ARC LS lights the way on coast to coast bicycle trip

I recently just completed a cross-country bicycle trip, Seattle (I think that I saw Telephony - or someone driving a small wheeled vehicle, decorated with LEDs next to the Green Tortise Hostel) to Yorktown, Virginia, on a Rans V-Rex recumbent. While going through the flatlands, the heat and humidity made it unbearable to ride during the day. Even when I started out at the break of day, it would quickly get unbearable. As such, I started riding at night using an ARC SLS (with single 123) as a headlight. I simply wrapped several layers of electrical tape to my handlebars, pressed the LS until it made a groove to sit in and bungie corded it tight. I made sure that the LS's lanyard was secured just in case the bungie broke. I would often ride for about 2 hours in the night either until midnight or getting up early at about 3 am. I found it amazing how bright the LS was when no other lights were around and your eyes adjusted. I got about 2.5 hours of good light from each 123 - - there was quite a bit of power left afterwards but output (for riding) went down quickly. Granted, I was only going about 12-14 MPH but I could see well enough to gauge road conditions.

This night riding was quite relaxing and provided a diversion from the fairly consistent flatland scenery - you concentrate on the road and the sounds around you. I probably rode about ten nights on the trip.

I also carried an ARC AAA as my camp and reading light. Everybody who saw these lights wanted one - if REI, EMS, MEC or some other large equipment store carried them, they would sell like hotcakes.

During my 4,200 mile trip, I went through about 15 123s but only 3 AAA batteries. It is amazing how long an ARC AAA last with intermittent use. Both ARC lights worked perfectly.

If the ARC LS were dimable, it would be the perfect light in single 123 format. How can we convince Mr. Gransee to give us a super powerfull LS with a dimmer. Darell where are you?

The summer is over and now I have to get back to my real job (it's really not that real). Looks like a lot has happened on the CPF forum.

P.S.: Who is Saaby and how did he get so many posts so quickly?

Originally posted by MY:
...I also carried an ARC AAA as my camp and reading light. Everybody who saw these lights wanted one - if REI, EMS, MEC or some other large equipment store carried them, they would sell like hotcakes...

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I was recently in a backpacking store, and showed my Arc AAA to one of the salesmen. He said they carried them a while back, but they didn't sell well due to their high price (not sure what they were charging). So instead he pointed me to a rack of Pulsars. "Sorry", I replied, "not interested".

This made me sick, because the last AAA I got was from TTS for only $20. People apparently still prefer Photon knock-offs with lithium batteries that cost more in the longrun. I thought I would do Peter a favor, and promote Arc, only to find out that the public is too stupid to recognize a real quality instrument, and a bargain at even twice the price.

PS. Your trip sounds like fun. I wish I had the Summer left to do something like that, but oh well... At least I got in a few beach trips, and some trips to the mountains.

Hi MY, I am Saaby, fear me! No just kidding. I'm just some kid that decited that I would wander in. Posted and it was kinda fun, so I posted again and again, well you get the picture.

I started out on CPF poor and nearly flashlightless, but due to my hard work and the extreme generosity of CPF memebrs (See this) I now have a respectable collection of flashlights although my Arc AAA sees the most use.

So now you have a basic idea of who I am, who are you!

Originally posted by MY:
How can we convince Mr. Gransee to give us a super powerfull LS with a dimmer. Darell where are you?

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Yeah, just where IS that dim bulb Darell?

I'm here, just not as here as I used to be. But trust me, I'm still on the dimmer crusade. Just got back from a three-week trip where again, I needed to carry dead batteries with me so I could have the dim light that I needed. Crazy. I'd rather carry two lights, an XR and a standard. But no, I need to carry dead batteries. I think dimmers will come - this all seems to hinge on the fact that nobody makes a good switch. If some mfg would hunker down and create the perfect, robust, electronically dimmable switch - we'd be in great shape.

P.S.: Who is Saaby and how did he get so many posts so quickly?

