is no more, so that customer service is gone.

OTOH, if you just want an ARC - mine aren't for sale - go the eBay route. Not much else to say...

Tom

I've been taking a new interest in this subject lately- which, of course, doesn't imply any expertise.

IMHO, while I respect Peak's decision (and the reasons behind it), I think the priorities may be misplaced, and I think many may end up regretting the "feeding frenzy" going on with ARCs right now.

Like most electronics, LEDs and the flashlights that use them are improving at a rapid pace now. It's very possible that trying to preserve the LED past thousands of hours will seem pretty silly in retrospect, when the new ones are twice as bright, for the same battery life, for half the price.

After decades of neglect as a cheap throw-away item with no profit margin, flashlights have caught the imagination of both engineers and consumers now, and I expect the rate of change will shortly be approaching Moore's law. As with other things (computers, consumer electronics) that are changing at that rate, I'd advise buying exactly what you need, exactly when you need it, and not trying to anticipate needs more than a year or so into the future. As much as one might regret the loss of a good company like ARC, better products are probably right around the corner.

Advances in flashlight technology will be nothing like Moore's law. The limits on computer speed and capacity are unknown, so computers will continue to grow exponentially for awhile yet. However- there is a limit to how well a flashlight can do- 100% efficiency. That's the only number that really matters: how much light can you get out of a limited battery.

A lot of things are currently limited by our current level of battery-related technology. Cell phones, Laptops... the list goes on.

I was under the impression that Peak had been supplying parts for Arc. <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

There's a review of the Peak LED Solutions AAA in Outdoor-Magazine.com.

Peak LED Solutions site:
http://www.peakledsolutions.net/index.html

Outdoor-magazine.com article:
http://outdoors-magazine.com/s_article.php?id_article=169

Bear

Well, there are several possible responses to that...

There is certainly a theoretical limit to efficiency in converting electricity to light.

I'm not at all sure that means that any current technology is anywhere near it's limit. We're going to see some pretty impressive advances in LEDs, cells, controlling circuitry etc. for a long time to come... and, I think, with increasing rapidity.

If you mean whether the technical advance is theoretically unbounded, well, maybe not... but I remember reading the indisputable (at the time) mathematical demonstration that the cube-square law prevented there from being anything like a "ray gun", as the heat generated at the source would destroy any such device long before the heat generated at the target was effective. No matter how efficient your reflectors, etc, you hit the beam-spread limitations much faster than the limitations of your materials.

That was before the laser... then we just threw out all that theory, and acted like we never thought that, just like we always do when a theoretical limit is transcended.

PL:

Certainly there will be astonishing advances in flashlight technology and I look forward to it. My point is that it can be nothing like the exponential growth in performance that computers have been enjoying for the last 50 years. Moore's law states that the speed and memory capacity of computers doubles approximately every 18 months, while the size and cost go down, and this is still holding true. My cell phone has millions of times the computation power of ENIAC, which filled a room. Comparing flashlight progress to this is ridiculous.

Hmmmmm...I'm not sure if it is kosher for me to say this on the board, but I have an extra Arc AAA that I would be willing to let go. My email is
pauldavidson@lycos.com
It is one of the last ones they made and has a Sept. inspection sticker on it.

I've been tempted by the Peak Solutions lights, but still hold a little bitterness over the way they started and what they did to Mr. Gransee.

Paul,

Email sent. Again, hoping that this is kosher with the management.

What did they do????

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.

I pre ordered a AAA Premium, it should ship later this week.
Gotta love the Arcs!

How do they compare with the Photon Freedom microlight? Or Doug's variation ?

First thing to consider is that most of us have experience only with the old Arc design. However, Tthe new design is supposed simply be an incremental improvement over the old one, so it seems reasonable that we can make comparisons based on past experience.

Second thing to consider is that the previous Arc went under and the new Arc has not shipped any production units yet (AFAIK). The usual buyer beware applies. I hope Peter isn't charging people's credit card until product ships, but I don't know.

In any case, I feel the Arc AAA is much better light than the Photon (and other button cell LED lights) in many ways.

The biggest difference is the approach. The Arc is regulated and uses a power source with much more engergy capacity. The result is the Arc runs at pretty constaint output levels where the Photon starts off strong and then drops off fairly significantly. To really see how signficaint this is, check out the runtime graphs in the posts linked below.

The Arc is also much more sturdy than any of the coin cell lights. It's waterproof and pretty much bomb proof.

The AAA battery format is more easily available and more likely to be cross-compatible with something else in your kit.

You can use alkaline, lithium or rechargable batteries in the Arc and it is very easy to change the battery.

The screw down design of the Arc makes it nearly impossible for accidental activation.

All in all, the Arc AAA is suprisingly small, and a very serious tool and a good alternative to the Gerber Infinity Ultra when you really need something small and lightweight. Run it with the new lithium AAA batteries for even better weight, runtime, shelf life and tempature tolerance.

The other side of course is the Photon is so light as to almost not be there.

In general, if you have space in your kit, the Infinity Ultra can be a better alternative because it uses an even better power source and is cheaper. The new Ultra probably isn't built quite as well as the Arc, but it is still quite rugged.

Here are some posts from CPF:

New Photon Freedom vs New Arc AAA Rev4 Premium

Photon 3 runtime plot by Craig (The LED Museum from this post.

Infinity Ultra G (same as Infinity Ultra) runtime plot by Roy:

This_is_Nascar's comparison lithium vs alkaline showing the benefits of lithium batteries.

This_is_Nascar's runtime plot, new Arc vs old Arc from Re: Arc-AAA beta test and general topics - Part 2 thread.

This_is_Nascar's New Arc lithium vs alkaline from same thread.

-john

Keep in mind the Arc AAA is twice the price....

For our purposes, the Arc AAA has the following advantages:

• It's metal, not plastic.
• It's water proof (to 100ft) not water resistant.
• Uses AAA batteries (easier to find, replace)
• "Built like a tank". An Arc AAA can withstand abuse that will break a Photon. Try running over a Photon with you car... :-)

The Arc has always had a recessed LED to prevent the annoying side emission Doug's model is designed to prevent. The Arc lacks the different flashing modes and brightness controls. The Arc is switched on by twisting the head, not pressing a button.

Doug's model is a great compromise for the price. Like anything else, the more you pay (to a point) the more you get.

It basically comes down to: There is no perfect mini-flashlight yet, there is always a tradeoff. You just have to decide what you want more in your light and if it is worth it to spend that much or go with something that is maybe half the price, but 90% as effective. There are plenty of people over at CPF that will make you a completely custom flashlight anyway you want it, but is it worth it to pay, say, $300 for a tiny flashlight. That is up to you. <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />