Cost Compairison

Hey
I was wondering. Looking at the cost, which is a better deal. The Photon 2 or an arc AAA.
By the way, where's the cheapest place to get the ARC. Can you only get it from the manufacturer.
Thanks
Dan

Ps. I live in Calgary, Canada

You can find them at this store, and of course you can also buy direct from their manufacturer but you'll pay more than buying them from their dealers.

Triple Aught Design
$19.95 Arc-AAA
$11.99 Photon II

Photon II is cheaper but I look at it this way.....

Photon II is tiny little light while Arc-AAA is slightly bigger.

Photon II may be cheaper by $6 to $7 than Arc-AAA but I get more light out of Arc-AAA than Photon II.

Arc-AAA is rated to have a 5 hour runtime and I get bright light about 95% to 100% of its 5-hour runtime before changing battery.

Photon II is rated with burntime of 12 - 14 hours but tests shows that you'll only get about 1 hour prime brightness (about as bright as Arc-AAA) and 2 hours of medium brightness (significantly dimmer than Arc-AAA) and maybe 9 hours dimmer light you can use only to illuminate your door's keyhole about 3 inches away.

You'd probably change the batteries of your Photon II after 3 hours of continous use to maintain bright lights.

Now when changing battery time comes.... $1 can buy me 2 pcs. of AAA batteries for my Arc-AAA which I can buy from the corner store, grocery, supermart...almost everywhere. That's 10 hours of bright light for $1.

With Photon II I have to pay at least $2 for 1 pc of CR2016 lithium battery and you'll need 2 pcs. of CR2016 for Photon II which most likely I'll not find everywhere. That's 3 hours of bright light for $4,... 6 hours of bright light for $8,.... or 12 hours of bright light for $16.

Almost forgot to mention how easy it is to change Arc-AAA battery by just twisting the head to open and twist again to close. Did I also mention that Arc-AAA is waterproof?

With Photon II... be ready with small screwdriver and keep in mind not to lose the tiny screws and the little plastic switch. Also be very very gentle with the bended LED or you'll end-up messing its switch or it may not light at all.

Now you can do the math and pick which of the 2 is the better deal.

- verge -

Iv`e been getting the 2016 cell`s from,
Sunnbattery .50c a piece, but they have a minimun order of ten..still a decent price though..good service too.

----Bill-------------------------------------

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by 2d_edge:
Photon II is cheaper but I look at it this way.....

Photon II is tiny little light while Arc-AAA is slightly bigger.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Break even point is around 10 hours of 'good' light or so.

And there is a main difference in beam quality:
The 'usual' Photon II has an uncovered LED and spills some light around. That means when using it in your hand it may annoy you.

On the other hand, the Arc AAA has a sharp defined 'beam', which leads to some kind of 'tunnel' vision.

It depends on your personal preference.

And the Photon's switch is a nail-breaker.
I know several people who had trouble to switch the Photon off after changing batteries.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by BK:
Iv`e been getting the 2016 cell`s from,
.50c a piece<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I got tem for ~$.40 a piece in Germany, but they are of significantly lower quality (I did not do a runtime test now) and the lights are less bright.
Don't forget that these 50-70mA are a very high load for these tiny cells.
Please give us your results with these cells and tell us the brand.

To limit us repeating ourselves, we have a thread going on this subject at "http://www.candlepowerforums.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=3&t=000840&p=". This should give you much information and it is my bet that you will find a place for an Arc-AAA. I'm not saying this with a bias for ArcFlashlights, but in my books, their Arc-AAA stand out. It's developer, Peter Gransee, can vouch for this as I'm not the most excited person of their Arc-LS (big brother to the Arc-AAA). But, Peter is the most supportive guy around in the support of his products.

In a macho kind of way, if you get a chance to physically look at the Arc-AAA & Photon 2 or 3 side by side, the Arc-AAA looks dam good and it makes you feel that someone put some thought into it's design. The Photon looks like it was just pressed out of a mold and decided to add a switch lock later.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by BK:
Iv`e been getting the 2016 cell`s from,
Sunnbattery .50c a piece, but they have a minimun order of ten..still a decent price though..good service too.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I bought 10pcs Sanyo 2016 batteries (0.50c each) from sunnbattery before and they came not sealed in individual packages for each battery but all 10 cells were placed on a plastic coin cell tray with plastic packaging tape to hold them together to prevent batteries from spilling out of the tray.

I measured voltage of each battery with my digital multimeter and got readings of (lowest) 3.02V to (highest) 3.10V from the 10 batteries.

The 2 pcs. Maxell CR2016 batteries I bought from Radio Shack (lost the receipt but pretty sure they're about $2 a piece) were individually sealed in separate packages and got readings of (lowest) 3.24V to (highest) 3.27V with my dmm.

Photon II was brighter with batteries I got from Radio Shack than with batteries from sunnbatteries.

I don't know why CR2016 batteries from sunnbatteries came not in sealed packages for each battery and why they have lower voltage reading compared to sealed package CR2016 batteries I got from another store. I guess that's why they're sold at a cheaper price.

Alkaline AAA battery is still cheaper for me because I do not have to spend more just to benefit from quantity purchase. I can also get AAA batteries cheaper than 0.50c a piece if I buy them in bulk.

That's the point I do not have to spend an initial big amount to get cheaper price for AAA batteries compared to CR2016 batteries, and AAA batteries are available everywhere.

- verge -

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by 2d_edge:
I don't know why CR2016 batteries from sunnbatteries came not in sealed packages for each battery and why they have lower voltage reading compared to sealed package CR2016 batteries I got from another store. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Reichelt sells CR2016 and BR2016 cells.

CR2016 (MnO2) cost about $ 0.41 a piece and
BR2016 should have a more constant voltage (sorry no chemistry mentioned) $0.6 a piece.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by PeLu:

CR2016 (MnO2) cost about $ 0.41 a piece and
BR2016 should have a more constant voltage (sorry no chemistry mentioned) $0.6 a piece.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

FYI- those BR2016 (Li-Polycarbonmonofluoride) cells are listed in my old Rad.Shack battery book-they list the mAh as being about 15% higher. Unfortunately they don't sell 'em anymore. Anybody know where we could get these stateside?

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by videocal:
FYI- those BR2016 (Li-Polycarbonmonofluoride) cells are listed in my old Rad.Shack battery book-they list the mAh as being about 15% higher.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks. But they say that the CR type is better for higher currents. Have you tested the BR?

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by PeLu:
Thanks. But they say that the CR type is better for higher currents. Have you tested the BR?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Haven't used any of those since '93-, but then I didn't have a Photon to try 'em in...
The included load graphs do seem to, as you said-show lower load curves than the CR series..

p.s.-I still say somebody should come out with a Photon-like light with 2- 2025 or 2032 cell power, IMO, the added thickness shouldn't be any problem, as tiny as these light are..