The Elusive "Blue" Arc LS

[Beretta1526]

Some of you may have remembered my loooooong quest for the Blue Arc LS. It was a long trek that has a happy ending.

The history behind this light is really only fully known by Peter and Merri (and maybe a few former employees of the original Arc, LLC. I don't have an exact number of how many were made, but I do know that they were specifically and specially made for Lumileds to showcase the new Luxeon High-Flux LED that revolutionized the illumination world as we know it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I do believe that the Arc Series of lights were the first mass-manufactured lights to use a high-flux LED in a small, portable light. (I'm sure Peter really tells the story so much better than I)

So Arc makes these lights for Lumileds, hangs onto one or two or five, and the rest go off to Lumileds. Peter had made a post about going camping and had some pics from his trip. There was one in particular that peaked my interest:

(Photo Courtesy of Peter Gransee)

That was August of '03, although I didn't start really openly looking for one until early '04. I tried to look quietly, but wasn't getting very far.

There had apparently been people that had seen these at Arc when they visited the Arc factory and taken some pics of the heads that were there. This really got me going even more:

(I don't recall who sent me the original pics)

I sent an e-mail to Peter about it, he responded quite quickly, but I can't find that e-mail any more. He had given me a name of someone at Lumileds and off I went. I had a line in my signature about wanting one, but was starting to lose hope. I had put my feelers out just about everywhere I could, including sending e-mails to ex-Lumileds employees asking if they knew anything at all. Some remembered seeing the lights, but didn't have one (or probably weren't going to give theirs up).

Well it turns out that one guy, associated with Lumileds somehow (outside sales rep, IIRC), wound up with a handful of them. It was always my contention that there were Lumileds reps, one or many, that probably had one of these stashed in a drawer somewhere and forgotten about them. I was right!

I don't recall how he got in touch with me, but mentioned that he understood that I was looking for something he had. This was now the middle of '06. After almost three years, I finally found one. I couldn't afford to buy more than one at the time, but I suppose that's OK. He put them up on eBay and they easily went for double what the original LSH-P went for. In the midst of this, I was in contact with him back and forth as the prices rose ones that he listed. CPF people were PM'ing me to let me know about it too. (Thanks!) He really wanted to go through eBay, so I went with it and he did a listing just for me with a "Buy It Now" while on the phone with him. Needless to say, I won that particular auction

The guy selling the lights was actually coming to the town, and I was going to meet him, but got called away on a business trip. He shipped the light once he got here, and I was set. I thought I had posted about it, but maybe I never got back to that.

Here are some photos I took a few days ago:

This compares it to a regular LSH-P

Note the different text and no Hot! warning.

Look, ma, no serial number!

Now I think I want to find the CPF Edition Arc AAA that was the dark blue anodization so I have a matching set.

.

 

[Kiessling]

Finally !!!!
And I thought you had given up.
Congrats on this gem
bernie

 

[84Maroon]

What a great light, congrats on finally acquiring it.

 

[nekomane]

Another proud owner
As far as I know, only 1 other member has one of these.

 

[Gransee]

A little over 1000 units were made for Lumileds. Back then, I was having trouble getting the bins I wanted from Future (lumiled's exclusive distributor) so when Lumileds called asking for a special light I saw an oppratunity to get some of their best LEDs. I asked them to pay for the flashlights in LEDs and that whatever LEDs they sent me would be used in these flashlights to showcase their product. As I was hoping, they sent me their top bins. I had enough to make their flashlights and to make several months of LSH-P as well. They paid the remaining balance in money since their was a limit to how many of those bins they had on hand.

Their marketing department wanted the blue hard anodize to match the blue of their company colors. We got as close as we can with hard anodize.

Very few of these units have ever come back to the factory. I suspect they got snatched up by collectors.

The blue lumileds version LS is identical to the LSH-P save for the anodize color. It had P and Q bin luxeons installed with nice color. Current to the LED is about 330mA and typically lasts about 2-2.5 hours on a duracell.

peter

 

[Beretta1526]

Ah, great information. I've got two LSH's right now, LSH-P #015 and the Blue one. #015 has a Q4J with what I would consider perfect tint, but when I got the blue one, it was even whiter and a little brighter. :twothumbs

It's amazing that around 1k of those were made, but only (and literally) a handful have surfaced since. I still say that there are a bunch of Lumileds reps (current and former) that either are carrying one or have one at home in a drawer somewhere.

I do think that a great number of them probably used theirs through the first battery cycle, maybe two or three, and simply stashed them in a drawer or elsewhere. I'm just surprised I haven't seen more of them -- anywhere.

