Another malfunctioning Arc6

I've had an Arc AAA LE on my keychain since they were available - I consider Arc a premium brand, and I'm shocked at my current experience with them.

First - I ordered a Christmas present late. So shoot me. I paid a little extra for faster shipping, and to my delight, the order was flagged as shipped the very next day with a projected delivery date of Dec. 23! Excellent!

Dec. 23 rolls around, no news from FedEx. Dec. 24, same deal. I check the tracking info. Huh. Somehow it now reads shipped on Dec. 23.

That was pretty crappy, but understandable. I would have preferred that I wasn't told it was shipped before it actually was, but I can see how someone might have screwed it up.

My new problem is that the light is nonfunctional. Rather like another thread about an Arc6 acting weird on delivery, this light will not work. Twist it on to either power level and it just strobes between 3 brightness levels. If you hold momentary on long enough, it does the same thing... and even after reading the included manual, and checking the website for updates, I cannot get this thing to enter programming mode.

I understand that both of these issues are likely something that customer support can help me with - however, I don't feel like I should have to call customer support immediately after purchasing a premium product.

I don't mind that this arrived after Christmas. I ordered late. Mea culpa.

I'm disappointed because Arc Flashlight told me it was shipped immediately when it was not, which understandably set certain expectations on my end. I'm even more disappointed that the flashlight that I've been talking up to my father for years and is more expensive than my iPhone arrived nonworking, which means I can't give it to him for at least another few weeks while this gets sorted.

What, exactly, did I pay for?

What if anything is going on with your light? Did you get it working on your own?

I ordered an Arc6 12/31 so I'm just on the third business day and it sounds like they are in catch-up mode so I'm not worried. I had one for a little while but due to some other purchases I let it go and am coming back to it. I liked it a lot. Has a great beam and nice levels to choose from as well as being extremely well built.

Anyway hang in there and I'm sure it will turn out great.

EEG said:

What if anything is going on with your light? Did you get it working on your own?

I ordered an Arc6 12/31 so I'm just on the third business day and it sounds like they are in catch-up mode so I'm not worried. I had one for a little while but due to some other purchases I let it go and am coming back to it. I liked it a lot. Has a great beam and nice levels to choose from as well as being extremely well built.

Anyway hang in there and I'm sure it will turn out great.

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I got one response that indicated that they didn't really read my initial email, and then when I asked about whether they would pay for the shipping since I got it DOA, I haven't heard a thing.

I've called a few times at the tail end of their office hours and struck out there too.

From my experience in this community I had thought their customer service was fantastic - as far as I know Peter is super responsive and I can remember this being the case for years. I guess companies change, or I'm just unlucky.

Mine turned out to have the same problem when recieved. I got it programed but it steps down every few seconds until level 1 no matter what. It's like the dead battery step down described in the instructions. I tried the battery it came with as well as a couple of my own and no go.

I e-mailed and Anna was very quick to respond and she gave me the option to send it back for repair or she would get another mailed out but it would be about a week before she could. I think wants Peter to look into it before she does. That was last Monday so I hope a new one will be headed my way soon.

I hate to be without a working light but I understand her wanting to wait so I don't get another doing the same thing. She indicated they test them prior to shipping so they apparently work properly until we get them and try to program them to our prefered settings. At least that's my theory since that's what I did right out the box.

I feel for you guys! If they work ok before shipping I guess they can't take rough jostling around in delivery. This would not be acceptable IMHO. I have also emailed Arc with a question about their O ring size in the Arc AAA... no response at all! I could buy them locally if I only knew the size.

ragweed said:

I feel for you guys! If they work ok before shipping I guess they can't take rough jostling around in delivery. This would not be acceptable IMHO.

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I don't think it's because they are more fragile than older models. I had one for a while around a year ago and it functioned flawlessly and they are very durable. I think something triggers this when going into the programming mode to set your own levels.

This is just my feeling at this time but we'll see as this gets ironed out.

The Arc6 really doesn't work well without a low-force spring from Don McLeish, originator of the design the Arc6 is derived from. The normal springs can make it hellishly hard to hold the button in high-mode, which has the side-effect of allowing you to activate the programming mode by accident if your grip keeps fluctuating. I actually did this once.

I don't know what other easter-eggs lurk in the programming, but I suppose it's possible to send other commands via the button if you accidentally get the pattern just right.

Failing that, it could just be the effect that winter has on electronics. Working in IT, I know that low humidity in winter can cause all sorts of havoc with electronics (especially ones that have flash memory in them), not only because of static buildup in the circuits themselves, but also because of static discharge from humans. It is entirely possible that your light was built correctly, programmed correctly, and tested correctly, and then it got zapped just as it was being put together and that corrupted the programming. Who knows?

Send it back with a note taped to the light itself stating the problem and requesting a re-flash of the programming.

Wow... that is real news. I am scratching it off my list until the bugs are worked out. Gads.. I was thinking about getting one until now. It seems like a great lite if it worked properly.

Well now, hold on a second ragweed. What I'm talking about is the basic concept that every extra part is one more way something can malfunction, and the Arc6 driver is probably more complicated than every other driver out there except the one in the SPY 007. But that is by no means uncommon in the Big Scheme Of Things. If you knew how many of the devices in your house and your car have software loaded into them at the factory, and you considered the number of ways those devices could fail, you'd probably move into a cardboard box and walk to work every day.

Just because the Arc6 has a complex driver with lots of parts -- and just because I was dumb enough to play the "imagine what could happen" game --- that certainly doesn't mean such failures are common, just that they're possible. I bet Fenixes have the same failure rate, but people just shrug it off, blame it on "cheap Chinese stuff", and toss it in the trash. With Arc, you can actually send your lights back for service; that alone is worth paying for.

It's a shame nobody ever posts here unless they have a problem. It would probably help to know how many Arc6's go out the door and never come back with any sort of problem. I know mine has worked flawlessly from the day I got it, even with an emitter swap done by yours truly, it has never given me grief.

Thanks for clearing that up. Going to wait until my tax return comes in & then pull the trigger.

I have had my arc6 for 1.5yrs. Just want to say that I have had zero problems with it. Just make sure all the contacts are always clean, especially the kilroy.

EEG said:

Mine turned out to have the same problem when recieved. I got it programed but it steps down every few seconds until level 1 no matter what. It's like the dead battery step down described in the instructions. I tried the battery it came with as well as a couple of my own and no go.

I e-mailed and Anna was very quick to respond and she gave me the option to send it back for repair or she would get another mailed out but it would be about a week before she could. I think wants Peter to look into it before she does. That was last Monday so I hope a new one will be headed my way soon.

I hate to be without a working light but I understand her wanting to wait so I don't get another doing the same thing. She indicated they test them prior to shipping so they apparently work properly until we get them and try to program them to our prefered settings. At least that's my theory since that's what I did right out the box.

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Got my replacement today. All seems to work well. One thing I noticed is that my malfuntioning light looked to have a Luxeon K2 (it was hex shaped anyway) and the new one has the SSC P4. Don't know if this is common to the lights with problems or not.

Anyway I'm satisfied with the customer service I've recieved.

Really? It sounds like you got a first-run light, somehow. No idea why it wouldn't have been working, unless the reason it was still sitting around was because it never worked to begin with.

I guess that's possible. Maybe I should have had that one fixed if they could have. Anna gave me the option to send it in or get another one.

I was expecting the SSC anyway and used it last night while feeding my animals and it is a great general use light. Clipped to my pocket right now as a matter of fact.