Arc-AAA P and eneloops

Hey everyone, just ordered my first arc-aaa p a couple days ago. I am planning on putting it on my keychain as an EDC. Just wondering if anyone has tried it with the Eneloops? From looking at some data, I think that eneloops might last a bit longer than alkaline AAAs, but may be a bit dimmer from slightly less voltage?
Anyone with hands on experience?

You could do that but this is one of the rare applications where alkalines probably make the most sense, unless you're frequently running the light for long periods. With normal usage alkalines last a long time. I think I've only changed mine once a year or so, not counting a couple that I ran to exhaustion on purpose for testing.

Alkalines will probably be dimmer than nimh over a fair amount of the runtime curve but they won't crap out as suddenly. You'll eventually notice that the light is getting dim, but you can replace the cell when you get around to it and the light will stay useful til then. When the nimh dims, you'll have much less warning.

These lights are not about throwing a lot of lumens and it's not really worth trying to maximize the lumen output. There are better ways to do that, if that's what you want.

Eneloops seem like a good match for the ArcAAA. I see no reason to not use rechargeables unless you are going to store the light for longer than one year without use.

Go with Energizer lithiums. You could easily get a years worth of use from one of these cells if you only use the Arc for a few minutes a day and they make your light just a tad brighter.

If you are willing to pay up to $50 for a high quality light, a few dollars a year on high quality cells is a must IMO.

Great choice on the Arc-P by the way, I've used various Arc AAA lights for several years...first class, top notch products that have never let me down.


CFU

right. what they said.

I used a regular NiMH in my Arc AAA when I first got it. I stopped due to the very short warning you get of a dead battery (moon mode). So I switched back to alkalines.

With my MillerMods L0P I am using a Sanyo 900mAh NiMH cell, but I charge it once a week so it never gets close to being dead (with my usage).

Greg

If it gets used a lot, the eneloop or other NiMH would be good.

I use an energizer lithium in mine, because 1) its a backup, keychain light that gets very little use; 2) has a very flat output; and 3) is just a slight bit less heavy than an alky or NiMH.

cheers