.

 

[paulr]

What a beauty! The blue and the red anodized AAA-P's show up on BST now and then. I've been wanting a red one but now you have me also wanting a blue one. Buy both

 

[270winchester]

 

[phoneguy]

WOW, very nice. I never was able to find one.

Bryan

 

[ftex]

I am a former Lumileds employee. I have 3 of these "elusive" blue Arc LS flashlights. One seems to have a cracked lens, but otherwise all three are new. I have kept them in a drawer and never used them.

They were given out to employees from time to time. Some of the marketing/sales folks had a few as well, to show during industry shows and customer visits. I have no idea how many were made. I do agree that the Luxeons used for these flashlights were the best (flux and color) 1-watts available at the time.

I'm not a flashlight connoisseur... I'm sure others would want to own these. Can anyone tell what these flashlights are worth?

ftex

http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/8877/pict0393fv8.jpg

 

[darkzero]

I am a former Lumileds employee. I have 3 of these "elusive" blue Arc LS flashlights. One seems to have a cracked lens, but otherwise all three are new. I have kept them in a drawer and never used them.

They were given out to employees from time to time. Some of the marketing/sales folks had a few as well, to show during industry shows and customer visits. I have no idea how many were made. I do agree that the Luxeons used for these flashlights were the best (flux and color) 1-watts available at the time.

I'm not a flashlight connoisseur... I'm sure others would want to own these. Can anyone tell what these flashlights are worth?

ftex

Hello ftex. Thank you for posting & welcome to CPF. :wave:

I am definitely interested in one if you are selling. You don't seem to have PM enabled or any way of contacting you. I'm not worried about a cracked lens, only the condition of the body. Please email me at shouren04(at)yahoo(dot)com. Thanks. -Will-

 

[Grumpy]

I am also interested in these lights.
Please email me at jamesholmesjr(at)gmail(dot)com
Thanks

 

[karlthev]

I am interested in one. I would much prefer one with a non-cracked lens. e-mail me at [email protected] Thanks.


Karl

 

[Hammer Train]

Count me in as interested too! Email me at peterandsarahare(at)aol(dot)com and we can get the payment agreed.
Thanks!

 

[mikes1]

Very nice got to be worth in excess of $300 PM me if interested

Thanks

Mike

 

[karlthev]

Yo "flex" are you there?:candle:



Karl

 

[ftex]

Sorry for the delay in responding. Baby+Wife+Work+HomeRemodel= No time.

I will be taking offers for these blue Arc LS flashlights. I will take pictures and have detailed descriptions of each one. Give me a few days. As stated before, I have 3 flashlights... one of which seems to have a cracked lens. I am glad that I am offering these to the true flashlight diehards out there. I am sure you will appreciate these more than I do.

I have added my yahoo messenger username to my profile. Hopefully this is what's needed for you to message me.

Lastly, should I make the offer on CPF Marketplace? Are there any restrictions on posting in the CPF Marketplace? I want to make sure I am posting in the right location.

Thanks everyone,
ftex

 

[DM51]

Welcome to CPF, ftex.

You are not allowed to post "feelers" like this. You must do your research by other means.

When you decide to sell the lights, you can do so here in the B/S/T forum, but you must state a price when you do that.

 

[ftex]

Sorry. I didn't know the protocol. I'll look at posting on B/S/T.

ftex

 

[goldenlight]

Now I think I want to find the CPF Edition Arc AAA that was the dark blue anodization so I have a matching set.

I have one of those. Arc only made 110 of them, making it the 2nd rarest production Arc-AAA; behind the 10 brass Arc-AAAs; of which only 8 were sold to the public.

I remember reading in the Arc archives that Peter found, somewhere in the Arc production facility, a batch of 110 especially good Nichia LEDs; I can't remember what they were called. But they were better than the 'common' Nichia white LED's being used in Arc-AAA's in 2002; whiter and a bit brighter.

He had Arc make 110 blue anodized bodies, with the words 'CPF Member Edition' on the body next to the head. They were sold sometime in 2002.

In 2003, the CPF member edition was red, and has '2003 CPF Member Edition' written on it. I have one of those as well, in it's original packaging: a blister card.

My blue Arc AAA isn't a 'dark' blue, like navy blue; it's a bit lighter than that. And there is a bit of green or yellow in the blue; at least that's what my fairly colorblind eyes see. It has a *slightly* teal color to the body.

Mine is still brand new in it's original deluxe packaging: a ziplock baggie. But I must have taken the battery out of it, as it's AWOL.