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


Edited by AyersTG (10/26/04 04:50 AM)