Comments:
I like more light in a pocket sized AA powered package, and this light would fit nicely between the ARC-AAA and the ARC-LS, but a "twist on tail cap for diehards instead of a tailpiece switch" does not work as well. With twist on the front, where the light is, you can turn the light on and off one-handed. A twist on in the back makes you use the light like you have one of those hard to operate tailpiece buttons.
I originally read the title of this thread as "My Ideal light". I'll grant that a cylindar with light shooting out one end is a tried and tru design, and shoving the guts needed to make light into an aluminum tube to hold it all nicely together is expediant, but it is not ideal. Back up a bit and look at the problem a light solves and other solutions.
Things a flashlight will be used for:
1) Finding things in dark places.
2) Finding one's way along a dark path.
3) Spotting distant objects.
4) Reading.
5) After dark campsite activities like preparing food, eating, or other small assembly or cleanup tasks.
Now from these, one can derive a list of problems with a tubular flashlight body:
1) They can slip out of your hand and roll away -- becoming the thing lost in a dark place. A shape like a handful of clay would not slip out of your hand or roll, and if a flashlight is sometimes "a club with a bulb", one possible hand shape might be described as "brass knucles with a bulb". Other shapes that would not roll are a box, like a pager, and a wallet or hipflask shape.
2) The beam does not aim in a useful direction when you lay it down. If the tailpiece is flat the only stable position is aimed strait up. You can also lay it down and if it doesn't roll it is aimed along the table top. Only a cylindrical light with the beam strait out the end has so few options. If you angle the beam 45 to 90 degrees to the light body and add flats, it won't roll and you can aim it at things; each flat is another elevation of the beam. If you shape it as a box, you could cut off one corner to get beam strait up, 45 degrees, and along the table at both table level and raised by the height of the box; admitedly fewer options but more stable.
3) One battery limits the power you could carry in your pocket. Two batteries would give you more power like an LS, but isn't really pocketable. How about a hip-flask shape? If a light were made in a curved rectangle to fit in your other back pocket, I suspect it would contain the largest power pack you'd want to carry arround; that could be 4 or 5 cells; enough current to power dual Luxeons or enough power to keep one on for 5 hours.
4) Different uses for a light demand different beams; you need a narrow beam to throw a spot, a wider beam to look for stuff, and a difuse beam for eating and such or reading
As an aside here: A useful option might be a secondary lense that snaps onto the light to either spread or tighten the beam. This would be easier to do with a single emitter such as one LED, Luxeon, or Nichia X10. This might even be a useful aftermarket item for the ARC-AAA or CMG-infinity.
I wonder abouth the 3 LED design on performance grounds, too. I suspect one Luxeon underdriven would be more efficient; and I'd prefer a light that does not strain the parts by overdriving.
Its not that I don't like the idea of an AA powered 3-LED light (kind of an infinity on steroids) its just that I think there are so many other ways to configure a flashlight, why not explore something unique?
If ARC were to create a new product, I think I'd rather a more pocketable LS+ with longer run time; a light that will ride in your back pocket to light keyholes and spot deer.
If we don't digress like this, what is there to say about your light; ya, sure, go build one. But I'm not sure it is different enough from what's already out there.
