My Arc P seems a bit too bright.

Yes, I know it is blasphemy but so be it. Last weekend my wife and I were in a restaurant and it was dark and we were having a hard time seeing the menu. So I got out my U60 XRGT to read the menu with the light on pretty low. My wife then asked to borrow it and I asked her why she didnt use her HDS and she said she didnt want to dig it out of her purse. Apart from the obvious issues with that which there is no sense talking about, Im not licensed to give purse organization advice, she said it would be nice if she had a little light she could wear around her neck. Hence, I ordered 2 Arc Ps from Lighthound Sunday night, and as always they were promptly delivered Wednesday.

So we were in another restaurant tonight, dark as expected, and I got my Arc P out. The net result was that the manager came over and apologized for having it too dark and turned up the indirect lighting. Not exactly what I was looking for. The Arc P is too bright to be discrete. Great light, I love it already but too bright for in restaurants. So now what is dimmer?

One thing I considered was the Peak Matterhorn in some more discrete LED color. Any suggestions on how that would work or what color? Any suggestions on other lights? I suppose another option is a Photon Freedom. What are some things I can try out. Thanks for any suggestions.

Yellow is a good color for reading stuff, and it's not too obtrusive. Red is the least obtrusive but it's difficult to read by.

Try a gerber infinity ultra.

here is a review:

http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews/gerber_infinityultra.htm

I know how you feel - been there. Well, I have never found red had to read by at all, but have heard from others that see it very differently. I sometimes use long-running red light from a Inova 24/7 to read in bed.

But I would stay away from the Gerber incarnation of the IU, sorry to say. Also the Peak Matterhorn is much smaller. I have a red Matterhorn and the beam is pretty much of a spot. That makes it bright but discrete. Or (depending on your situation), awkward to read with because you have to hold it above your head! If you go that route, I'd suggest asking them for a wide-angle red LED - I understand they are accomodating about requests like that.

- Bill

The CR2 ION works pretty well in low mode, you get nice white beam, with alot of flood, so you can easily read whole menu without panning the light around

How about a simple covert Photon II or Freedom?

They are pretty discreet, easy to carry and should be ok light source for a short read.

I'm sure a lot of people here would willingly exchange your newer Arc for an older style Arc which is supposedly half the brightness. Same runtime, though.

I have older arc. roughly 1/3 the brightness.. willing to trade. PM for info

Like Auroralite said, the covert Photons are very discreet. Also, the old Sonics, with the recessed LED work much the same. A single LED Matterhorn might be good, too.

Geoff

+1 on the covert Photon.

I have an amber Photon Freedom with the covert LED which is great for such things. You can read pretty much any common combination of print and background colors.

Scott

I'd go button cell keychain - Photo or a clone.

OR...MillerMods is working up a multistage circuit for the ARC AAA-P right now with a 1 W Lux in it - the low setting is something like 30ma, nice and dim...

How about the tiny Firefli that runs on zinc air batteries?

See post #7 of this thread https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/91322&highlight=firefli

Greg

I second the Firefli (I was about to suggest it until I scrolled down and saw greg's post). It is so small that you can place it right next to the Arc AAA on your keychain and still never now its there. It's like having "high" and "low" on a miniature scale.

I have both. Always felt that the older Arc was not powerful enough, now the newer Arc is one serious, serious beast. I was using it as my walkaround light (for which I normally prefer a huge blast of light from the U2) and I found it amazingly bright, even though I have been spoiled by the power of the LuxV.

What I do when it's too bright is shield it with my fingers. If you need a longer-term solution, someone recommended putting tape over it and poking a hole in the tape. This recommendation goes way back, nearly ten years, when said friend did it to a Solitaire. Yeah, but why, I thought 'too bright' isn't really an issue with that light?

He gave me my first Solitaire too. Wonderful light for its time before we had engineering marvels like the Arc.

Pick up an old style Inova X1 while you can. A little heavy for neck carry though. A Photon covert would work.

Or you could just get an ARC non P. I just took delivery of a P and a standard ARC. The P model is considerably brighter than the standard. If you like the ARC form, this is my suggestion. (You get to buy another light too!)


JimmyB

Peak "N" cell Link
I have the regular "Hi -Power"...............very nice.

I EDC a TnC "N" proto; if you can locate a TnC "N" or a TnC 200ma "AA"...............would be perfect IMO.


Agree that the CR2 Ion on low would also work very well.

jeffb

Haha. Too bright. I can understand though. Allthough I'd rather have it too bright as certain times you need the extra brigthness. Last night I had my Tri-LuxIII mag in my hand and my arc on my keychain. I decided to use my arc to illuminate the area for working on stuff. It was plenty bright and surprised me. I turned on the tri-lux and it blinded me. The tri-lux is like day-light! I was glad the arc was bright enough to work by, as if I had to use the tri-lux I would be drawing attention and blinding myself!!

This would be perfect: