Gerber Tempo

Gentlemen and occasional ladies -

My Arc AAA being presently in sick bay, and not yet having made time to ship it back to its maker for repair or replacement, I was today in REI Atlanta, and purchased as a stopgap a Gerber Tempo (1 AAA, 1 5mm Nichia) for $10. I searched here and elsewhere for relevant threads on this product without success, so herewith are preliminary impressions.

It is not quite as small and tidy, nor as nicely made as its Arc counterpart or the Peak Matterhorn for that matter. But not bad in appearance and operation, either. Anodized, but very unlikely to be type III. However, it is inexpensive. By my balance postal scale, it weighs 1.1 oz with alkaline battery. The Arc, for reference, tips the same balance at 0.75 with alkaline. If the Arc is a cigarette, the Gerber is a smoked-down baby cheroot. Just a bit fatter in places.

If you go to the Gerber website, you will find this light, but the head surrounding the LED looks different. The photo depicts something akin to the dished reflector of the Arc and Peak. Mine has an inner aluminum ring and seal, making for a tighter-seeming assembly. The website claims 4 lumens; my packaging claims 7 lumens, on a par with the Arc.

The light coming from it seems about as bright overall as the Arc. So the proclaimed output might be about right. I cannot compare them directly now, alas. Anyway, my impression is that the tint, while bluish, is noticeably less blue that the Arc - going from memory here.

Side-by-side comparisons with my CMG IU's and a Peak Kilimanjaro with snow-white LED (all 1xAA) show it to be about midway in tint between them. There is a bright central spot, but brighter & broader than the CMG's and less broad than the Killi. The spill is generous and blends reasonably well into the spot. Overall, a nicer beam tintwise than CMG and Inova X1 with reflector, more output apparently than the Killi.

The packaging says 3.5 hours output...we all know that might not mean much. I never got as many hours out of one battery in the Arc as Flashlight Reviews suggested - perhaps I notice the falloff sooner than 1/2 the output. Always seemed closer to 3 hours than nearly 5.

Now I have to disclose that I am deeply distrustful of the made-in-China Gerber products. I had 3 of their IU lights, after they bought out CMG, and they *all* malfunctioned. One was lost, the other two I returned. The Tempo is also made in China. There are construction similarities. So I am using and waiting warily to see what happens. So far, I like this light for the price.

- Bill

I bought a Gerber Tempo for my wife. Not as bright as my Arc AAA-Ps or Peak Matterhorns.

I had to clean the light and the battery due to its intermittant operation within the first few days after purchase.

More comments about the Tempo appear in these threads:


Thread 1

Thread 2

I keep checking the REI store here, but it is not yet available. Might just order one and pick it up at the store. Sure don't really need another AAA, but, you know.

Geoff

parnass said:

I bought a Gerber Tempo for my wife. Not as bright as my Arc AAA-Ps or Peak Matterhorns.

I had to clean the light and the battery due to its intermittant operation within the first few days after purchase.

More comments about the Tempo appear in these threads:


Thread 1

Thread 2

Click to expand...

Omigawd parnass, I am so bewildered...
Before posting, I did a search on Gerber Tempo (just repeated that now to be sure of spelling), on candlepower forums only, and "no matches" returned. Did search on "Tempo" and nothing. Did search on Gerber and lots to be sure, but after 10 pages, no Tempo. Can somebody knowledgeable tell me what gives?

Anyway, in commenting on previous comments, I have to stand by my evaluation that brightness in about the same. I might be persuaded that the spill could be slightly smaller than the Arc, but the beam lights a 12' wall from 16' away, and plenty of surroundings outdoors, so I can't actually say that is a significant difference. I was very pleasantly surprised at the beam tint, as I said.

As for the lower efficiency of the Gerber, yep, about what I'd expect. We'll see how it holds up. Putting this in perspective, and knowing my acquired prejudice against the newer Gerber Chinoiserie, for a difference of $25+, that translates into about 50 batteries bought in bulk, and then you have to question whether you'd run that many batteries through the thing. My biggest issue is reliability, a very sore spot with the IU's I had. I'm crossing fingers and hoping to be surprised.

Thanks for the observations!

- Bill

fyi, the gerber sonic is still availabe, a much more pocketable light.

just being nosy but what rei? buford, perimeter or ATL proper? that so cool ive bought quite a few lights from the ATL and peri store.

mossyoak said:

just being nosy but what rei? buford, perimeter or ATL proper? that so cool ive bought quite a few lights from the ATL and peri store.

Click to expand...

Hi Mossyoak -

The REI on I-85/75, near Clairmont Rd exit. (Apologies to non-Atlantans, the 99.99% of you!) Are you in this area? Contact me if you want at [email protected]

Anyway, I really wasn't expecting much of this light, and I am half-expecting it to crap out on me like the others (the CMG clones I got before), but so far am rather pleasantly surprised. Wait for further developments...

Don't want to inject any unwelcome political content, but I have had issues lately about buying stuff from China. I am not against free trade per se, quite the contrary, but from the info I have, in many cases a few are profiting at the expense of many, not according well with the principles on which our country was founded. In some cases this amounts to forced slave labor. No slander against some Chinese manufacturers who might in fact be the spearhead of change in a totalitarian communist environment, but WalMart and others have had the bottom line as their nirvana, and have fostered exploitation without wanting to know the consequences. Yep, I do buy Chinese-made things having little choice, but am concerned about the extent to which we have abdicated all our manufacturing capacity to those overseas. Used to be that "self-reliance" was a virtue.

Sorry...end of rant...will be more moderate in future...

- Bill

thats the ATL proper store, with the main entrance facing the interstate. i was there two weekends ago for the scratch and dent sale and the BLADE show, got 300bucks worth of gear for 60 bucks it was amazing. so where in atlanta do you live?

mossyoak said:

thats the ATL proper store, with the main entrance facing the interstate. i was there two weekends ago for the scratch and dent sale and the BLADE show, got 300bucks worth of gear for 60 bucks it was amazing. so where in atlanta do you live?

Click to expand...

Used to live in Little 5 Point Area. Great Chinese place around the corner towards Emory.

I may pick up a Tempo on my next trip to Clothing & Sales if the reviews are generally good.

-Trevor

I own many Gerber lights....3 UI's (One is the military version), two trio's, one omnivore, a tempo, a TX 3, a Firecracker, and one of the CMG UI's, not Gerber, but thought I would mention it. They are all made in China except the Military Gerber UI and the CMG. I use the UI's and the Trio's every day and they are rock solid, regardless of where they are made. There is really not much on them to break down. The Chinese Gerber UI's seem more solid and to me, are a better design. On some things, it is not where they are made, but to what specs they are made to. As far as most things being made in China, maybe if our businesses were not so greedy and our politicians cared more about this country and not their own interests, a lot more stuff would be made here and less jobs would be lost. Quality being job one is also no longer the case with businesses in this country like it was years ago. We still make some quality things here, but they are few and far between. I will now step off my soapbox!!

Mike