got my ls arc seconds today(sat march 30 2002) first impresions

[bwcaw]

Yes thank you peter for offering these arc ls kits at such a reasonable price.

I can hardly wait to get mine, but it says my order is on hold,any idea when it might ship?
Not to seem over anxious, but it is really hard holding my breath for that long.

And I get heart palpitations every time i think about getting it! Please make some more of these soon!

 

[Sean]

Well my scheduled delivery date changed from today to tomorrow!

I hate UPS!

Can you tell I'm anxious??

 

[mahoney]

My LS second kit arrived today. Serial# 113, old style optics. The 2AA pack and lower part of the head are a dark grey color with a few random small dings through to the aluminium. The front ring on the head, the 1AA pack and the 123 pack are a much lighter grey. The color combo looks OK though. The beam, yellowish white, is slightly off center, but no more than the beam of any other average flashlights is.

In a head to head test, 2 fresh AA alkalines each, against a 2AA Mini-Mag equipped with a Max-star lamp, the Mini-Mag won by a hair, mostly in the "can focus down to a spot and still be usefull on an object over 50' away" catagory. The test was repeated with batteries drained to 1.2V and the results were impressive. The Mini-Mag was dim and barely useable at any distance. The ARC, while noticably dimmer, was still very bright, maybe 70% of what it was with the fresh cells. I even left the 1.2V cells in the LS as it is still more than bright enough to work by.

The ARC LS is brighter than any of my Mini-Mag mods including the one using a luxeon. Ignoring the power regulation and beam quality issues, I suppose you could say that I've spent a bunch of money to finally get a flashlight that is about as bright as the $15 Mini-Mag/NexStar flashlight that was my EDC, but I'm happy and my curiosity is sufficiently satisfied that I can wait for the ARC LS first that has been on back-order for such a long while.

 

[Chris M.]

Mine showed up today too- cerial #114. Yay! I can easilly tell it`s a Second, but it sure is nice, and I can now finally retire my proto too, probably to a quiet life in a display case somewhere but as Craig says, it`d be cruel to keep it forever loked away so it`ll have some day-trips now and then.

The "firsts" must be wonderful!


Full photoshoot and details in the next day or two hopefully. Sorry to just tease this á la Aragorn, but I`m having nightmares with the pc tonight, fingers crossed it`s OK tomorrow. It comes and goes, restarting or not. It`s wierd....

I can`t wait for the new system to arrive.

 

[Sean]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by The LED Museum:
The "second" has a wider and slightly dimmer beam overall, but it's still very impressive, and the beam is of decent quality overall.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

What optic collimator did yours come with? The "narrow" or "wide" one?

 

[bwcaw]

Thanks mahoney, I would compare my minimag to a arc ls but i don't have an arc ls (hope to by next week)Thanks again for the beam comparison.

 

[napalm-2002]

i finally got mine!
damn ups to hell.anyhow
i love it.i think i will use the 2 aa batt pack the most but i will also use the 123 to kill my 123's.
thank you gransee.

 

[The_LED_Museum]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Sean:
What optic collimator did yours come with? The "narrow" or "wide" one?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

It's the old style, with the raised button in the center. Same as the one in my prototype Arc-LS. I haven't seen a LS LED in white with the new optics yet, so I cannot tell you how it affects the beam.

 

[Sean]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by The LED Museum:
It's the old style, with the raised button in the center. Same as the one in my prototype Arc-LS. I haven't seen a LS LED in white with the new optics yet, so I cannot tell you how it affects the beam.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Do you have one of these "new" narrow collimators, maybe from a colored LS? Just to pop-in to the white LS w/O you have to see what difference they make?

 

[The_LED_Museum]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Sean:
Do you have one of these "new" narrow collimators, maybe from a colored LS? Just to pop-in to the white LS w/O you have to see what difference they make?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I don't have one right now. I only had 1 to begin with, and broke it while making a mod.

You'll have to find somebody else to make this comparison.

 

[Sean]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by The LED Museum:
I don't have one right now. I only had 1 to begin with, and broke it while making a mod.

You'll have to find somebody else to make this comparison.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I was wondering because I was going to send you one. I though I had some extra's but I sold them.

 

[Ron]

I got my white LS second today. (Actually got it last Thursday, UPS messed up and I was gone on vacation.) Visited a couple of caves in MO. My little LE had a nice beam in there, whish I would have had the LS to try out. Even though it is a second it is great! Not even sure why it is a second except for the fact that the anodizing does not match. The only problem for me is that it makes me want more.

Since the optics are flat across the top I think it might be the new one. My older white LS leds at home had different looking optics.

Ron

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I got my "second" on Friday. Why does UPS always seem to deliver on Friday? I have to wait two days before I can gloat at work! The head says "First Run #098" and has the old optics.

I guess the mismatched anodizing and (very small) surface scratches on the power packs is what made this one a second, but what a light!

I have to laugh whenever people turn it on while looking into the business end. You get a good chance to see what their reaction time is!

All I need now is some silicone grease for the other power packs. Will lithium grease work with the o-rings?

 

[bwcaw]

Yay! I got my arc ls second today! It has the new optics and the only thing i can see
that would make it a second is maybie the anodizing.All the parts are a different color
but the beam is exellent!It is a nice incandecent white with absolutely no spots or
rings, no pea green spots at all! The beam is right on center and it is really bright!
Thank you Peter for making these first quality seconds available to us poor addicts!

 

[Darell]

Wuss-man -

Sounds like you got the one that *I* want. Have fun with it. Take your time. Burn through a set of batteries. Then, when you get bored with it, please send it along to the next guy in line.


ME.

- Darell

 

[JonSidneyB]

I got my arc-ls second. I cant find a thing wrong with it. The firsts must be really good.

 

[hotfoot]

This is an echo from my post in the Arc-LS topic:

Aragorn told me there're 2 types of seconds - the incandescent-tints and the violet-tints. All else being equal, it seems the violet-tints are 3x brighter! And the violet tint is _supposed_ to be one of the *causes* of some ArcLSs being relegated as factory seconds. Wow - I'll buy these seconds in a snap!
If this is so, can anyone else verify?

Peter, some of us here actually *WANT* the slightly violet tint (like Aragorn and myself) - particularly since they're so much brighter. Any chance of sorting them on this basis and making it a clear option for the buyer in future (even for factory firsts)?

Or has Lumileds already (and finally) come up with a way to consistently produce predictably max-bright and clean-white Luxeons?

It would be funny for someone who bought an incandescent 1st to 'lose out' in brightness to another who happened to have a violet 2nd at half price!

 

[bwcaw]

Yeah, hotfoot that is a good idea. I wish that you could have a choice about what kind
of a second you were buying.Peter, could you classify them by tint,and color? And Darell,
you would have to pry this light out of my
cold, dead, hands with a VERY large crowbar, or maybie
an sf hellfire!

 

[TrevorNasko]

i got a first (not second)violet tint onthe way for $70 . first quality !hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahhahahahahahhahahahahhahhahahahahhahahahahahahhahhahahhahhahhahhahahahhahhahhahhhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha HA!

 

[WaltH]

Aragorn,
Careful with the attitutde...I got relatives in Murphy and I don't think you want them leaving the trailor and coming down out of the mountains to confiscate your LS's. BTW, can you give me direction to your house in NC?