Arc AAA vs. Peak Mattherhorn

If you compared an Arc AAA, 1 LED Peak Mattherhorn high power, and 3 LED Matterhorn high power, which one would be the brightest, which one the least brightest? I want to tell me what looks teh brightest, from your own experience and not the results of a review.

EDIT: The reason I'm asking is because the 3LED and the Arc have similar Overall Output ratings on Flashlight Reviews and I want to know which one actually looks brighter and if there is a big difference between the three.

Thanks

My 3 LED high power Matterhorn is initially maybe twice the brightness of a standard Arc AAA. The Peak appears to have a steeper drop-off in output, so after a couple hours there seems to be little difference. The Peak's beam is tighter, so greater throw, and the snow LED's are much whiter. If you're planning for the Peak to be a light that disappears in your pocket, like the Arc, be sure to get the HA. My brass one is just too heavy (2x) for pocket carry like my Arc.

Geoff

I'm not too worried about battery life since I almost always have extra AAAs lying around. I was thinking about getting the HA Peak, but I just don't know which one. What about the difference in brightness between the single hi output LED Matterhorn and the Arc AAA or the Peak ultra power? Also, what's the difference between the 3 types (key chain, lug, pocket) of Matterhorns besides their lengths?

Thanks

Get the Matterhorn Ultra, its about four times as bright as either of my ARC AAA's. My estimate of brightness assuming an ARC AAA as 1 unit:

ARC AAA = 1 unit
Matterhorn High Single = 2 units
Matterhorn Ultra Single = 3 units
Matterhorn Ultra Triple = 4 units

The Ultra Triple is ridiculously bright, I'm amazed at the output. The Ultra Single is just a little dimmer, so those wanting the most compact light might chose one (the triple head is about 30% longer).

How many units would the Hi triple be?

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rodmeister said:
Get the Matterhorn Ultra, its about four times as bright as either of my ARC AAA's. My estimate of brightness assuming an ARC AAA as 1 unit:

ARC AAA = 1 unit
Matterhorn High Single = 2 units
Matterhorn Ultra Single = 3 units
Matterhorn Ultra Triple = 4 units

The Ultra Triple is ridiculously bright, I'm amazed at the output. The Ultra Single is just a little dimmer, so those wanting the most compact light might chose one (the triple head is about 30% longer).

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I'm interested in the 3LED Ultra. Any thoughts on a stainless body?

What is the difference between the 3 body versions - Lug, Keychain and Pocket?

The key chain model has a screwed-in lug with a ring on it for a key chain. It's HUGE compared to an ARC AAA, way too big for an AAA light in my opinion, unless you have huge hands and consider the ARC too small.

The lugged model is the same size and configuration as the ARC AAA.

The pocket model is like an ARC AAA with the lug cut off, the most compact and my favorite since I use a clip on it and appreciate the shorter length. BTW the Matterhorn AAA Single Pocket model is shorter than an ARC AAA since it lacks the lug, but the Matterhorn AAA Triple Pocket is about the length of an ARC AAA because the longer head length is cancelled out by the lack of a lug. All this this can be confusing, my head is spinning as I write this,until you purchase some lights.

I can't agree with those numbers. I'd say: Arc AAA = 1 unit, Peak single high = 0.5 units. I have two Peak single highs to compare with my Arc AAA and with several CMG Ultras (about the same as Arc AAA). It follows from the specs, too; the Peak highs run at lower current than the Arc. Peak (unlike Arc) decided to stay within engineering specs by not overdriving their LED's, so the Peak high was dimmer but got more battery runtime. Eventually, customer demand led Peak to offer the Ultra versions, which are overdriven, probably about the same as the Arc.

I just (today!) got a Peak 3-led Ultra and it's much brighter than an Arc AAA--maybe 3x brighter but I'll want to do some more comparisons before reporting that number with any confidence.

The body versions: keychain = removable screw-in keychain post at the end of the light, makes the light longer. I don't like this very much.

Lug = keychain hole is on a tab that's an integral part of the body, like the Arc AAA. I like this. Light is maybe 1 cm shorter than keychain version.

Pocket = no keychain or lanyard hole at all, shortest of the three. I wouldn't advise this, the lights are too easy to lose that way.

