Darell
Flashaholic
Uh-oh. Darell again.
I'm curious what everybody's first impression is when they take a new Arc AAA out of the blister pack (or the zip-lock, depending on how long your dealer hangs onto stock) pop the battery in and attempt to twist on the head.
I've assembled probably 40-50 of them now, and can say that about 90% are a real bugger to screw on that first (second and third) time. Some of those little guys are STIFF. (see how I tied that in with the subject line?) My hope in bringing this up is to give Peter a little input on what the general public's first impression might be. I've given many of these lights to friends and relatives as gifts, and every one of the recipients has asked why theirs is so hard to turn on and off (as compared to the ones I carry). I always take the new lights back to the shop, clean everything off the threads and O ring completely, lube the threads with conductive oil, and lube the O ring with synthetic grease. I then twist them about 100 times, then clean off the excess black crud and relube as neccessary. After that, they typically work smoothly. But my guess is that most (normal) people don't go through that kind of effort.
As everybody must know by now, I love these little AAA lights. I'm just concerned that the first impression of a really stiff one will put some people off. When they're stiff, and require too much effort to operate, they have a lower quality feel than they should. I currently never give them as gifts without first having my way with them. Makes the recipient happier, and makes for less hassle for me in the long run.
I'm not sure what the answer is here, since what I do is a lot of time-intensive labor that I wouldn't want to pay somebody else to perform. When I compare a new Arc to a new MiniMag (gasp!), the Minimag is so smooth and fluid to turn on that first time. Part of this is due to the drastically different diameter of the lights, of course, but also the design is much different. There probably isn't an answer to this, but I thought I'd toss it out there and see if it sticks.
I'm curious what everybody's first impression is when they take a new Arc AAA out of the blister pack (or the zip-lock, depending on how long your dealer hangs onto stock) pop the battery in and attempt to twist on the head.
I've assembled probably 40-50 of them now, and can say that about 90% are a real bugger to screw on that first (second and third) time. Some of those little guys are STIFF. (see how I tied that in with the subject line?) My hope in bringing this up is to give Peter a little input on what the general public's first impression might be. I've given many of these lights to friends and relatives as gifts, and every one of the recipients has asked why theirs is so hard to turn on and off (as compared to the ones I carry). I always take the new lights back to the shop, clean everything off the threads and O ring completely, lube the threads with conductive oil, and lube the O ring with synthetic grease. I then twist them about 100 times, then clean off the excess black crud and relube as neccessary. After that, they typically work smoothly. But my guess is that most (normal) people don't go through that kind of effort.
As everybody must know by now, I love these little AAA lights. I'm just concerned that the first impression of a really stiff one will put some people off. When they're stiff, and require too much effort to operate, they have a lower quality feel than they should. I currently never give them as gifts without first having my way with them. Makes the recipient happier, and makes for less hassle for me in the long run.
I'm not sure what the answer is here, since what I do is a lot of time-intensive labor that I wouldn't want to pay somebody else to perform. When I compare a new Arc to a new MiniMag (gasp!), the Minimag is so smooth and fluid to turn on that first time. Part of this is due to the drastically different diameter of the lights, of course, but also the design is much different. There probably isn't an answer to this, but I thought I'd toss it out there and see if it sticks.