Peak 1aaa brass prototype

[paulr]

Dang, I posted this just as the CPF outage/crash a couple hours ago started, so the post was lost. So I have to retype/rewrite it.

I got this AAA from a fellow CPF'er, not expecting much in the way of brightness, but figuring it's likely to end up as a mod host. Sure enough, it's a beautiful little light, with some bugs that I expect that they've worked out in the production releases. Physically it's exactly the same as an Arc AAA except it's brass and the knurling is slightly different (the little diagonal grooves are further apart). The knurling is smoother, which works well with the brass. I always wanted a brass light and I guess this is the best size. Even for such a small light as this, you really feel the extra weight.

Issues this light has:

1) It's much less bright than the Arc AAA. It's closer to the original CMG Infinity. I guess I'm ok with that, if there's a corresponding increase in runtime--I haven't measured the battery drain yet to find out. I've never been crazy about how Arc and others overdrive their leds, and I guess this led is run within the manufacturer's tolerances, which is good.

2) Despite the non-overdriving, it has the blue-est beam I've seen from a white led. Get some better led's, Peak /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif.

3) The led sticks out 1mm or so past the front of the light, unlike in the Arc where it's recessed rather deeply. That makes it more vulnerable to scratching, and also means that you can't stand the light head-down on the table or shelf. I guess this means Peak's electronic circuit is bigger than Arc's and left less space inside the head. I hope they've fixed that by now.

4) There's no foam pad to prevent battery rattle. No biggie, I can add that.

I do really like the looks for this thing, and it probably has a Luxeon mod in store for it one of these days, maybe using Lambda's microconverter if I can still get one of those. I also like the Arc AAA-style semicircular lanyard tab better than I like Peak's newer removable weird-looking tab. Best of all are the standable tails like the Firefly II. This brass light also came with a brass split ring, which is a nice touch.

Anyway, it's a prototype, so the issues above have to be understood with that in mind. I give it an A for appearance and machining, and about a C+ for electronics, partly because of how the led sticks out.

 

[BC0311]

I agree with your points, paulr.

I also bought one of the prototypes. I hope they get better LEDs, or atleast something comparable to the Arc AAA's. My LED stuck out quite a bit beyond the bezel as well and the beamspot suffered from the light lost out to the side.

Very handsome brass body and I like the Arc AAA lanyard lug as well.

Britt

 

[Lebkuecher]

I agree with your points Paulr
I like the Peaks models and the quality of the manufacturing seems awesome but I can't use a blue (white) light because of color identification with wires. I wish Peak would use a better quality led for white anyway. I do believe when Peak comes out with the Luxeon models there will be nothing stopping this company.

 

[DharmaBum]

I have the aluminum version. LED comes just shy of the end of the head, so mine will stand on end. Nice for $15 2nd day air included! Great company to deal with and ordering was the easiest thing I've ever done online, which is saying something. FWIW the head is interchangeable with my new Arc AAA (just says "ARC" on the end of the body tube), but why you'd want to do that is beyind me. LED seems pretty blobby and blue, but I wouldn't say it's any worse than my Arc AAA.

 

[The_LED_Museum]

I have a Peak brass 1xAAA prototype with a red LED. I received it in mid-May.
The page it's on is hosted on a domain that is offline at the moment, so I won't provide a URL here.

Here's a snippet of text from my web page:

The Peak is very durable, and ordinary flashlight accidents (dropping it, whapping it against a doorframe or car door in alarm, sitting on it, stepping on it, sucking it up the vaccume cleaner, etc.) will not damage it. I usually whap flashlights against a steel rod to determine "smackability", but since that rod is on a table hosting a running test at the moment, smacking the Peak against that rod is likely to ***** the test, and I don't want to do that. Not on a test that's been running for three days anyway. So that part of my durability testing program will have to wait. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jpshakehead.gif
I did smack the Peak against the front of this table several times, but since this table does not have metal on it that I can reach, this test really does not substitute for the steel rod smack test I normally do.

(Edit 05-18-04)...I did that smack test today, and surprise, surprise, surprise...the Peak was not damaged by this punishment. I even did it without the battery so the flashlight barrel could more easily become crushed, and that did not happen. Examining the Peak after this test did not reveal any scratches or dings on it.

I ran over the Peak with a 400lb electric wheelchair four times, and as I expected, no damage was found and the Peak still works properly. Just to be fair, I ran over an Arc-AAA PE with the same wheel (the left rear drive wheel of the chair) the same number of times, and didn't break it either.

The Peak has an O-ring that seals the bezel against the barrel, so it should be fully weatherproof, and maybe even submersible to at least a foot or two. Let's try the bathroom basin test and see what happens...BRB...ok, after submerging it for three minutes in about a foot of water (to simulate a user dropping it into a creek), I dried the outside off with some bungwipe, unscrewed the bezel, and there was no water inside. So yes, weatherproof and submersible to at least 1 foot.
I also tried suctioning the bezel by itself to be sure no leakage occurred around the LED, and no leakage was detected.
If it falls into water, just shake it off and keep going. If it falls into seawater or if something pees on it, douche it off with fresh water, shake it off (or dry it off) and it ought to be good as new.

There is a light knurling (texturising) present on the barrel and bezel of the Peak; this helps to aid in retention (the ability to hold onto the flashlight when your hands are cold, wet, or oily). This knurling is not aggressive (sharp), so it won't cut a hole in your pocket if you carry the Peak that way.

The Peak is equipped with a small split ring on its tail, so you can affix it to a keychain and carry it that way if you desire.

Because of the narrow beam, the light does have increased "throw" over other 1-LED flashlights. But if the red color pisses you off, you may not like the Peak compared with flashlights that have other color LEDs or white LEDs in them. Choose accordingly.
Remember, this is a protoype; publically-released builds could have a different LED in them down the road.