Gransee
Flashlight Enthusiast
Many happenings at Arc recently. Not everything can be posted publically but we have been busy! Here are some updates on several programs:
AAA/AA intermittants
Some of the AAA/AA product sold in the past year suffers with an intermittant operation. Most of the time the unit will turn on but sometimes it doesn't. This makes the product unreliable for emergencies. We stopped selling the product once we knew we had a serious problem. For the past 3 months, we have been intensively testing (thousands of manual cycles, electrical, thermal, etc) to determine the cause of the problem. We now feel confident that most of the intermittant problems were caused by the DC/DC chip used in our Arc-AAA/AA circuit. The manufacturer of that chip has been very helpful and has admitted to the part not meeting their spec. They have a new build of the chip that has passed our tests but the part is in short supply. There are quite a few customers that use this chip and they all want the new stock of course. With difficulty, we have received a small number of the good chips and have begun to ship out replacements to people who have requested warranty service. If you have an Arc-AAA/AA (all models) that has intermittant operation (sometimes it turns on, sometimes it doesn't), please send the light back and we will replace it under warranty. Lead time on warranty returns is about 3-4 weeks right now.
We have also begun to fill some back orders but we are limiting new orders until we have caught up fully.
LSH Stripes
Last month, we had a batch of LSH parts come in with strange stripes that showed up in the anodize. Initially, we had no idea what was causing it and none of our contractors would admit wrong doing. We had to pay for the parts and they were assembled into LSH-S and LSH-P so we could service some of the heavy back orders we have for those products. I posted a disclaimer on our website about the stripes so people would know what they were getting. Meanwhile, we visited our vendors and continued to investigate this. One of our machine shops finally admitted to changing the stock and they agreed to replace future deliveries. This means that we paid for 1/3 of the blemished stock and they paid for 2/3. We will continue to sell out the remaining striped stock since they are excellent mechanically and electrically. Once that stock has sold out, we will offer a final batch of LSH-S/P/F without the stripes. This should allow me to end the line on a good note. We will not be offering replacements for striped units since we declared what they were before the sale and also offered refunds to those who did not know. We will continue to offer refunds of course. We are finding that demand for the striped units is surprisingly strong and we will soon be out of the LSH-P and LSHF-P units with the stripe.
We are phasing out this line because the Arc4 is designed to replace/surpass the LSH line. Since our production capabilities are limited and growth is rapid, it is better for us to focus on fewer designs.
In reflection, this has been an interesing couple of months... We have had two unusual problems we have never seen before hit our top lines. Bad chips and density lines are quite rare from what I understand. I feel like I am on a crash, "building character" course. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
We continue to experience unusually strong demand for all of our products. I think this is because of the large amount of media attention we have received in the past 6 months (radio, tv, magazines, etc). This has created a shortage of course and some people have gotten upset with us for the long lead times. We lost one of our dealers because they just couldn't wait any longer for us to ship their order. I understand this and it is unfortunate when we loose people. But having a strong demand for the product is a good thing. To a point. Please bear with us.
Arc4
The Arc4 has been the least troublesome new product roll out in the history of this company. Every new product has some bugs of course, but the Arc4 has been quite kind to us. I think the biggest problem with this new line has been teething issues with the new switch design. We expected this because it is such a radical design. It has received more design attention than any other single feature in the Arc4. We are continuing to improve the design to make it more reliable. Rev2 will include several refinements. We are increasing the travel in the switch which will improve operation with different types of battteries. We are also adding a cushion ring to inside of the button to reduce the rattle of the plunger. This ring can also be applied to the first design and I will try to make these rings available for free when they come in.
After a few minor adjustments, the software has been quite stable. We have been using the same build for awhile now with no need to make any changes.
We recently changed the PCB and circuit as requested by our CM. These changes make the boards easier to make and less likely to develop problems during assembly. This has improved yields noticably. With the previous design, we had to send more assemblies back for rework.
