mrg3013
Newly Enlightened
My name is Mike, and I'm a flashaholic.
I never knew this until I saw an add for Surefire in an issue of Popular Science. Now, I've owned numerous Mag-Lites over the years and always thought they were a premium flashlight. I was soon to find out I was just scratching the surface.
After a few visits to the Surefire sight, and a couple of internet searches, I found flashlightreviews.com. Then I noticed Costco carried a high output Dorcey (2 AA cell) twin pack, which got respectable reviews. I bought 2 packs (4 flashlights!) and was hooked. I think I found Arc from flashlightreviews.com, and from there it was only one more step to CPF. You guys are making me crazy! Anyhow, I thought the purchase of a couple of Arc lights would get it out of my system. I think I'm think doing better, but still find myself eyeing products from other companies. I thought it would be good therapy for me to express my thoughts and feelings about the Arcs I bought. It may even help Arc by providing some feedback. Anyhow, here goes.
Arc LSH - I bought this light to get into the Arc4X lottery that Peter announced in the Arc forum. It has a great feel - good length and diameter for my hand, although larger hands could find it to be too small. If it were shorter, it would be less obtrusive in the pocket, but it would be clumsier to hold and operate. The reduced size of the light when used with what I believe is referred to as a "twisty" in place of the button is inviting, but I prefer the one handed operation of the button and assume this isn't possible with a twisty. I also like the tactile feedback of the switch, although in some cases, it can seem to be a little loud.
Arc4+ rev2 factory second - I bought this recently when Peter announced in the Arc forum that he had some rev2 seconds. Ordered it the same day (Thursday) sometime after I got home from work - around 5 pm or so. Found it waiting for me Friday when I got home from work - nice response from Arc and Fedex. Have no idea why this one is considered a second - it would be interesting for Arc to provide this information so I know exactly what it is I got for my money (I could also sleep better at night knowing this for some reason). This light has great features, incredible output at max power, but just a little too bulky to be comfortable carrying in my pocket (front pocket, typically jeans), especially if the clip is on. I don't like the feel of the switch - feels mushy compared to the LSH. I do, however, love the ability to have multiple light levels, and possibly even the SOS feature, but don't like the method of achieving them. The multiple-click interface is clumsy to me and counter-intuitive. By counter-intuitive, I mean that if someone found the light, and knew nothing about it, the chances that they would be able to figure out its complete feature set are about 0. They have a slight chance of figuring out the double-click, and possibly even the triple-click features, but not the whole advanced programming interface, which is time consuming and error prone. I'm sure many of you will disagree about it being clumsy, but at least try operating it with your left hand (assuming you're right handed) and I think you'll see what I mean. Compare the multiple click interface with a hypothetical interface of either a button combined with a twist ring of some sort to control brightness and/or modes, or a single button interface that toggles between off, low, medium and high brightness and possibly even toggles through each of the modes before returning to off. Either of these interfaces could be figured out almost instantly by someone unfamiliar with the light and could be used left-handed (or right-handed as the case may be) without practice. I also think several of the options are unnecessary in an EDC light and clutter up the already complicated options "menu". If you want tactical features, buy (or from the manufacturer's perspective, sell) a tactical model. One more negative feature of the Arc4 - when I hold it naturally, my hand creates interference with the light pattern. This doesn't happen on the LSH.
Phew! Okay. Maybe that will help. At least I'm not modding the lights (yet). Which reminds me. Is there a good sight that explains all the stuff about UCL lenses, reflectors, NX05s, fraeon, etc.?
Thanks for listening!
I never knew this until I saw an add for Surefire in an issue of Popular Science. Now, I've owned numerous Mag-Lites over the years and always thought they were a premium flashlight. I was soon to find out I was just scratching the surface.
After a few visits to the Surefire sight, and a couple of internet searches, I found flashlightreviews.com. Then I noticed Costco carried a high output Dorcey (2 AA cell) twin pack, which got respectable reviews. I bought 2 packs (4 flashlights!) and was hooked. I think I found Arc from flashlightreviews.com, and from there it was only one more step to CPF. You guys are making me crazy! Anyhow, I thought the purchase of a couple of Arc lights would get it out of my system. I think I'm think doing better, but still find myself eyeing products from other companies. I thought it would be good therapy for me to express my thoughts and feelings about the Arcs I bought. It may even help Arc by providing some feedback. Anyhow, here goes.
Arc LSH - I bought this light to get into the Arc4X lottery that Peter announced in the Arc forum. It has a great feel - good length and diameter for my hand, although larger hands could find it to be too small. If it were shorter, it would be less obtrusive in the pocket, but it would be clumsier to hold and operate. The reduced size of the light when used with what I believe is referred to as a "twisty" in place of the button is inviting, but I prefer the one handed operation of the button and assume this isn't possible with a twisty. I also like the tactile feedback of the switch, although in some cases, it can seem to be a little loud.
Arc4+ rev2 factory second - I bought this recently when Peter announced in the Arc forum that he had some rev2 seconds. Ordered it the same day (Thursday) sometime after I got home from work - around 5 pm or so. Found it waiting for me Friday when I got home from work - nice response from Arc and Fedex. Have no idea why this one is considered a second - it would be interesting for Arc to provide this information so I know exactly what it is I got for my money (I could also sleep better at night knowing this for some reason). This light has great features, incredible output at max power, but just a little too bulky to be comfortable carrying in my pocket (front pocket, typically jeans), especially if the clip is on. I don't like the feel of the switch - feels mushy compared to the LSH. I do, however, love the ability to have multiple light levels, and possibly even the SOS feature, but don't like the method of achieving them. The multiple-click interface is clumsy to me and counter-intuitive. By counter-intuitive, I mean that if someone found the light, and knew nothing about it, the chances that they would be able to figure out its complete feature set are about 0. They have a slight chance of figuring out the double-click, and possibly even the triple-click features, but not the whole advanced programming interface, which is time consuming and error prone. I'm sure many of you will disagree about it being clumsy, but at least try operating it with your left hand (assuming you're right handed) and I think you'll see what I mean. Compare the multiple click interface with a hypothetical interface of either a button combined with a twist ring of some sort to control brightness and/or modes, or a single button interface that toggles between off, low, medium and high brightness and possibly even toggles through each of the modes before returning to off. Either of these interfaces could be figured out almost instantly by someone unfamiliar with the light and could be used left-handed (or right-handed as the case may be) without practice. I also think several of the options are unnecessary in an EDC light and clutter up the already complicated options "menu". If you want tactical features, buy (or from the manufacturer's perspective, sell) a tactical model. One more negative feature of the Arc4 - when I hold it naturally, my hand creates interference with the light pattern. This doesn't happen on the LSH.
Phew! Okay. Maybe that will help. At least I'm not modding the lights (yet). Which reminds me. Is there a good sight that explains all the stuff about UCL lenses, reflectors, NX05s, fraeon, etc.?
Thanks for listening!
