September News

Welcome back from vacation everyone. For those starting school, good luck. And, hopefully this letter finds everyone gainfully employed.

We started shipping the production version of the new Arc6 last month. Sales were nice and strong, boosting our monthly numbers higher than last year. I am excited to now have a fuller product line. I have wanted to add new products for awhile now.

The K2 auctions are paused right now. I may stop them until we get more K2s. There has been some issues with the LED suddenly failing at less than rated current or temperature. I have decided to keep the rest of the K2s in reserve incase anyone needs a replacement.

The P4 version of the Arc6 has been doing quite well. Better than I expected in fact. The P4s also have a longer runtime than the K2s.

We are out of stock on the Arc-AAA UV, Snow and Camo right now. I expect they will be out of stock until at least sometime in October.

Still working on bringing the natural color back in the hard anodize for the AAA series.

Because the P4 Arc6 has done well, I am going to send out some units for review. When the reviews are in, they will be posted here. I also am beginning to accept dealer orders on the Arc6 which should especially help people in other countries.

Have a good month.

peter

Gransee said:

I have wanted to add new products for awhile now.

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Does that imply there will be even more new products in the foreseeable future?

Thanks for the update, glad to hear things are going well.

Wait a sec, about the natural HA, are you saying that if I order an AAA right now, I'll get a black one? I also notice it says the DS is out of stock--are only the CS and GS available? I was hopign to order a DS in black. Don't get me wrong about the black color, I prefer natural, but I already have around 5 naturals so want a black just to have some variety. Like choosing different flavors of ice cream once in a while even though I've had the same favorite for many years .

I'm glad things are going well! I love my Arc6. Any chance that you will post runtimes with a primary cell for the P4 version soon?

Hey paulr, the Arc AAA GS I recently received is a very dark grey in color. It looks like a very large piece of graphite.

That's great new Peter, great to know that the P4 has longer runtime compared to the K2

Thanks Peter. I'm patiently waiting for the DS to get back in stock.

Why does the P4 last longer than the K2? AFAIK, the only difference between the two Arc6's were the LED and nothing was changed as far as programming/power supply goes. I would think that the P4 would still be driven the same as the K2 and would have the same amount of runtime. Just like how the HDS EDC's were modded with the P4 still had the same runtime as when they had the Luxeons.

I haven't read anything about drive current changes, but it must have been lowered(especially on the high end). I believe 1 amp is the maximum recommended drive current for a SSC P4.

Here's a quote from Peter in this post:

yes, each light varies in current consumption because they are brightness calibrated. 4amps for level7 and 2-2.5amps for level 6 is typical. Remember, this is typicaly and will vary, especialy since I have constrained variation in the brightness vector through calibration.

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Since the light is brightness calibrated and the SSC should be more efficient than the K2, you would need less current to achieve the same level of brightness, giving longer runtimes.

Peter.

I just sent you another email about a question regarding using past credit toward a new purchase.

Regards.

Hello Peter,

So the black anodize currently shipping is HAIII? I just ordered a few AAA GS models.

Thanks

Elmie said:

Why does the P4 last longer than the K2? AFAIK, the only difference between the two Arc6's were the LED and nothing was changed as far as programming/power supply goes. I would think that the P4 would still be driven the same as the K2 and would have the same amount of runtime. Just like how the HDS EDC's were modded with the P4 still had the same runtime as when they had the Luxeons.

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Since LED drivers are current sources and not voltages sources, I would imagine the difference is that the P4 has a lower forward voltage at any given current. The lower current means less heat is generated. It also means less energy is pulled out of the battery and it lasts longer.
Peter correct me if I'm wrong on this.

Any word on price drops on the Arc6? I'd be tempted,except $300 is a little too rich for my tastes.

AMD64Blondie said:

Any word on price drops on the Arc6? I'd be tempted,except $300 is a little too rich for my tastes.

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Me too! I'm sorry but this light is just priced way to high.