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">The guy's a nut. But we like him, so we put up with it.

yes he has a big mouth but that's why we love him. he's like one of our mascots, like a pig, or a chicken, but not as cuddly...
.
(Saaby I kid, I kid because I love ;>)

Yeah I'm a mascot and I don't even have a CPF edition Arc, can you believe that!!?? Now if Peter would do an annual or bi-annual rerelease..... Well I go back to school in about 1 week and 8 hours so that should close my jaw a bit.

and Ted, doesn't everyone around here kid? To quote my best friend when somone says "No offence..." "None comprehended"
Just kidding.

I see we're on topic as usual

Originally posted by MY:
I recently just completed a cross-country bicycle trip, Seattle (I think that I saw Telephony - or someone driving a small wheeled vehicle, decorated with LEDs next to the Green Tortise Hostel)

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">The Green Tortise hosel is only 1 block east of my apartment and is on the route I take to do almost anything (banking, postal needs, shopping, getting liquored up, hunting dragonflies, etc.) *and* I've got the only small vehicle in town with high-brightness LEDs on it. So it must have been me.

Welcome back MY! Thanks for telling us about your trip. That must have been quite a journey. I can only imagine.

Did you have a "support car" following you or where you all alone?

Peter

Lux Luther:

I think that it should be the CPF's responsibility to share the benefits of ARC AAA each time we are in a sporting-type store. I think that the price points are quite competitive and would be especially so if a clip, lanyard, and perhaps a headlight band type premiums were included to jazz up the package. On my bike ride, I found that most people carried Mini-Maglights that barely worked. If I had a bag of ARC AAAs, I could have sold every one of them to these bikers.

Darell:

Don't let Mr. Gransee off on the dimmer idea. I could not use the LS inside my tent because it was too bright. The ARC AAA was the perfect brightness inside the tent but sometime I even wished that it was as dim as an Infinity - especially when I had to share my small tent. It was often a pain to switch lights when I either needed brighter or dimmer outputs. This was the first trip in the last several years that I did not take an eternalight and I sure missed the ability to dim the output to the task at hand. I think that the current LS is bright enough for most task and that the functionality of a dimmer outweighs any other need to increase output substantially. I have used the LS and AAA in many challenging outdoor situations and have seldom needed more light. Of course more light is nice but a dimmer is more practical.

Saaby:

I too have to go back to school (University) in about three weeks. Unfortunately or fortunately, I stand in the front of the class room rather than sit facing the front in an uncomfortable classroom chair.

Telephony:

Most people I saw around the Green Tortise had multi-hued hair so it would have been quite easy to have confused you with some of the tourists.

Mr. Gransee:

No I did not have a support car. I went solo from Seattle to Denver, had my brother and brother-in law to Oklahoma, solo to the Mississippi River, and then my father-in-law to the Atlantic.

Because your lights were my constant companion on a very long trip and that I saw so many people with substandard lights who would have happily purchased your product if known, I think that you may need to rethink who your target market is for your products. While CPFers are great and demand bleeding edge technology, it really is about marketing that counts - - but not to the CPF. As long as the product meets better than anticipated standards and there is a demand, the problem really is all about marketing (a very high quality product).

While I was in the REI Seattle store, I was amazed by how many products were purchased by people with a lot of disposable income. These are the outlets that will make ARC profitable and provide the resources to satisfy the rest of the public, and CPFers.

I know that people of this forum may not like to hear it, but as much as you listen to CPFers, I think that you may be sometimes lead astray to the detriment of all flashlight lovers if you let the bigger picture (and market) slip by. I say this because I don't want ARC to go the way of the dodo bird.

Originally posted by MY:
...While CPFers are great and demand bleeding edge technology, it really is about marketing that counts - - but not to the CPF....(goes on)

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">So true so true. It would be nice if Arc could operate at some point in the future like no other company, that is to say, selling products that are, as I like to say, beyond purberty (Arc AAA springs to mind) to the massses and keeping less stable products (Hmmm, there's only one other Arc product isn't there) more or less right here until they've stableized.

My, I'm highly jealous of your bike endeavor. I wish I had the resources or more importantly the guts to do what you did. I'm a recreational cyclist. For three years while I was in high school and college, I had a summer job at a restaurant that was nearly 20 miles, round trip distance. Usually I would head home between 10 and 11 at night and did this six days a week. (I also had a part time job besides that for a summer, oh my to be that young again). I was not fortunate to have an LED light for night time illumination but I did have a Sears generator bike light set. That didn't do too horrible of a job, usually I saw the skunks the same time they saw me so we both could avoid each other. I did learn to throttle down on the downward hills to keep from blowing the bulbs however.

