My second Arc6...

...was almost as good as my first Arc6 -- except for one thing; the bezel was poorly machined. So I called MTD, spoke to Maria, and five minutes later I had a replacement bezel on-order. It took about a week before I actually got a FedEx tracking email, and when I first checked the tracking number it showed me the original order instead of the replacement part, but a quick re-read of the email showed I had copied the wrong number. So I checked the correct tracking number and there was my replacement bezel, sitting in the FedEx depot in Arizona. Four days later (including a weekend), it arrived. Now my second Arc6 is just as good as my first Arc6.

In light of recent goings-on (goings-down?) around here, it is not my intent with this post to dredge up hard feelings or instigate competitive urination along the lines of "well MY experience was x" -- I just think that everyone deserves props when things go well. Every order I've placed with Arc has come through within two weeks and met my expectations for quality, or else my complaint has been redressed at no cost to me. I think that's worth noting.

That is all.

When did this happen? Maria is still there at Arc/MTD? Do you know if Peter and Merri are still there?

Her name was in the return address on the shipping label, so I assume she printed the label herself in her capacity as an employee of MTD. I don't know about anyone else who works there.

2/3/2009 I bought the first Arc6.
6/7/2009 I bought a guarded sleeve for it. I was unhappy with the machining on the piston, and they sent me a replacement for free. I returned the original.
Then I modded it with a Luxeon K2 and sent it back for recalibration, and they also gave me a K2-optimized reflector for free.
A few months later I asked for some O-rings and got those for free too.
12/7/2009 I ordered a Ti Arc AAA.
12/16/2009 I ordered an Arc AAA Snow, but it was out of stock and the payment was refunded.
Early in 2010 I replaced the kilroy on the Arc6 and managed to bust off a tiny capacitor, but it still worked(!); Peter offered to repair the board, again for free.
3/13/2010 I bought a second Arc6 to cover my [self] in case I broke it again and it didn't work anymore.
5/1-ish/2010 I requested a replacement bezel for the second Arc6; 5/7/2010 the order was processed, and today it arrived.

All transactions were processed smoothly. I know some people have had the opposite experience, but I'm not going to speculate why, because I don't want this to turn into another rumor-mill thread. I'm just relaying my personal experience.

This is good to hear and it looks like you have the 'two is one and one is none' thing down very well .

Thanks for posting your recent Arc experience :thumbsup:.

Just as a side note: the driver that I busted off the tiny capacitor from -- it still works to this day, sans capacitor, all modes fully-functional. I just didn't have the heart to send it back for free service when I was the one who borked it to begin with. Arc has gotten a lot of crap for the cost and complexity of the Arc6 driver, but as long as nothing's physically shorted-out, it seems to be built like military equipment -- enough redundancy that you can literally break pieces of it off and it will still work. That is also worth noting.

It's good to see some positive feedback. After their recent problems, I've been on the lookout for signs of improvement before buying some parts for my Arc6.

Any chance of writing up a comparison between the K2 (TFFC?) and P4 Arc6s?

I guess it's good to have any sort of update about Arc's continued existence or lack of it, so I'm glad you posted this.

bobjane said:

It's good to see some positive feedback. After their recent problems, I've been on the lookout for signs of improvement before buying some parts for my Arc6.

Any chance of writing up a comparison between the K2 (TFFC?) and P4 Arc6s?

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Oh, I can sum that up pretty quickly. The P4 Arc6 has a very even beam with a very soft hotspot in the center, and it's cool-white in color. Good for lighting up a wooded path and most of the woods off to the sides. The K2 Arc6 has a very strong hotspot and can throw a LOT further; the emitter I installed was a neutral-white K2, so the tint is almost incandescent; I'd compare it to the tint of a 150W halogen.

The K2 also seems to generate considerably more heat, but the increase in throw is well worth it, and the K2 doesn't degrade from overheating nearly as fast as the P4 does, so I'm not worried about having to replace the emitter before something bigger and better comes along. The Cree XP-G seems like an ideal candidate for a "latest and greatest" mod (or maybe an SST-50 :naughty, but it would require shimming, and I don't have the patience for that considering how well the K2 is working now.

I presume your new light is the one with the serial number 0040, not the one that you modded with the K2. If that's so, the rumours about Arc coming to the end of the production run for these Arc6s might be true. It looks like they're using up the remaining parts to build the final lights or possibly using refurbished parts from lights sent in for repair/replacement.

Ah that makes me want a K2 Arc6 more than ever. I've always preferred throw in my lights.

Despite being an unfair comparison between different emitters, I was a little disappointed when the newly arrived Arc6 on IMR16340 was out thrown by my Nitecore D10 R2 on eneloops.

I wonder if Arc will ever produce upgrades for the Arc6.

UnderTheWeepingMoon said:

I presume your new light is the one with the serial number 0040, not the one that you modded with the K2. If that's so, the rumours about Arc coming to the end of the production run for these Arc6s might be true. It looks like they're using up the remaining parts to build the final lights or possibly using refurbished parts from lights sent in for repair/replacement.

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You're correct, #0040 is the more recent purchase. The rumor regarding the end of the production run is one that I might have started, as I know I publicly speculated this was the case a couple of times. So, for the sake of saying so: I don't actually know if they're coming to the end of the run or not, however plausible it may seem. #0040 may be a refurbished unit, but if it is, there's no visible evidence of such -- the kilroy is new, the anodizing is pristine, and the reflector is clean.

Where do you buy arcs from, is their a website im missing

abarth_1200 said:

Where do you buy arcs from, is their a website im missing

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There web address is www.arcflashlight.com

Thank you! :thumbsup:

Don't know if this helps but I got #0057 earlier this year, does anybody know how many have been sold?

It's good to hear that Arc is still shining. We all remember how they set the standard for service. Those two Arc6's sure look good, fyrstormer.

Geoff

cloggy said:

Don't know if this helps but I got #0057 earlier this year, does anybody know how many have been sold?

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Not a clue, but 5000 seems like a good size for a production run, and it's in-line with the highest serial number I've seen.

Flying Turtle said:

It's good to hear that Arc is still shining. We all remember how they set the standard for service. Those two Arc6's sure look good, fyrstormer.

Geoff

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I have been having very poor experience with Arc for the last 2+ months, but things seem to have changing -- lately, their email communication has improved with new folks in CS, and they are attentive as they were earlier.

The two Arc6s' look amazing, BTW.

-Amarendra

I have had good experience with them. My 5-year-old ARC-AAA broke about a year ago, so I emailed them and Maria said that she could replace it for free. So I shipped the broken one back and received a new in a month or 2.

fyrstormer said:

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It looks like you did some body mods to the one on the right as well.

Those are gorgeous and I hope mine look as good!