I had the same question about white Arc-AAA vs. turquoise, so I bought one of each.
The turquoise light puts out a *lot* more light. Like 3 times as much as a white one. But for reasons that are a mystery to me, the turquoise one also is much wider angle light than the white one. Bottom line is that neither light has much reach to it; they are only a single LED each, but the turquoise one one is the one I tend to use, and the white one is the one I tend to leave at home. You do hae some color distortion with the turquoise light, but it's not nearly as bad as red or green, and a fair trade vs, the relatively lower output of the white Arc-AAA. In fairness, no Nichia white LED can can be as bright as a turquoise one; my white 3 AAAA Stylus puts out virtually the same amount of light as my white Arc-AAA.
OTOH, the Arc-AAA is about the smallest white LED to put out as much light as it does. Some of the lights, such as the Photon, use 2 lithium coin cells, and start with 6 volts. The Arc-AAA gives out *full power* light for virtually the whole life of a 50 cent AAA battery; (five hours). The lithium powered lights grow dimmer over time, losing quite a lot of light after an hour or so. Also, those lithium batteries are expensive. If you want the most light out of an Arc-AAA, get the turquoise. If you want the most practical single white LED light on the market, get the white Arc-AAA
If you want the longest light output for your money, get a turquoise CMG. The white LED CMG Infinity is a real wimp compared to the white Arc-AAA and lithium keychain white LED mini lights; I was vastly dissapointed when I bought a white CMG Infinity. Pity they didn't go for maximum light output, like the white Arc-AAA; the CMG, with it's much higher capacity AA battery, could have put out 10 to 15 hours of light with the current control circuit that the Arc-AAA has. But it doesn't, so the Arc-AAA is unique on the market, and worth the price, since it does put out maximim light from a single , inexpensive AAA battery. If Arc decided to market a AA size, single LED light, with the output the AAA has, I'll be among the first to buy one. (Next project, Peter?) I think you could sell a lot of Arc-AA lights!