The other top "problem" with the Arc4 has been user issues. The light has a fairly radical interface and the truth is that not everyone is having a smooth go at learning/using it. Even so, we feel that the design is sound. In fact we have applied for a patent on the user interface. As people get used to the idea of "smart" flashlights, we think that support costs will go down.
There are a few other minor issues with blemishes, PCB issues (causing beacon/RFS anomolies), etc but those are definately manageable.
Understanding that I am posting this on the CPF and you guys have clear opinions on certain options, design changes, etc I should remind you that there is a distinction between product flaws and difference in opinion on the addition of certain features. Obviously, not every will agree on what features they want in a light, that is why you have designers like myself who take a risk on design elements. You then decide among the available options what will work best for you. Not everyone will buy Arc of course. As always, I highly value your input. This helps insure our designs are as usefull/practical as possible. But I also realize we will not please everyone.
At any rate, moving on.. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
The last of Rev1 Arc4s are being shipped. We are now entering a pause in Arc4 production while the rev2 parts are finished and tested. Rev2 adds knurling to the head and length to the switch travel mostly. During this time, Arc4s will become very scarce. I imagine this will create some hard feelings and I ask for your patience. We will not be taking Arc4 orders during this time.
Today I received prototypes of the 2x123 packs and the switch guard. I will be testing these for a bit and plan on posting some info here as well. The 2xAA pack was delayed for another month. I have no idea at this point when all of these accessories will go on sale. Sorry, it has been pretty busy lately and I just don't have the info in front of me right now.
I am continuing developement on the Arc4 pouch but I have been so busy lately it has fallen behind. I haven't even finished reading all your posts in the pouch thread.
I continue to test Jon's rechargeable Lithium Ion cells in my Arc4 second that I carry (all the premiums were shipped to customers so I carry a second) with good results. When/if these cells become commerically available, I recommend them for us in the Arc4. The Arc4 is the only light I know that is specifically designed to work with these cells.
There has a been several major changes here recently that I can't tell you about or at least not yet. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif Some bad, some good with the good being in the majority thankfully.
I think I covered just about everything.
Thanks again for teaming with us to make usefull flashlights.
Peter
AAA/AA intermittants
Some of the AAA/AA product sold in the past year suffers with an intermittant operation. Most of the time the unit will turn on but sometimes it doesn't. This makes the product unreliable for emergencies. We stopped selling the product once we knew we had a serious problem. For the past 3 months, we have been intensively testing (thousands of manual cycles, electrical, thermal, etc) to determine the cause of the problem. We now feel confident that most of the intermittant problems were caused by the DC/DC chip used in our Arc-AAA/AA circuit. The manufacturer of that chip has been very helpful and has admitted to the part not meeting their spec. They have a new build of the chip that has passed our tests but the part is in short supply. There are quite a few customers that use this chip and they all want the new stock of course. With difficulty, we have received a small number of the good chips and have begun to ship out replacements to people who have requested warranty service. If you have an Arc-AAA/AA (all models) that has intermittant operation (sometimes it turns on, sometimes it doesn't), please send the light back and we will replace it under warranty. Lead time on warranty returns is about 3-4 weeks right now.
We have also begun to fill some back orders but we are limiting new orders until we have caught up fully.
LSH Stripes
Last month, we had a batch of LSH parts come in with strange stripes that showed up in the anodize. Initially, we had no idea what was causing it and none of our contractors would admit wrong doing. We had to pay for the parts and they were assembled into LSH-S and LSH-P so we could service some of the heavy back orders we have for those products. I posted a disclaimer on our website about the stripes so people would know what they were getting. Meanwhile, we visited our vendors and continued to investigate this. One of our machine shops finally admitted to changing the stock and they agreed to replace future deliveries. This means that we paid for 1/3 of the blemished stock and they paid for 2/3. We will continue to sell out the remaining striped stock since they are excellent mechanically and electrically. Once that stock has sold out, we will offer a final batch of LSH-S/P/F without the stripes. This should allow me to end the line on a good note. We will not be offering replacements for striped units since we declared what they were before the sale and also offered refunds to those who did not know. We will continue to offer refunds of course. We are finding that demand for the striped units is surprisingly strong and we will soon be out of the LSH-P and LSHF-P units with the stripe.
