I am thinking of importing & selling (PCB PHOTO)

They are rated at 25 lumens, are waterproof, have a tactical push button/twist on like Surefire and are about the same size as the ARC LS.

There will be two versions:
X-11 with one 123A battery.
X-22 with two AA batteries.

The mill work is first class and the finish is amazing. I do not have much information yet on the finish itself. The body is very hard aluminum. I destroyed one by trying to use a lathe on it. I am new with lathes and had only worked with the Brinkmann LX which is a much softer aluminum.

I have a few minor concerns and details to work out with the company first. If you would like to buy one or both, please post or email me. I will back them with a "money back if you are not pleased" policy.

There will be some overhead cost, shipping, duty, returns, defectives, packaging, advertising, etc. so I will need to sell them for around $76 to make it worth while. Price may drop if I can get enough volume. But you will see that this is a great price when you consider the competition.

These guys have been making flashlights since 1975.

Here is a link that first talked about it. After examining the flashlight I am comfortable with the originality and unique design.

Link


Here is the company web site:

http://www.led-and-xenon.com/english/news.html

I now have a photo of the circuit board!!!

http://ufokillerz.home.mindspring.com/circuit-board.jpg

Re: I am thinking of importing and selling these

Hey,
I posted on the original thread, I think an affordable,quality light of this size is overdue.
Count me in!!

BGF

Re: I am thinking of importing and selling these

I'd be in for one of each at that price.

Re: I am thinking of importing and selling these

I would be intertested in one of each also.

Re: I am thinking of importing and selling these

I forgot to mention that they do come with a nice lanyard and lanyard ring.

They are also going to come packaged in a semi-hard plastic case with foam cut-outs and snap closures. This will make them very attractive as gifts.

Re: I am thinking of importing and selling these

I would check on putting scope mounts on them for use with tactical rifles. You would want to be able to get a remote operating switch for that as well.

I would check the power levels and heatsinking, too. Make sure that there are no hot spots that would risk thermal failure. Getting a lot of returns will drive down your profitability.

Re: I am thinking of importing and selling these

Do they have a lens or do they just use the optics as a lens? If they do have a lens, what is it made of? Is the lens user replaceable?

When it comes to luxeons, do they only use certain bins or even only certain tints? If yes, what bin luxeons do they use?

I might be interested but not if they don't use a lens (standard optics are soft and scratch way too easily). Also, I would only be interested if I could be guaranteed a decent luxeon. Since it costs less than an Arc Premium, I wouldn't necessarily expect to get as good a luxeon, although that would be nice. Still I definitely wouldn't want any sickly greens (tint 1) or any garish purples (tint 5).

Pat

*Edit - Do they use the stock optics? It looks like a nx-05 in the pic, but it is hard to tell.

Re: I am thinking of importing and selling these

Id be interested in 1 of each also

Re: I am thinking of importing and selling these

Pat,
Those are good questions. In fact, tint and bin are the main issues we are working on right now. I refuse to sell greenish tint. They have sent back 1800 LEDs this year for that reason. Hopefully I will have the answers to all of the questions soon.

It does use the NX-05 optic.

More information soon!

Re: I am thinking of importing and selling these

Thanks for the info, Catdaddy.

I must say that the little 123 is pretty spiffy looking.

I look forward to getting more info.

One more question, can you find out if it is voltage regulated (ala the original Arc-LS) or current regulated (ala the current Arc-LS)? Their ad copy seems to imply current regulation but ad copy isn't always strictly correct (see test results for micro puck for an example).

Thanks again,
Pat

Re: I am thinking of importing and selling these

Count me in for a 123

Re: I am thinking of importing and selling these

Very neat - Maglite want to hurry up with their rumoured LED torch before they lose out bigtime.

What struck me most about the site was their "LED Technology" page. The text is remarkably similar to an earlier version of the "Why Choose LEDs" info I carry on my site /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif although I'll admit it has been slightly rewritten (in rather bad english).

Still, "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" (Oscar Wilde). Think I can get a freebie out of them ? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Re: I am thinking of importing and selling these

Caddaddy,

I was wondering if you could post a pic of the circuit board that they use.

Given that there are only a few ways to build a flashlight body, the simple fact of a 123 powered Luxeon light is IMHO not a copy of ARC, and they might even have better mechanics.

Additionally, there are lots of ways to build a regulator circuit, and the actual circuit in the ARC is based upon a datasheet reference design.

But from the ad copy on the web page, it sure looks that they use the _exact_ same PCB as the ARC. This would strike me as a very lame stealing of someone else's work.

Not to be ornery, because I do like to see competition, but some things strike me as going a bit too far....

-Jon

Re: I am thinking of importing and selling these

I found in an Italian sport their 2 x 123 xenon torch. It recalls the old SF 6P, but the brightness, compared to SF, is disappointing. When opened, the torch reveals to be composed of over 10 mechanical parts, and the temporary cap switch is not sealed while pushed. It wasn't even cheap, at the equivalent of 60 US $. It uses a 6V 1A loose bulb.

In any case... I may want to buy one of the Luxeon type if offered on detail sale.

Anthony

An

Re: I am thinking of importing and selling these

I know some people were planning on a group buy for these a while back. Did that happen? If so, how good were the lights?

Re: I am thinking of importing and selling these

Jonathan,
do you wnat a picture looking down into the flashlight head where the positive battery goes in? The head is one piece and sealed.
Let me know.

Re: I am thinking of importing and selling these

I guess that to determine if the PCB is a clone of the ARC product, you would have to go into the sealed head to look at the PCB. From my experience with the ARC LS, you would only get useful information from the emitter side of the PCB, and as you mention this is sealed.

I for one am very curious, though at the same time I am unlikely to buy the light in either case. Just a curious bystander /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

-Jon

Re: I am thinking of importing and selling these

I have contacted the company in Spain to request a photo of the PCB.

I can certainly appreciate the concern about copying other people's work. Maglight says Arc infringed on their copyright, Arc is concerned about this flashlight, though no copyyrights have been infringed. From what I can tell, this light is as different from the Arc LS as the Arc AAA is from the Mag Solitaire.

This is the only LS flashlight I know of that uses this kind of tactical tailswitch which they manufactor. Even the Arc tailswitch is obviously the Kroll off of another company's flashlight. Both flashlights use optics that are not orginal. Nothing illigal or unethical here. Just people trying to make use of existing technology to make the best flashlight for the money. Can we fault people like MrBulk, for example, for using a Maglight or Brinkmann in his awesome creations?

Re: I am thinking of importing and selling these

Thanks for looking into this. I do wish you luck in the commercial venture.

I believe that the only possible grounds for claiming copying ARC's work are very small. Clearly the general shape of a flashlight is not IP that can be controlled; a tube with the a light on one end and a battery inside essentially defines the class /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif And as you mention the lens, LED, and switches come from other suppliers.

The only thing that this company _might_ have copied, and which they wouldn't have a right to copy, would be the _exact_ layout of the PCB. The actual _circuit_ design (which components are connected together in which way) used in the ARC comes right out of the datasheet for the chip, and the chip is _sold_ to run LEDs. This means that _any_ manufacturer can use essentially this circuit, and they would not be stealing anything from ARC because the company that makes the chip is actually supplying the circuit design. Hell, I even use this circuit in lights that I sell.

Only if they are duplicating the exact PCB that ARC developed would they be stealing anything, and it would only be that aspect of the whole package.

Of course, just my opinion....

-Jon

Re: I am thinking of importing and selling these

Catdaddy,
If you can't get any pictures of the internal circuit board, PM me, we can work out something real trick.

Vince.