ARC came back!

Well, I first learned about the Arc flashlights off of Dansdata.com way back in the day I'd used various kinds of cheap micro-lights and knew that LED was the way to go, but the run-time off the little lithium cells made them fairly impractical. When I got a chance to score a AAA-Premium I was amazed at the brightness and size. It was my EDC for a very long time, the durability of the finish earning it no more than a slight silvering of the edges on the end.

It was a sad day for me when ARC died. It was even sadder to realize that I couldn't replace the little gem if I lost it. When they hit over $80 on eBay I reluctantly removed it from my keychain, replacing it with a crappy $10 AAA LED flashlight from the drugstore.

Today I was reading YALROD (Yet Another LED Review on Dansdata.com) and was astonished to note that he spoke of ARC in the present tense and linked to the website. 15 minutes later my Paypal is $46 lighter, and my old Arc-AAA Premium is back on my keychain!

Thanks for coming back, Peter! Times have changed since the ARCs first came out, but I've still never found a better keychainable light than this one.

Kahm

Welcome to the CPF, I think you will be very pleased with the difference in output compared to the older version. Looking forward to hearing your impressions.

Of all the flashlights that have rotated through my collection over the past five years, the Arc has never left that collection. The AAA will always be on my keychain.

Agree with CM, the Arc design still illuminates my dark corners of the world daily. Considering the number of high dollar lights that I've purchased and subsequently offered on E-Bay, that's a testament to a practical, sturdy product. The Arc LS body is literally a hard to kill design. Still have all my Arc's, the only exceptions are modded lights as gifts to friends, family, CPF members.

Well, I've made the mistake of looking around the forums. Hopefully the urge to get a UV, Red, and RGB ARC subsides before I ever find them for sale I know for sure that I'll be looking into the modification possibilities for my extra Premium.

(Dammit! I did *not* need a new hobby!)

Seem that the brightness doesnt much a matter here! or the ... Size does matter!

evanlocc said:

Seem that the brightness doesnt much a matter here! or the ... Size does matter!

Click to expand...

I'm of the opinion that if it isn't small enought to have on me 100% of the time, it's useless to me. I own 6 laptops, each one smaller than the last, because I tried to find one small enough that I'd bother carrying it with me. What I ended up with is a Sharp Zaurus - basically a Linux powered hand held computer. My keychain has a pen knife and the ARC on it, and I've got a Swiss Army Tinker and a Leatherman in my bag. I'd love to have a larger, super-bright flashlight, but not only would I always end up worrying about batteries, but I would *never* have it on me.

The ARC is bright enough for what I need, small enough that I'm never without it, and will *always* work. It is the ultimate EDC, and, as such, it's never farther than 15' from my person.

That being said, reading this forum has stirred a pretty serious case of flashlight envy

Edit:
Yup. Too much envy. Ordered a Fenix L2P to go in the bag

Well, I just got my new ARC-P, and I'm astonished. I shouldn't be, but I am. This thing is *much* brighter than my old Premium. So much so that I tried switching batteries between them. Fresh battery into the AAA-Premium, More-than-a-year-old battery into ARC-P.

The ARC-P was *still* brighter.

Not by much, but still...

Wow. Just wow...

still have the dead body?

I'm always in the market for ARC hosts..........

Lemme know if you want to recover a bit of your cost for the new guy - I should have some K2's that will need a home soon.

Josh

Josh, CY has a bunch of spare Arc parts also.

I'm not getting rid of the old one, sorry

Although I did see something about a 2-stage mod that sounds interesting, but I haven't tracked it down yet. I don't know what the mod market for AAAs is...

I've bought a ton of stuff from CY, but he doesn't have any AAA bodies.........


Still a great guy to do buisness with.

Josh

Well, I got my Fenix L2P, and it seems like a good match for the ARC-P - bigger and brighter. Finally gives me something to pit against my landlord's collection of tactical lights

It'll go in the bag and the ARC-P stays on the keychain, though.