arc AAA or squeeze light?

Hi again...been thinking of a small keychain light, mostly for lighting up a menu with over 40 eyes..thinking about an LED over a regular bulb for battery life (which I learned all about here from your guys) does the arc offer any real world advantage over one of those little photon squeeze lights for my application?

Oops, sorry, should have posted in LEDs...

more durable, longer batt life, cooler looking, bombproof, waterproof, it's an arc and it comes from peter gransee!

you cannot destroy the arc aaa!

get the arc!

For your purposes, I think a squeeze light like the Photon II Microlight makes more sense than the the Arc AAA. At about the size and weight of a US quarter, it's very easy to carry, loose in the pocket or on a key chain.

I am an Arc fan. That being said, if all you are going to use it for reading menu's, go for the Photon II. It is cheaper and a bit easier to carry.

Not trying to undermine the photon 2 idea, but if you are looking to go the budget route try

http://www.countycomm.com/light10.htm

just received an order for 20 of the little suckers. $26 total w/ shipping. Gave them out as stocking stuffers. At that price you could have one on the keys, a couple of spares for pocket carry, one for the wife, in the car, in the bathroom, workbench, etc, etc.......

Flame on,
I assume that since you are a member of this forum, you tend to lean towards rather unique solutions to your lighting needs. Get the Arc AAA, come on... you know you want it! Besides, with those 40 eyes looking at the menu, it would be cool to whip out something interesting to talk about while you wait for your food.
Generally speaking, the Arc AAA will have a nice pure white lite--great for checking the clarity of that expensive wine you drink. With accurate color lighting, you will know what you are getting. With the Arcs regulation, you will get consistant light level and color to check the wines over time. OK, it is quite a stretch to justify the little guy, such is life on this forum.

Oh my..now I have some thinking to do...I will probably wind up with both...how did I become so addicted to light?

Originally posted by FlameOn:
I will probably wind up with both

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Ahh, good. You'll do find here.

you'll make a great flashaholic!

I'm going to first go with Webley's advice. At 26 bucks for 20, I can't go wrong...should have thought of this earlier...would have saved some serious money on Christmas shopping..these little lights make killer gifts..

the arc will pay for itself in money saved on batteries, may take a little longer since i saw duracell 2016's at lowe's for 1.18 a piece. my arc rides with my keys, my inova microlight sits in a drawer and sees little use.

My first read-I thought "big menu board with more than 40 I's" Second read--20 other people looking on Third read--Some strange ethnic cuisine.
Finally my over 40 (not IQ apparently) brain kicks in.
Go with the ARC as you will get one anyhow and you might as well get it first. Real world advantage is easy to find batteries, long battery life and almost indestructible

I have some Arc AAA's and Photon II's. Overall, I use my Arc a lot more, however, for menus, TV guides, pill bottles etc, I find the beam of the Photon much better. The Arc is almost too bright and I get a glare from it that makes the TV guide harder to read. My Arcs all have a hot spot, then a ring around the hot spot, then some spill light. The ring makes it harder to read small print for me. The photon just has a hot spot that fades out as it gets wider. It's a smoother, more uniform light. The Arc is a much more useful light overall though.

Originally posted by webley445:
Not trying to undermine the photon 2 idea, but if you are looking to go the budget route try

http://www.countycomm.com/light10.htm

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Wow, that is a great deal as long as they basically "work". I assume they are disposable meaning battery change is not possible? You can't buy two CR2016 batteries alone that cheap. Please let us know your impression of the lights.

IMHO; great light for the money spent. Went thru the lights, some variations in spot quality, nothing worth worrying about for a simple , inexpensive squeezer. Some spots whiter, some bluer. Cannot see anyway to disassemble, I assume they are disposable, but I'm sure some ingenius mind can figure how to recycle them. If nothing else worth the but to salvage the LED later to use in home projects. I like these little things for what they are. cheap, affordable, no great loss if lost or given away. At first use compared with my Photon 2, but no knowledge of runtime, dimming of light with use. But brand new they are really bright.

Just experimented, case is easily pried open with small screwdriver or blade. Now keep in mind that these are little $1 each cheapies, so don't be getting your hopes too high, but at a buck apeice [1.30 w/shipping], I could sell them at gun shows for $3 each and make out pretty well.

So my advice would be to not buy any of these so that I can have them all to myself.

Ooops... I EDC two Photons (II yellow and III white) and an ARC AAA. I also have one of the UV squeezies from CountyComm. Each light has a purpose so, I say, get them all!

Might be a little large for your needs, but I go for a CMG Infinity. Long hours plus the fact it's bright enough without over doing it. ARC AAA is great but I went for the Infinity as a always-with-me light mainly for that fact plus the long 40hrs rating. Once used my Opalec to shine off a wood table at a restaurant and everyone raised a stink, that what I get for going to a dim-lit place. If I needed more light, there's always my Ultra, Opalec, ARC LE or Inretech. BUT, not in a restaurant. My 2cents worth.

Okay, so if I consider them disposable, how long is the shelf life of these paticular batteries..would rather give most of them away then hold on to 6 or 7 and later find out they are kaput...