Battle of the Keychain Lights (moved to LED)

Its interesting where internet searches leave you...

It started off with a search to find a replacement Swiss Army Knife for my keychain and as soon as I discovered that some SAK's have LED lights built into them, the search grew to include keychain LED lights. This of course led to the discovery of the Photon and its popularity, and eventually...I came across this forum. This is my first post.

What I've discovered is that keychain lights pretty much come down to the Arc AAA (LE), Photon III, and Infinity Ultra. Respective prices are approximately: $27 ($37 for LE), $18, and $24. These prices excluding the LE are from Brightguy (LE's seem to be very difficult to find).

I've read lots of reviews on each of them but rarely have I found them directly compared. From what I've found the following seems to be true:

Brightness: Photon III > Arc AAA > Ultra
Battery life: Ultra > Arc AAA > Photon III
Price: Arc AAA > Ultra > Photon III
Durability: Ultra > Arc AAA > Photon III
Size: Ultra > Arc AAA > Photon III

However, none of this is personal experience. This only comes from the coalescing of various posts and reviews. What I'm asking for is personal experience comparing the three and their usability as a keychain light.

Side questions to get you guys started:

Is the LE worth the extra money? I have a bad habit of buying the best of everything and I'd probably buy the LE if I decide to get an Arc AAA just because its "better", but is it really worth it?

Am I the only one who sees those blink and dimming features of the Photon III as pretty cool? I don't recall reading of anybody actually using them, but I think I would.

TIA

Mark

Hi Mark,
a good place to start would be one of the review sites, such as for example
the LedMuseum
the Torch Reviews Site
the LightSite

btw, Welcome to CPF.

Cool! Welcome, and great questions. I have an old style Infinity, a regular Arc AAA, and had a photon 1.

1. I knew of the Arc-LE, but picked the regular Arc. I don't care much about the hard anodize, and reviews I've read say the brightness is almost identical. Plus, I like the black color.

2. I mostly use the coin cell lights as a quick find something in the dark. Different modes would drive me nuts, but that's just me.

I'd put the Arc and Infinity as equal in the reliability/ruggedized catagory. I've never heard of anyone being able to break either one with anything close to normal use. Both safe to toss out a window, drive over with a car, take to the bottom of the pool, etc.

To me, even the Arc is a bit big for a keychain, I carry mine in my pocket, and the Infinity way too big. In size, it's like half a roll of nickels. I did carry one when I went to NYC to help out, but I didn't have the Arc then.

A bonus of the Arc is that it's regulated, so you'll get same intensity light all the way through. The Photon may be brighter at first, but not for very long.

There's also a strange thing that everytime somebody buys an Arc, they fall in love with it, and start showing it to their friends.

I wanted the ARC LE but was having trouble finding it so I gave up and bought the black ARC AAA. Now I am glad I did, saved $10 and essentially got the same light. It's black instead of natural anodized which seems to be the only big difference. I love it, use it every day and many of the folks I show it to are getting one.

Mark, Welcome to CPF!

I'm moving this thread to the LEDs Section where it should have a better home as this thread appears to be talking about LED lights.

Regarding the Photon3, I have four. Three don't work. The one that does, I carry along with my ArcAAA and a Glowring. If I use them (rare since I have a KL1 on my E1e) I'll use the ArcAAA because I often last used the P3 to show off the flashing modes, and when I come to use it next, I can't be bothered to wait for it to cycle through the modes. The ArcAAA remains bright for ages whereas Photons tend to dim faster. I have to say I notice this more on the PII's rather then my P3.

Al

The Arc AAA is about the best light around. I don't know why you said that the ultra is more durable--issues with the Arc AAA you've heard about maybe?

The Photon is going to be brighter when you first turn it on but overall you are correct, the Arc will be brighter...

But lets talk about durability again...Darell did a thing somewhere on Arc durability and I'm getting set to do my own. It's been dropped, kicked, ran over with electric vehicles, shoved up noses, flushed down toilets, ran through washing machines, and always came out alive. It is waterproof...even if water gets into the battery compartment it will continue to operate.

I highly recommend an Arc AAA teamed up with a SS Clip from Berkeleypoint. You can get both (Standard Arc+SS Clip) for less than the price of an Arc LE.

We go around in circles every time it comes up, but the LE and Standard are basically the same other than the fact that the LE is a different color and that it's, well, limited. For your first Arc get a standard, then you can get a LE if you wish.

www.berkeleypoint.com
To get the clip...

Welcome to CPF, enjoy your stay