ArcLs vs all others

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New user here, But have been reading for about 7 months. My question is could it true? Is the Arc LS really going to Brighter and more usable than the NightBuster8x. I just recieved my NightBuster and I am really impressed with it. I have sheathed the Sure Fire 6p(to expensive and fragile to use everyday). I do see that the 8x loses brightnes after about a hour, but I am at about 12-13 hours on the same set of bats and still getting usable light. Also is it normal for the 8x to flicker every now and then. Is the Arc LS going to be about the size of a minimag? I just dont know if I should return the 8x and wait for the LS. All suggestions welcome. I just cant believe that the single Luxeon LS that I am holding is going to be as bright as 8 Nchia White leds. Thanks
 
i dont have an 8x but the screenshots users have posted show the arcls being brighter. i think the arcls is roughly the size of a mini mag because i think someone said the holster fits the ls. im sure after the arcls comes out there will be many other companies following with luxeon star flashlights. i think the arc with 2aa runs around 5 hours, thats perfect for me. if I want a backup light i would bring along a 1-3 led nichia light with good run time.
 
The 6P is to "fragile"?? How's that?

I just think you don't wanna ding it all up. :)
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Dug up some pictures that were in another post.

Here's a comparison of the Arc LS in it's brightest configuration against other LED lights.
lscomp.jpg


The brightest LED light there (other than the ARC LS) is the Expedition 1400 which has 14 LEDs overdriven. As you can see it is slightly brighter than the LS but when you consider size, then the ARC LS is the winner. But when you compare RUN TIME the Expedition 1400 would be the definate winner becuase it uses 3C cell batteries.

It's kinda like comparing a surefire E2 with a 4D maglight. The mag would outrun the E2 because it uses D cell batteries, but the E2 would beat the mag in brightness.

Your 8x is probably more comparible to the Trek 7 that is in that picture, so observe that. The ARC LS in the 2AA configuration probably won't be able to to reach 12 hours of burn time like your 8x would. But then again...what would be more comfortable to carry around in your pocket?

**edited**
Ahhh...here's a pic off of Craig's site. Your Nightbuster 8x is compared with the ARC LS here.
compare1.jpg


**edited again**

want size comparisons to familiar lights? here you go...
lssize.jpg
 
Woah! Look at the size of the 1400's beam! Anyone have beam shots comparing the 7 LED, 14 LED and the 19 LED beam shots? Thanks.

Doug
 
Thanks for the info, my stomach is in knots right now. My wife is getting tired of all the new(expensive) lights on the top of my dresser. I still don't know what to do.
A few more questions. Will the LS put out a good deal of area light as well as the great beam? Is the Lith AA's the recomended AA's? Is 5 hours the run time on Liths AA's?
Also for the question about the SF being fragile. Drop it coming out of your belt one time and see. I just dont trust it in a real pinch.(But I am not getting rid of either)
Thanks to all I am Glad I found this site.
 
You know, what I do is force myself to decide which ones are the keepers and send all the others back for a full refund. It helps if you get mad as hell at the company over nothing when you do this. Then buy more lights.

And if the keepers pile gets too high I start to give them away so that one day I will probably get to play with it again. This has been going on for a year now and I have only had to give away 4 or 5 lights thus far although I can see a few more will need to go out as Christmas gifts. This means flashlights everywhere I go.

I have also learned from the beginning to lie about the prices paid- that really helps. For example my Light Cannon was on sale for $25! A brand new Stadium III only costs $49! Amazing. (I am getting them ready for that one ahead of time. )

And you know as long as it's consistent sounding nonflashahilics don't really know what's going on. Especially when you give them one saying boy what a discount they had on it.

My girlfriend has a nice DB 6AA with a diffuser lens, she seems to love it although she always asks me what's a diffuser again; my Dad has a brand new DB37-LED and not the vaguest idea what he's got; my Mom has a Trek 19, she doesn't know how to turn it on yet although she knows it has a light emitting doohicky in it; and some guy in Salvation Army has a really nice 10watt BLT dual bike light although I kept the 15 watt bulb for my parts box. He doesn't have a bike yet but what the hey.