I have four Peak lights now: prototype brass lug body, 1-led High lug body, 3-led Ultra lug body, and 1-led High stainless steel. The stainless looks really beautiful, but the light weighs a ton, and the keychain post isn't to my liking design-wise. The brass is also very heavy. I'd stick with HA for practical use and the other metals for collecting or show.

thx rodmeister
I had a pretty good idea the lug was like an AAA Arc, but wasn't sure of the other two.
edit: thx paulr as well

I've read other posts saying their ARC AAA is brighter than the Peak Single High, but my two ARC lights, one of them a Special Edition are indeed dimmer. Don't know why, maybe I got some bad samples.

Peak ultra power 1xLED. no contest.I got a brand new one lug body single LED talked with curt the other day, the regulation has been revised, and will run longer i was told the an arc at peak brightness, and is even brighter now.(even if not, it ain't as important to me as output) And it's really bright!, much brighter the most any other 5mm. Mine is brighter bright as a non cherry picked 26K LED.

It got some common sense stuff i really like, better machining then on my ARC, and the anti rattle pad in in the body, not glued to the head. Workmanship is to notch, and the look's if you care about those thing's I don't,, to my eye is more classy imho. when i ordered i didn't expect it to be as nice, or the snow LED to actually throw unlike the arc,with goor spill it's a damn good light. VDG

Yes, thanks for the explaination on the sizes. I don't like how the lug style can't stand on end, but I guess that's ok since it's shorter. So does anyone have a second opinion on the Arc 1LED Ultra, is it brigher than the Arc AAA? What about the Triple high output?


EDIT: Nevermind, the part about the Arc AAA and peak 1xLED ultra, I didn't see the post above until after I posted.

The 3-led high is supposed to be brighter than the 1-led Arc. I believe high=20 mA, ultra=35 mA or so, and ultra is about the same as the Arc. There's nothing more advanced or inherently expensive about the Ultra (even though they charge more for it), it's just a matter of changing a resistor and deciding to run the led a little bit outside of spec. The Arc with its bluish-white led might still be a little brighter than the Peak Ultra with "snow" led, if the snow led is less efficient, which it might be.

The 3-led ultra completely stomps the Arc. Much brighter and the "snow" beam color is almost neutral (mine has a slight pink cast). The pink cast might result from the overdrive. I have two snow/high/1-led Peaks around here and can't find either one! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

There are these new Nichia leds being used in the Photon Freedom and maybe they'll find their way into the 3-led Matterhorn pretty soon. That will be the ultimate in brightness for this type of light, though the color neutrality won't be so good. However, I think the existing 3-led Ultra is already making various Arc/Luxeon mods less worthwhile.

paulr,
Can you throw a NiMH AAA cell in the Ultra and see how bright it is? A little dimmer would be fine by me as long as the output is more stable.

I don't have a meter and it's not easy to tell with an eyeball test because of the delay involved in swapping batteries around. But it seems to me that it's a little bit brighter with an alkaline. If I get ambitious I might try making some beamshots this weekend, using identical exposure for both types of batteries so the shots can be compared.

I'll probably use the included Panasonic industrial alkaline cell for a runtime test (it has a few minutes on it now) and then will run the light on L92 lithiums. I don't use a keychain light enough for battery expense to be an issue. If anything, I care more about avoiding self-discharge.

This light is a real winner and unless you're paranoid about runtime, I'd say it completely dethrones the Arc AAA.

A little testing...........
After a little over 5 hr's running the peak is still much brighter then the arc AAA-P, these are the single LED light's (I don't really want a ultra 3 LED on me, plus i where mine on a dog chain around my neck)

The batt's are duracell ultra's and the peak is in moon mode or whatever (dim) the peak is just starting to get dimmer. My main batt will be a lithium. Oscar said it will work with nimh, lith, li Ion, CZ, and alki's.

On fresh batt's the peak is much brighter (ultra/snow Hi Po) plus as i said earlier it will throw, a big plus, and still flood for up close. I just got this light new direct from peak monday. Love it so far! VDG


Good light recommended. VDG

That's an encouraging report, VDG. The one thing that's made me hesitate buying a Peak was the apparent lack of regulation - sounds as if they've addressed the issue... and quite well, at that. Yay!

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voodoogreg said:
Mine is brighter bright as a non cherry picked 26K LED.


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That's what I wanted to hear. Now it's time to seriously think about the AAA Matterhorn if I need another AAA light (already have my one and only ArcAAA)

VDG, why don't you want to carry a 3-led ultra? It's only about 5mm longer than the 1-led. I'm wondering if there's some other reason (runtime?). Given the runtime curves of the 1-led hi-power Peaks, I suspect that the 3-led Ultra will still be producing usable light after 8 hours. I need to test this though.