Photon 2 vs. Princeton Tech Eclipse...

I know the Photon is lighter, wile the Eclipse has the neat ability to be "unlatched" from the base. Forgetting that, which one of these guys puts out more light? (White).

Planning on getting one of the two tomorrow, so I'd love to hear your opinions!!!

I doubt if there's much difference in light output. The devices are too similar. I just bought a bunch of the one dollar keychain LED lights from countycomm.com. The construction is nowhere near Photon quality, but the LED brightness is about the same, and is about the same as my Arc AAA.

If you're after a high quality keychain light though, I'd say get an Arc. Photons are nice, but they're not all that durable in the long run. The Arc is bigger/heavier but has a much more robust mechanism.

Medium setting on the (white) PT Eclipse is as bright as the Photo II while high setting is visibly brighter. I have 6 Photon IIs but I EDC the Eclipse.

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paulr said:
If you're after a high quality keychain light though, I'd say get an Arc. Photons are nice, but they're not all that durable in the long run. The Arc is bigger/heavier but has a much more robust mechanism.

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Photons not durable? Photons with a less robust mechanism? It's a squeeze light. If you aren't replacing the batteries often, there's nothing to go wrong with it. Arcs have a regulator and twist battery contacts.

In the Arc forum, there's been a few complaints about flickering and poor battery contacts, which have been dealt with. What problems have you had with Photons?

I think you underestimate the size issue when dealing with these lights- a Photon is so much smaller than most keys that it's unnoticeable. Arcs are much larger, as big as my Micra, so I don't put it on my keys.

I like both, but I don't consider them to be in the same category.

I've had about 3 Photons (all ii's) and the battery contacts go intermittent after a while. You have to really squeeze hard to get light, and it flickers. Do you know a cure? Also, they apparently use the LED leads as a spring. On one of the Photons I had, the spring got so soft that the light stayed on all the time til the batteries died (took several days!).

The Arc is bigger than a Photon but much smaller than a Micra. I hardly notice that the Arc is there on my keychain, but I have a fairly large number of keys.

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paulr said:
I've had about 3 Photons (all ii's) and the battery contacts go intermittent after a while. You have to really squeeze hard to get light, and it flickers. Do you know a cure? Also, they apparently use the LED leads as a spring. On one of the Photons I had, the spring got so soft that the light stayed on all the time til the batteries died (took several days!).


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Yeah, the "always on" problem happened to me the first time I changed batteries (poorly). You just take it apart and bend the LED contacts so it works correctly. It might take a couple tries. Just try not to lose anything, that tiny clear switch is nearly impossible to find.

If that tiny clear switch goes in the carpet, it's time to slash open the vaccum bag or empty the dust cup of a bagless vaccum cleaner onto some newspaper, and hope you get lucky and find that switch. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
(Hint: Don't vaccum if you think you dropped a P2 switch, and for heaven sakes please don't try to change the batteries in one of those things over a toliet, garbage can, or sink!)

I think the cleaners made off with most or all my 2016 batteries, so comparing a PII or PIII with an Eclipse might have to be up to somebody else this time around. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif

In my opinion ...the Eclipse is much better than the Photon 3. The Photon 2 is not even in the game. Unless you can`t stand the slightly larger size of the Eclipse...it`s the best 2016 batt light on the market right now

Craig! Where is the Eclipse reveiw. Ok, you don`t have any 2016 batts...guess your of the hook...for now. But hold on a moment...you have cleaners....like...people that clean for you!!!! And all you have to do is leave a few 2016`s laying around in exchange for this service! Damm, I have to clean up after myself...how can I get in on this cleaner gig...whats the deal! If you saw my place you would know...I need this!

The "always on" prob happened to me spontaneously. I never changed the battery. I did open up the light to see what the prob was after it happened, but didn't try to fix it. LRI said they'd fix it under warranty. I figured that should include a battery replacement (around $5) so I figured I'd let them deal with it. I never got around to sending it in though. I should take care of it one of these days, but since I have an Arc AAA on my keyring now, it's not urgent.

I have used Photons for years attached to my keyring. I do not like using my Arc AAA as a key fob. I decided to try an Eclipse. It is a tad brighter than a Photon. I like the shape and detachable clip even though it is noticealby larger than a Photon. No longer do I have to give someone my keys when they need to just use the light. I only cary two keys and a Traser attached to the Eclipse, so it is neat and compact. They should consider including an extra clip with each light, so that you could have a clip with your keys and maybe another with your briefcase, bike or phone. Because my cars have keyless remotes and my wife and I routinely switch between the wagon and sedan, the car keychains are separate and have no lights on them, since we each carry house and office keys when we go out.

How secure is the Eclipse to its holder? I made the mistake of taking one of my Photons off my keyring; I will never make that mistake again. Keychain lights should stay on the keychain. Otherwise they disappear.

I drop my keys and bash them up fairly frequently. Any problems with the Eclipse falling off or the clip breaking?