We are phasing out this line because the Arc4 is designed to replace/surpass the LSH line. Since our production capabilities are limited and growth is rapid, it is better for us to focus on fewer designs.
In reflection, this has been an interesing couple of months... We have had two unusual problems we have never seen before hit our top lines. Bad chips and density lines are quite rare from what I understand. I feel like I am on a crash, "building character" course. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
We continue to experience unusually strong demand for all of our products. I think this is because of the large amount of media attention we have received in the past 6 months (radio, tv, magazines, etc). This has created a shortage of course and some people have gotten upset with us for the long lead times. We lost one of our dealers because they just couldn't wait any longer for us to ship their order. I understand this and it is unfortunate when we loose people. But having a strong demand for the product is a good thing. To a point. Please bear with us.
Arc4
The Arc4 has been the least troublesome new product roll out in the history of this company. Every new product has some bugs of course, but the Arc4 has been quite kind to us. I think the biggest problem with this new line has been teething issues with the new switch design. We expected this because it is such a radical design. It has received more design attention than any other single feature in the Arc4. We are continuing to improve the design to make it more reliable. Rev2 will include several refinements. We are increasing the travel in the switch which will improve operation with different types of battteries. We are also adding a cushion ring to inside of the button to reduce the rattle of the plunger. This ring can also be applied to the first design and I will try to make these rings available for free when they come in.
After a few minor adjustments, the software has been quite stable. We have been using the same build for awhile now with no need to make any changes.
We recently changed the PCB and circuit as requested by our CM. These changes make the boards easier to make and less likely to develop problems during assembly. This has improved yields noticably. With the previous design, we had to send more assemblies back for rework.
The other top "problem" with the Arc4 has been user issues. The light has a fairly radical interface and the truth is that not everyone is having a smooth go at learning/using it. Even so, we feel that the design is sound. In fact we have applied for a patent on the user interface. As people get used to the idea of "smart" flashlights, we think that support costs will go down.
There are a few other minor issues with blemishes, PCB issues (causing beacon/RFS anomolies), etc but those are definately manageable.
Understanding that I am posting this on the CPF and you guys have clear opinions on certain options, design changes, etc I should remind you that there is a distinction between product flaws and difference in opinion on the addition of certain features. Obviously, not every will agree on what features they want in a light, that is why you have designers like myself who take a risk on design elements. You then decide among the available options what will work best for you. Not everyone will buy Arc of course. As always, I highly value your input. This helps insure our designs are as usefull/practical as possible. But I also realize we will not please everyone.
At any rate, moving on.. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
The last of Rev1 Arc4s are being shipped. We are now entering a pause in Arc4 production while the rev2 parts are finished and tested. Rev2 adds knurling to the head and length to the switch travel mostly. During this time, Arc4s will become very scarce. I imagine this will create some hard feelings and I ask for your patience. We will not be taking Arc4 orders during this time.
Today I received prototypes of the 2x123 packs and the switch guard. I will be testing these for a bit and plan on posting some info here as well. The 2xAA pack was delayed for another month. I have no idea at this point when all of these accessories will go on sale. Sorry, it has been pretty busy lately and I just don't have the info in front of me right now.
I am continuing developement on the Arc4 pouch but I have been so busy lately it has fallen behind. I haven't even finished reading all your posts in the pouch thread.
I continue to test Jon's rechargeable Lithium Ion cells in my Arc4 second that I carry (all the premiums were shipped to customers so I carry a second) with good results. When/if these cells become commerically available, I recommend them for us in the Arc4. The Arc4 is the only light I know that is specifically designed to work with these cells.
There has a been several major changes here recently that I can't tell you about or at least not yet. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif Some bad, some good with the good being in the majority thankfully.
I think I covered just about everything.
Thanks again for teaming with us to make usefull flashlights.
Peter