So just to look at me any given time you'd never guess my real passion! Hide those receipts, people.

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<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Doug:
Woah! Look at the size of the 1400's beam! Anyone have beam shots comparing the 7 LED, 14 LED and the 19 LED beam shots? Thanks.

Doug
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I think I can take this one.
I'll set up and get a picture up here as soon as possible.
 
Well, looks like I was wrong.
I don't have the right camera or enough room to get all three of the wider than usual beams in the same picture.

Brock?
Chris?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by ledlight:
Is the Lith AA's the recomended AA's? Is 5 hours the run time on Liths AA's?
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

These pictures are straight off of Stingmon's review of the ARC LS...
hey sting i hope you don't mind - you just do such GREAT reviews!
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As you can see the Lithium AAs run about 12+ hours, but i don't know how bright it is at that point.

Also, the great thing about the ARC LS is that it is VERY flexible in battery types. You can use 1AA, 2AA, or 1-123 battery. So there really isn't a recommended battery. But for brightness and longevity, I would recommend using them. Don't trade off your SF just yet, the dead batteries from the Surefire can be used in the ARC LS if you get the optional battery module.

...I hope this helped
 
(going and getting camera) OK wow Craig your right all three side by side is really wide. But I got it. The 1900 appears less blue, more white and has a slightly larger pool of light then the 1400.

tektite.jpg
 
I wonder what the Arc LS looks like compared with the 3 at the same distance. I'm sure it won't be too far off in light intensity. Darn amazing though how bright they are!!!
 
ledlight,

The INOVA 5X is half the size of the Nightbuster, just as bright initially, and after an hour or so, outpowers and out lasts it. Here's my mini reviews of some lights:

COMPARISON: INOVA X5, LEDDA, ATTITUDE, LW2000
Comparison: Inova X5, Ledda, Attitude, LW2000

FIVE BRIEF REVIEWS

In order of perceived brightness:
1) Inova X5
2) Nightbuster Ledda
3) Princeton Tec Attitude
4) LightWave 2000

*INOVA X5

SIZE: 4 5/8" x ¾",
WEIGHT: 3oz (with batteries)
LED'S: 5 (white)
POWER: 2 x 123
CONSTRUCTION: metal (aluminum?)
WATERPROOF? - YES
COLOR: Black or "aluminum"
PRO: Very bright and small
CON: Less peripheral beam spread than some other lights

Easily pocketable, waterproof, sleek and very sturdily built with a futuristic appearance. (See Kogatana – 10/19/01) Available in black or "aluminum" color. Definitely The brightest LED light for its size that I've tried. Gets very warm to the touch, but maintains excellent brightness for 4-5 hours. After 4 hours of steady burning it was still as bright as the Attitude or the LW 2000 with fresh batteries. It can easily be operated with one hand, and is the light I always carry on my belt, in preference to all other
LED's (until the LS comes out). (Note that the beam pattern has somewhat less peripheral spread than some other lights)


NIGHTBUSTER LEDDA

SIZE: 7 5/8" x 11/16 (barrel), 1" (bezel)
WEIGHT: 4.9oz (with batteries)
LEDS: 4 (white)
POWER: 2 x AA
CONSTRUCTION: Metal
WATERPROOF? – "WATER RESISTANT"
COLOR: Black
PRO: Very bright
CON: Awkward size/shape

Probably the brightest and physically the longest 3AA light. Finely and apparently strongly built (though mine had an intermittent on/off problem that I partly solved by crimping and raising the positive terminal of the battery in contact with the LED board). The LEDs appear to be permanently attached to the head. This light is just about as bright as the Inova 5X at first, but becomes dimmer within approximately ½ hr. At the end of 4 hours it is still noticeably dimmer than the Inova. The light is impressive, but I have found it unwieldly for everyday carry, and I much prefer the Inova.

*PRINCETON TEC ATTITUDE

SIZE: 4 ¾" x 1" (Bezel and body width) x ½" (Body "thickness&#8221
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WEIGHT: 2.5oz (with batteries)
LEDS: 3 (white)
POWER: 4 x AAA
CONSTRUCTION: Plastic
WATERPROOF? - YES
COLOR: Translucent black, etc.
PRO: Bright and small
CON: Light spill-back through translucent head


The attitude is probably the best and brightest small all round everyday carry alkaline-driven light. I would be wearing it on my belt right now if there were no Inova 5X. It's at least as bright as the LW 2000 (though it won't burn bright as long) and it is very light. There is one design flaw: The translucent body permits annoying light spill-back where the body flares to meet the bezel. This can be cured by wrapping it with black plastic tape. Princeton Tec really needs to attend to this issue. If you also happen to have a Princeton Tec Rage, another solution is to transfer the Attitude's LED assembly into the Rage which is physically identical but is solid black.

LIGHTWAVE 2000:

SIZE: 7 1/4" x 1 1/4" (Head) x 7/8" (barrel)
WEIGHT: 4.5 oz. (With Batteries)
LEDS: 4 (white)
POWER: 3 x AA
CONSTRUCTION: Plastic
WATERPROOF? - YES
COLOR: Black
PRO: Quite bright, acceptable body size/shape
CON: Not an everyday carry light.

A decent, reasonably priced basic light, with brightness approximately equal to the Attitude, though the LW2000 is considerably larger and heavier. Some folks turn up their noses at this light for its non-exotic build and its heavy and sometimes misleading promotion to the general public. In fact this is a good light, and brighter than much of its competition, including the Eternalights.

These five, brief subjective revues are not intended to be definitive, but rather are my own impressions of lights that I own. For "real" revues turn to Stingmon, Brock and others who have firmly established
and earned their credentials.

* signifies a "favorite" light

Best regards,
Brightnorm
 
BN-I don't have the X5 or the Attitude, but local flashlightnut friends of mine do.
We compared those lights and concluded almost the same thing you did...
Exception: I cheated and didn't tell them that I was running
4-2/3AA NiMHs in my Lightwave 2000.-(it came in 3rd)
One of these days I'll tell those guys what I did..
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p.s.-I'm also anticipating Chris M's review of the new little 6-LED Aitec 3-"N" pocket light that he ordered, -especially in the power/size/cost LED category.
 
If you look up above one of the other shots I took has the 1400 in it. The LS is very close to the 1400, but a tighter beam making the LS a bit brighter.
 
Wow, thanks Brock
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!

Ahh... not what to do? Anyone have a beam shot of the 10x yet
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? The 1900 looks good though!

Doug

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Brock:
(going and getting camera) OK wow Craig your right all three side by side is really wide. But I got it. The 1900 appears less blue, more white and has a slightly larger pool of light then the 1400.

tektite.jpg
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
 
Got any shots side by side with a Lightwave 4000 and Lightwave 3000? Last I remember that a side by side shot with the Arc-LS and the LW4000, showed the LW4000 to be brighter and larger (like the Trek 1400)...
 
p.s.-I'm also anticipating Chris M's review of the new little 6-LED Aitec 3-"N" pocket light that he ordered, -especially in the power/size/cost LED category.

So am I! Lifestyle Fascination (who I ordered it from) havn`t written to me yet to confirm the shipping costs like they did with the Sauce LightWasher. I`d better go chase that one up, maybe they already shipped it and just forgot to tell me how much it cost. They better have not sent it by $60 International 2-day FedEx or whatever.

I`d also help out a bit with some beam shots (got the Arc-LS, LW4000, Tektite 300 and 1900 but no 1400 yet) except the camera`s gone **** up again. Also open wall/celing space is a bit scarce here especially right now as there`s more xmas lights hung up in here than Craig has in his front window! They`re not plugged in and many don`t have bulbs in yet- they`re just hung up to get the kinks and knots out before I put them up in a week or two.


But if the camera springs to life later on I`ll see what I can do. They are very wide beams aren`t they!


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<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Brock:
I would take the shots for you, but I don't have the LW3000 or LW4000 so I can't sorry...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

YOU of all people don't have a LW3000 or LW4000 yet?!?
Cripes... what is this world coming to?
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Maybe I can send you both of mine when I finish up with the initial test set.
 
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