Production Arc6 Mini-Review

Greetings!

I used it last night goofing off around the yard. The tint is white very. The beam is a nice wide cone of light with a big hotspot and very large spill. The pattern favors flood over throw. It is a mini L2. This minimizes the LED color washout effect.

The switching is cool. The setup instructions seem complicated but are very intuitive once you actually start programming your light. Twist the bezel to activate the 1st stage, continue to twist to activate the 2nd stage for constant on. I set mine to levels 3 (40 lumens?) and high. The high compares favorably with my L2 on high. The kilroy or tail button is truely a ***** to activate. I rock climb and I have to exert a considerable amount of effort to use the switch. As the plunger is depressed you 1st activate the low then high when fully engaged. When the light is in constant on "low" the kilroy can be used to jump into high. The virtual setting is cool. A fast full depression of the kilroy activates this. I set mine to strobe. Its there quickly if you need it. The virtual setting will not work if the light is in contant on mode.

Quirks - when you cycle the light fast, on-off-on-off the beam will flicker before it settles in. But when the light has been off for about a second the flicker is non-existent. There is a very faint whine from the regulation circuit. You have to put it to your ear to hear it. There is no inductor whine on high suggesting as others have stated that the high setting is running flatout out putting what the battery can support. When the light is strobing so is the whine and it sounds like a detonator on terminal count down.

Fit and Finish - The light is just down right beautiful. I have always been an Arc Fanboy so my impression is somewhat biased. The anodizing on my unit is flawless and matches perfectly. The clip is unpolished and like the kilroy takes a Herculean effort to move. The bezel guard is polished. The use of titanium for both is a very elegant touch. The Arc6 gives the impression it will float it is so light weight.

Overall I am very pleased with my purchase. The price point may not be for everyone but you can't deny this light's presentation carries on the original elegance of it's LS lineage.

Bravo Arc Flashlight!!!

kelmo said:

The virtual setting will not work if the light is in contant on mode.

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Perhaps you mean that you can't reach the virtual level directly while the light is twisted on, since obviously the virtual is activated only by going straight from off to full within the correct amount of time. However, the virtual level can be used in constant on just like the other two levels, you simply have to activate it in the same way: twist from off to the second position quickly enough.

Cool!

I'm going to try this.

FedEx has had my Arc6 stuck at customs for three days now and i'm getting more and more nervous by the minute :hairpull:

So close, yet so far... Hope it gets here soon!

Ok, I received my Arc6 today. The S/N is 7078. My thoughts so far are:

Firstly, I received a guarded sleeve instead of an NG sleeve. I have emailed Arcflashlight to sort this and get an NG one sent. I have offered to pay for and keep the guarded sleeve. Not a good start when opening the box to find the wrong sleeve.

Second, the LED is off centre in the reflector although it does not seem to have affected the beam which is smooth and even. Not a quite return issue because the beam does not seem to have been affected but surprising for a light of this cost and quality.

Third, I am aware that a mismatch of anodizing colour does not affect the function of the light but my light is very clearly two tone - the head is quite a bit darker. At the end of the sleeve the anodizing is a bit spotchy. Again I am quite surprised and disappointed by this given that kelmo's matches perfectly. I don't like the two tone look however, I would not return it for this reason.

Fourth, the size and feel in the hand is great. Perfect size for EDC. It's a high quality light.

Fifth, it is really bright and has a nice white tint.

Sixth, no manual or other documentation was received with the light except for the shipping order. I've downloaded the instructions off the website but again, this is surprising to me.

Seventh, I love the concept of the virtual setting. I have stuck with the default settings so far but will tinker with it in days to come. I will probably settle on max for virtual and a level or two lower for the second stage.

Eighth, the button is a fraction too firm but I can live with it.

So there you have it. I think this light will grow on me but I feel a fraction underwhelmed right now. Perhaps I expected too much.

Rob187 said:

Second, the LED is off centre in the reflector although it does not seem to have affected the beam which is smooth and even. Not a quite return issue because the beam does not seem to have been affected but surprising for a light of this cost and quality.

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Is the whole LED assembly off centre or the die itself? Emitters can have small variations in die positioning (w/respect to casing and lens). If the die is off-centre, the LED itself actually should be slightly off-centre to place it in the right spot. Most manufacturers position the emitter so the die ends up in the right spot (as it should be), not the whole assembly (which wouldn't make sense).

Rob187 said:

At the end of the sleeve the anodizing is a bit spotchy.

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I think that one's already been discussed somewhere around here... The splotchyness wears off after a few days. I've had it on a (much cheaper) Fenix light w/ natural HAIII finish and it went away after using the light for a while.

Looking closely, I think the die is not centered on the assembly and the assembly is not centered in the reflector but the two cancel each other out leaving the die in the right spot in relation to the reflector and resulting in an even beam but this leaves an uneven gap between reflector and assembly.

Rob187 said:

Looking closely, I think the die is not centered on the assembly and the assembly is not centered in the reflector but the two cancel each other out leaving the die in the right spot...

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Yeah, that's exactly what i was aiming at (even if my wording wasn't all too clear).

I'm afraid that's just how todays emitters are. It has nothing to do with the price range or quality. The position of die in relation to the assembly varies from LED sample to LED sample and the only way to battle it is to center the die and disregard the position of the assembly itself.

Heres my take on the ARC6.......I returned it for two reasons........

1. The tail button is harder to press than i imagined.......i cant even press it for 15 secs with out jumping in and out low and high....(Peter told me that this was their number 1 complaint and he has been in contact with the mechanical designer Don Mcleish about possible remedies)

2. The led is way too blue.....level 1-6 has an ok tint....almost white but slightly on the blue side........but once i put it on level 7....it literally turns blue


Pros:

I received the guarded sleeve and the fit and finish is excellent.......all the anodizing matched perfectly.......

The threads on the head has a very smooth action....

Great size.......it prety much on the small side....perfect fit in my hand....(I have a med size hand)....very pocket friendly

The clip is not stiff as people say it is......i like my clip tight so it doesnt fall out my pocket....(i lost my surefire backup and my L2 due to a loose fit clip).....if you think this clip is tight....Striders have stiff clips

If it werent for those two things it would have been a keeper..... and i really liked the light too....

RoMa said:

Heres my take on the ARC6.......I returned it for two reasons........

1. The tail button is harder to press than i imagined.......i cant even press it for 15 secs with out jumping in and out low and high....(Peter told me that this was their number 1 complaint and he has been in contact with the mechanical designer Don Mcleish about possible remedies)

2. The led is way too blue.....level 1-6 has an ok tint....almost white but slightly on the blue side........but once i put it on level 7....it literally turns blue


Pros:

I received the guarded sleeve and the fit and finish is excellent.......all the anodizing matched perfectly.......

The threads on the head has a very smooth action....

Great size.......it prety much on the small side....perfect fit in my hand....(I have a med size hand)....very pocket friendly

The clip is not stiff as people say it is......i like my clip tight so it doesnt fall out my pocket....(i lost my surefire backup and my L2 due to a loose fit clip).....if you think this clip is tight....Striders have stiff clips

If it weren't for those two things it would have been a keeper..... and i really liked the light too....

Click to expand...

If your led is turning blue , that means the protection circuit is not kicking in, and protecting the led has supposed. Seoul leds are not designed to take the kind of amperage this light delivers at level 7, affecting the overall life of the led.

Drat and double drat!

Still haven't received mine.
Finally cleared the customs today (after customs and fedex strangled my wallet to the tune of additional $170 of which $50 in seemingly arbitrary fees - i'm still arguing with them over that) and instead of sending the package straight to me, they've decided they'll do it on monday. Via a local courier service.

This is quickly turning into my worst import nightmares incarnated. I sincerely hope the light will be worth it...

Got mine and it is prefect in every way. I couldn't be happier. It is exactly what I had hoped for. I have mine set at stage 1 factory low, stage 2 level 7, virtual stage strobe.


Great job on a great light!

John

I've had mine for about a week now. I have it set up at level 3 and 6 with virtual the strobe. The amount of light it outputs is very impressive. The light is definitely tuned for high output. Level 3 is easily as bright as a Surefire KX2 head. I love the floody beam. I'm going camping in a few weeks and will have quality darkness to play in!

So, 5 days have passed since I received my Arc6. When I opened the box, I was not as impressed with it as I thought I would be. In fact, I was even tempted to sell it to a good offer I received. However, I have decided to keep it because as I suspected, the Arc6 has grown on me. Quite a bit...

It would seen from a number of photos I have seen on CPF and the Arc website that the two tone anodizing of my light is quite typical. My cosmetic preference would be a perfect match but similarly to my Novatac 120P which has a different shade on each section, once in use rather than just looking at it as new shiny toy, the tint of the anodizing doesn't really matter.

The perfect beam and nice tint make this light superb at its function - illuminating things. It is quite remarkably bright. Definitely the brightest 123 light I have.

I am still waiting to hear back from Arcflashlight regarding the fact I got sent the wrong sleeve in my order. Hopefully this will be sorted soon.

The moral of the story for me is don't judge a flashlight by its colour or what comes in the box with it. The best features of this light are not immediately obvious but reveal themselves over time.

This is a damn fine light.

Well done Peter Gransee and Arcflashlight.

Anyone know when there might be some formal reviews with output vs runtime vs level?

anyone have both production and pre-production lights? They use different Led, i would like to know whether the production lights produce higher output, and how the runtime graphs are compared to the pre-production ones