Anyhow, what kind of bicycle did you use? EDIT: I reread your post, I see it was a recumbant. That must have been very interesting and different. I have a $1200 road bike but these days frequently use my customized hybrid instead. If I was going cross country and averaged 12-14 mph as you did, I think I would rather use my hybrid. I've never gotten a flat with it.

Anyhow back to subject, in our Saturday night chat with Mr. Gransee some weeks ago, when asked about brick and mortar availability for the Arc products, he said that not to expect the Arc products on any of the retail shelves anytime soon. He stated that the retailers would rather buy products that were made in China. I take that to be that they weren't willing to pay the price point Peter probably required. I think a good start might be a specialty store like The Sharper Image or Brookstone, that carries the high tech gadgets without much of a discount.

Ah! I was going to suggest Brookstone, seems like just the place you'd find an Arc flashlight--put it next to the $8,000 massaging chair and it'd look CHEAP! (Cost wise, not quality wise)

The best part about selling through Brookstone is they always have one out to play with. Sure it looks cute but what is gong to make you (Correction: The average flashlight consumer) buy a $25 keychain-sized light, looking at it or playing with it

Geepondy:

I usually don't work summers so it affords me the time for such trips. After the cross-country trip, my family of five all rode a 200 mile rails-to-trails path north of Montreal.

On the aspect of the ARC AAA being too expensive for the REI type crowd (which is a large market segment), I kindly disagree. The items that these people buy have equal perceived cost - benefits to the ARC. As mentioned, as long as you get the product perceived as high quality, it is the little premiums that increase value to the point where an exchange (sale) occurs. Although much of what is sold at REI is made in China, much is also made stateside. Perceived value takes into account many factors, only some of which I think have been expounded on to the mass consumer and wholesale buyers.

Regards.

Hi All,

I've been reading in this forum for quite a while and just decided to start posting. I am a brand new "flashaholic" as you all put it. In fact, I haven't even made my first large purchase yet. I am wanting that to be an Arc LS with the single 123 pack. I don't think I want or need the other battery packs. However, I do think I want one with the new high dome led, matching anodization, well centered beam, etc. I don't want it to be a "second" or a "flawed" model and it will be my EDC. Can anyone tell me where I can go to purchase this simple request. I'm at a loss with all the changes, updates, etc, but want to buy one now. Thanks for any help you all can give me.

Dan out

Welcome Dan -

My best advice is to keep your eye on the Arc board to find out what's happening when. The LS is in a state of CONSTANT improvement, and you may want to wait for it to stabilize just a tad before you jump in there to buy one as your first major light. Really, these things are still considered experimental at this point. Keep your eyes open near the end of this year, and there should be something available that'll make you happy.

Welcome aboard!

Thanks Darell. It's great to finally be aboard. It's just so darn hard to wait when I really want an LS now. Does this mean I'm becoming a true flashaholic. Alright....who infected me?

Cutter, if you want a high dome, you are waiting with the rest of us. For a regular LS, you also might want to consider the Surefire KL1 conversion kit with either an E1 or E2 body. No, it is not out yet but little birds say a good probability of very soon, I'm hoping possibly even before the month is out. With Surefire you can be sure it will be a quality product and when it is released you will be able to get it. It won't be cheap though.

Originally posted by Cutter:
Alright....who infected me?

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Might be time to update your Antivirus definitions....

Originally posted by MY:
Darell:

Don't let Mr. Gransee off on the dimmer idea. ... Of course more light is nice but a dimmer is more practical.

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Didn't mean to let this slip by. I agree 100%, and certainly won't let ol' Peter off the dimmer hook. I love bright light just as much as the next guy, but I only need truly bright light for a very short time, typically. The times I need really bright light are usually preceeded by me saying something like "Hey! Look how bright THIS thing is!" The other 99% of the time I need just the *right* amount of light for the task at hand.

Woah, is flashaholism a virus? Trojan I assume? I've been using computers my whole (short) life, been on the internet sine it began to exist and finally I get infected with a virus? Glad it's a good one