new ARC aaa switched LED

I ve bought 3 ARC aaa PREMIUM recently, I had one with the beam off-centered and Merri had kindly replaced me a new head immediately.

However the the new replaced head was slightly dimmer than before the replacement, very obvious comparing to other ARC-p.

I mailed ARC regarding this and was replied promptly:


[Merri Wrote]

We switched LED's. we are now using LED's that are dimmer but whiter.

Merri,
Arc Flashlight


-So i did a comparision again and it does seem whiter! no blue!

Huh... very interesting. I always thought Peter's hard line on this was that he was going for lumens and runtime over beam quality. I've been quite happy with my (now second, after losing the first at Six Flags) Arc AAA-P. The tint isn't so bad (better than the first one) and the brightness/size/runtime ratio is just awesome. The regulation circuit is still second to none (as nice as the Peaks are, if you switch a partially used battery back and forth between the lights, you will see how much dimmer the Peak becomes while the Arc stays at the same high level).

I wonder if these new whiter LEDs are actually a bit dimmer at the same current, or if Arc doesn't drive them as hard since they may degrade in lumen maintainance faster than the Nichias (Peter has previously stated that no 5mm LED as faired even in the same ballpark in terms of long term tollerance to being overdriven). I'd love to know what LED is being used, its specs, etc. Peter is usually very up front about all of the goings on in his products- I look forward to the official line on these new whiter LEDs. I would be quite surprized if it turns out that Arc adopted the Snow29.

I'm also interested to know what leds these are. I can see advantages either way. Brand P has been using the dimmer but whiter approach, and maybe there's reason to prefer it, but if Arc is now using it too, there's less reason to "buy both".

I think ARC now switched to B1 from B2 bin of same Nichia CS LEDs. The difference is only in tint: B1 is little less blue.

If recalling correctly, B1 bin of Nichia CS contain more phosphorus than B2 and because of that emits whiter light and also just a bit dimmer.
It shouldn't be a significant difference between those two bins.

paulr said:

I'm also interested to know what leds these are. I can see advantages either way. Brand P has been using the dimmer but whiter approach, and maybe there's reason to prefer it, but if Arc is now using it too, there's less reason to "buy both".

Click to expand...

Snow, maybe? I m not sure myself cause i dont have a brand P to compare with.
ARC-"dimmer but whiter", now comes with a rock solid regulation!

But frankly I prefer brighter 5mm and wont mind too much about the tint.
(gave the new replaced ARC to my dad)

I'm wondering how the new whiter, but dimmer, Arc AAA compares with the old Arc AAA. In most cases I'm quite satisfied with the brightness of my old standard, but a less blue beam would be appreciated.

Geoff

Out of curiosity, which version Arc AAA led is whiter/ smoother? The standard or the premium. Any dual owners here?
My understanding was that previous version premiums were whiter. Is this so with the current versions?
Thanks,
Toons

I agree with Mbely2. Much more likely that they are using a different bin than an LED from a different manufacturer.

I've not seen the new version Arc in action but my experience with the new nichias is that they are less blue. This depends on alot of factors though since from what I've read the increase in brightness is due to clarity of the optic (could be wrong here) and not a big difference in the chip. Light from a less obstructed LED would appear to have more blue since more light gets to the eye (if everything else remains the same , which isn't likely). IIRC, my old arc-p had alot more blue than the current nichias I've seen.