Peak McKinley....HA or Stainless

I'm thinking of buying the Peak McKinley CR123. I can't decide between the HA or stainless. I like the looks of both but I know in time the HA will wear off on the edges. The only problem I see with the stainless is no knurling. Looks like being able to hold on to it could be a problem. Anyone own one or both that could comment?

I have a stainless, brass and a HA. I carried the HA one day with a pocket knife and saw wear on the finish. (My ARC HA III never did)

The stainless is a nice finish, but is hard to hold, I have dropped it more than any other light.

I like the Brass lights the best.

I have an HA and a Brass one. I EDC the HA In my pocket on a chain. The Brass one is a 3 LED Standard power that I use to navigate around the house at night. I prefer the HA Because the Brass and I believe the Stainless also are much heavier, The HA seems to stand up to being carried with my knife pretty well.

I have brass McKinleys and stainless steel McKinleys. Yes, they're both heavier than the HA, but I like them alot. No worries that the SS is knurl-less - you can hold onto it just fine. It's too small to actually NEED knurling anyway. But, as much as the SS is really cool, I still like the look of the brass ones better. The big advantage to the SS is that it doesn't require any sort of polishing. It always looks great. Wouldn't trade any of my Peak lights - love 'em all. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I prefer my HA McKinley over my brass one for pocket carry. The brass is significantly heavier, and the HA is light and comfortable. Actually, come to think of it right now, I have a brass white 7 LED McKinley head on the HA body from my blue LED Mckinley. Looks cool and is a nice compromise.

I haven't seen any of the stainless lights in person but Xeper's pics of his stainless Kilimanjaro really makes me want either a stainless Kilimanjaro or a stainless McKinley.

Edit - Here's that link with Xeper's pics if you haven't seen it already.

I prefer the stainless McKinley because it looks cool and I don't have to worry about anodizing wearing off in places.

I have a brass 1AAA prototype, same body as an Arc AAA except brass. It looks great and weighs a ton. I never carry it.

I like the look of the stainless steel even better, at least in the pictures. But if I buy one (probably the AA), it would be mainly just for the looks, and it would sit on the shelf most of the time.

For actual carrying and use, HA is the only option that makes any sense, in my opinion, because the others are just too heavy. I used to lobby Arc for an Arc AAA in sterling silver but now that I have the brass Peak, I know that using anything but aluminum really makes the light less practical. My favorite EDC lights (other than the Arc AAA) are actually made of plastic.

I just ordered the stainless. There web sight said out of stock when I tried putting one in the shopping basket so i called to see how long and he said he would take my order over the phone and one would ship in less than a week. I also was told when the 1 watts are out the head will fit this light.