A fair comparison?...Pelican M6 LED & ARC LSH-S

First I bought a Pelican M6 LED. Then I bought an ARC LSH-S. The M6 has a "pure white" powerful overall beam, with good sidespill and a nice adjustable spot beam. It is a 6 volt system.....two CR 123 batteries, rated at 41 lumens. The LSH-S has an "off-white" much less powerful overall beam, with good sidespill and a nice fixed spot beam. It is a 3 volt system.....one CR 123 battery, rated at 14-18 lumens.

Is it fair and proper to compare the two lights on any level?

The Arc LSH wins hands-down...if only for its small size. Again, it depends on what one needs. I'm sure that for some applications I'd prefer the Peli. Is the Peli regulated and what's the runtime? How does the build/waterproof quality compare?

Re: A fair comparison?...Pelican M6 LED & ARC LS

It appears that the Arc is about the output of the KL1 module.
If that is true, then one would have to really be an Arc fan to pay the additional price, assuming he already had a SF E series light.

It is no contest as to brightness and throw between the PM6-LED and the Arc.

For some of us the cost of the Arc is not worth it when comparing with other lights.

Jerry

Re: A fair comparison?...Pelican M6 LED & ARC LS

My first post...

I've actually recently got my hands on both of these lights (PM6 LED and LSH). I'd say they both have their strengths(you can carry the LSH around easily yet the M6 is brighter and has better runtime).

If you take cost into consideration I would say the M6 is a better deal. You can get 2 for the price of 1 LSH.

Andy

Re: A fair comparison?...Pelican M6 LED & ARC LS

According to a technician at Pelican Products, the M6 LED is neither voltage nor current regulated. But it does have a "passive ballast" (?) to extend the period of highest brightness. I am awaiting the official runtime vs output levels from the tech. For now this is a very rough estimate:
> 40 hours constant run. Longer, if used intermittently.
> 4 hours at 41 lumens = 100% output.
> 4 hours at 50% output.
> 25 hours at 35% output.
> 7 hours at 25% output.

Extra info from Pelican:
> 10,000 hour Luxeon 1 watt LED
> CNC milled solid aluminum body, knurled in the middle for grip.
> Cordura heavy duty holster, and two Energizer e2 123 lithium batteries included.
> Water resistant (?)

> When I first received the light, I measured the current draw to be 535 mA.

I will keep you posted.......

Re: A fair comparison?...Pelican M6 LED & ARC LS

[ QUOTE ]
According to a technician at Pelican Products, the M6 LED is neither voltage nor current regulated. But it does have a "passive ballast" (?) to extend the period of highest brightness.

[/ QUOTE ]

A what? Anyone understand that term and can explain what it means?

Re: A fair comparison?...Pelican M6 LED & ARC LS

ha, i was wondering the same.
sounds like some mysterious stealth regulator! ha

Re: A fair comparison?...Pelican M6 LED & ARC LS

Well...humm. The Arc is smaller...runs on only one batt...but...is not as bright...runs for about half the time. The Arc cost a little more...but fits in the pocket better as the head is smaller. Guess perhaps if size doen`t matter I would compare the brightness with the M6 being run after four hour to the brightness of an Arc with a new batt and see which one puts out more...you can always carry an extra batt for the Arc...so is the M6 brighter with 4 hours on the batts than the Arc at the start...and after 6 hours on the M6 and 2 hours on the Arc? Maybe not fair either...and I don`t know which would win/be brighter. Wait for others to chime in.

Ken

Re: A fair comparison?...Pelican M6 LED & ARC LS

Passive ballast sounds like a fancy name for a resistor...

Re: A fair comparison?...Pelican M6 LED & ARC LS

[ QUOTE ]
BlindedByTheLite said:
ha, i was wondering the same.
sounds like some mysterious stealth regulator! ha

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm guessing its some kind of resistor. I know the M6 uses a resistor that keeps voltage below the total battery voltage to protect the LED from being fried. I would assume it keeps voltage at the maximum required to power the LED at full brightness without supplying to much voltage to the LED (the 6 volts of the 2 3 volt batteries would instantly fry the LED). Perhaps this resistor by keeping voltage lower than what the 2 batteries have in reserve conserves battery power passively until the voltage drops to a point where the transistor is no longer needed to protect the LED? Then, perhaps as voltage drops below the threshold of the transistor, the batteries are running down quicker and the brightness dims noticably?

Just a thought, I have no clue about electronics.

Re: A fair comparison?...Pelican M6 LED & ARC LS

[ QUOTE ]
PhotonBoy said:
Passive ballast sounds like a fancy name for a resistor...

[/ QUOTE ]

Yea, that or the natural tendancy of lithiums to hold tough LOL. Like to see how they explain this concept /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Re: A fair comparison?...Pelican M6 LED & ARC LS

I am a huge fan of Arc, but the output of the LS does not compare to the Pelican M6, not even close.
However, for EDC, you can't beat the Arc! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Re: A fair comparison?...Pelican M6 LED & ARC LS

[ QUOTE ]
jasonbulb said:
I am a huge fan of Arc, but the output of the LSH does not compare to the Pelican M6, not even close.
However, for EDC, you can't beat the Arc! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

The Pelican kills the Arc especially in beam tint. My Arc LSH-S has dark pink to light purple tint when compared side by side to my Pelican M6 LED (which has a pure white tint to my untrained eyes). In addition, the Pelican has much greater output (sidespill and throw).

The Arc LSH is great for EDC (it carries in the pouch like a feather), but you can't compare it performance-wise to the much whiter and brighter Pelican M6 LED. For top quality beam characteristics, top whiteness in beam, and better throw/sidespill, the Pelican M6 LED wins by a great margin. And at $60, the Pelican gives you much better beam characterists and output than the $100 Arc LSH-S (lots more bang-for-the-buck).

As far as water resistence, Arc wins by a huge margin. The Pelican can get wet and be okay, but it cannot be submerged. The Arc can be submerged.

Another area the Arc wins is regulation--its 95% bright after 2 hours (then it dims dramatically). The Pelican does not have true regulation, although its run time is longer.

With that said, I recommend both. The Pelican is better for larger jobs, and the Arc is better for EDC.

Re: A fair comparison?...Pelican M6 LED & ARC LS

Better is a relative term. One has to define the conditions before one light can be judged better than another (within reason, of cours).

Regarding the M6 mumbo jumbo. Probably just a resistor to drop the voltage from the two batts. Beyond that, regulation really isn't needed since the light runs off of lithiums which have an extremely flat discharge curve. Fancy circuitry is only needed in lights which have batteries with less voltage than the LED needs, if the light runs on alkalines or if adjustable output is desired (which it usually is for me).

Re: A fair comparison?...Pelican M6 LED & ARC LS

IMO, not really a fair comparison. Different lights for different purposes. Sure, the M6 is brighter, but it won't fit in your pocket.

The real answer is: Buy Both /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif