Arc flashlight is officially out of business...again

[GoVegan]

I was very sad to see this thread the day it started a few weeks back, I was really wanting to order the ARC AAA-P, and was only on Arc's site the night before thinking about ordering one.
Probably the light I regret not buying years ago the most. I strongly considered buying one back in 2011, but ended up buying the Fenix e01 (then a bunch more as gifts). I thought about it often since then but really couldn't justify the use case as the e01 outperformed it in every way really.
Still the Arc had a certain appeal that some people can appreciate especially with it's history.

 

[LightInDarkness]

My best to Peter Gransee and his company. When the ARC light was introduced there wasn't much going on in the LED world. There were flashlights of course but the ARC light was a giant step forward to me at least. It was brighter than I had been familiar with and the container was a beautiful piece of machined aluminum hard anodized as well. In short I purchased a number of them-some with green LED emitters also and a couple AA ARC lights. Peter's primary objective was to manufacture a quality light in a size that the buyer would be able to carry easily every day all day and have available when a light was needed. The ARC AAA fulfilled this objective hands down. It made a great key ring fob. For me though I put it on a light cord and hung it around my neck. It is with me day and night. I can't recall all the times it has been most useful having it always available. Another light that was at the beginning was the CMG infinity and infinity ultra. AA battery fed. A simple light. A dependable light. An easily carried light. So Peter and the ARC LED flashlights have been the vanguard of what we have today in flashlights. Thank you Peter. I for one will enjoy the ARC flashlights until I pass them on.

 

[LightInDarkness]

Wanted to mention the Maratac AAA flashlights available from CountyComm. They have three output levels and come in several different metals. I have purchased several of them and they are well made and certainly of an EDC size.

 

[kelmo]

Bummer!

Arc got me hooked. I hope Peter and Merri are doing well. I lost an Arc AAA at the water park this summer. My stash is down to 3 originals and 2 post Peter variants. Plus an Arc LSH, Arc 6, and 3 Arc AA. I still to this day carry one on vacation and when swimming. They are bomb proof.

All good things have to end...

 

[carrot]

I'm really sad about this. I went to look at their website the other day and found it completely shut down.

I still think that the Arc-AAA is one of the finest keychain lights of all time. It's more compact than nearly any other AAA light on the market and had a great driver setup with its 5 hours "sun" and 5 hours of "moon" -- just what you'd want out of any backup light. It was also more than bright enough for most things when you really needed it.

I'll treasure my two Arc-AAA's and Arc-AA for many more years to come.

 

[parametrek]

I'm really annoyed that I completely missed their return after the first time they closed up! I would have bought one.

 

[StandardBattery]

I must be strange; the poor quality dim light of ARC never really did it for me; maybe if I had started a little earlier I'd feel different. My Fenix AAA lights always made ARC look sad to me, and I never had a problem with the robustness of the Fenix lights (now run SS version). I guess my keys only take so much tumbling. I did buy a few as gifts because they were simple single mode lights, but I was shocked they survived as long as they did. Still they seem very important to the Flashlight market so for that reason I respect the original company's vision.

 

[geepondy]

I was on the early pre-order and received the number 7th production of the Arc LS. It came with the head and three kit bodies for different battery configurations. The single CR123 twisty body and head ended up being my favorite and received regular use for a few years. I have a couple Arc AAA's but they just sit in a drawer. The arrival of the ITP i3 spelled the end of that.

 

[chillinn]

... like they wanted maximum money for each and every light.

I have an ARC AAA UV. I actually use it a lot, every day. I like it. I paid about $40 for it. That is $30 too much. I bet it cost them less than a dollar to make. It doesn't make any sense to me that a company can go out of business selling a product 1000x the cost of manufacture. That's nuts, and everyone is "so sad, so nostalgic... ," when it is obvious to me, at least, is that after Arc fleeced every customer they ever had for all they could get, they likely stole from themselves. Collapsing from within is a perfectly valid way to run out of business.

 

[Lithium466]

That's a page of flashlight history that has turned, even if for me it turned many years ago. An unfortunately sad story after a "sad saga" during "the Arc years"
My favorite one were the Arc4 and variants, fortunately they are sort of still alive through the HDS lineup The first HDS ultimate were very close evolution of the design...so were the Novatac, and so on, to the current HDS lineup.

Like 3dfx in it domain, Arc flashlight will be (for me) "forever gone, but never forgotten", and remain the flashlight that started it all. My sympathy to Peter Grandsee.

 

[lampeDépêche]

I was on the early pre-order and received the number 7th production of the Arc LS. It came with the head and three kit bodies for different battery configurations. The single CR123 twisty body and head ended up being my favorite and received regular use for a few years.

Same here! I liked the CR123 body so much, that I lost both it and the head at the same time. I still have the single-AA and double-AA battery-tubes, with no head to go with them. Keep thinking I should just toss them out, but I don't.

I'm pretty sure that I lost that light one Halloween when I was taking a bunch of kids out in our neighborhood. I handed out a variety of lights to a bunch of kids, and some of them did not come back. Oh well. By that time, my Arc LS had lost its place in my EDC to an early SF E1 with the K-series LED head.

 

[Mike 208]

I still have an Arc AAA (black body, yellow LED), as well as a "Arc-LS First Run #1094," with the CR123, single AA and double AA tubes. Both lights still work, but not currently being used. I bought them during my early days with CPF, circa 2004 (IIRC - I was using a different computer and user name), due to all of the positive reviews.

 

[GoVegan]

Arc please come back again.

My understanding (perhaps wrongly) was that Arc flashlights were machined by Peak, if so Peak should buy the rights to market and continue the Arc classic. Single mode 5 mm Nichia, nothing more nothing less, just the same ol' light that everybody loved.... perhaps at a bit cheaper price too if possible.
Sadly I never owned one but still regret that.

 

[GoVegan]

BTW it just reminded me as I saw what appears to be an Arc flashlight on the keychain in the video at 00:32:
Synapse 19 vs Synapse 25
https://vimeo.com/108250716

 

[gurdygurds]

Fenix E01 is MY Arc AAA. Everything that the people that loved and still love the ARC say about the light is exactly what I say about my Fenix E01s right now. I tried one of the newer ARC AAA and it just wasn't to be. The E01 already had me. I do think that design wise an Arc AAA in natural is one of the coolest, cleanest, most utilitarian looking lights you can get.

I must be strange; the poor quality dim light of ARC never really did it for me; maybe if I had started a little earlier I'd feel different. My Fenix AAA lights always made ARC look sad to me, and I never had a problem with the robustness of the Fenix lights (now run SS version). I guess my keys only take so much tumbling. I did buy a few as gifts because they were simple single mode lights, but I was shocked they survived as long as they did. Still they seem very important to the Flashlight market so for that reason I respect the original company's vision.

 

[RGRAY]

I was very lucky to find an ARC-P alm natural AAA and an ARC-P GS alm black AAA new in package on Ebay.

 

[Witterings]

Seems flashlight companies are like artists ..... nobody wants their work and to help them survive when they're in business (read alive for an artist) but everybody wants it and wishes they'd bought some of their work when they're gone!!!

 

[Vox Clamatis in Deserto]

BTW it just reminded me as I saw what appears to be an Arc flashlight on the keychain in the video at 00:32:
Synapse 19 vs Synapse 25

I think you are right. Tom Bihn's bags are a lot like the Arc flashlights, well made in the U.S.A. with a cult following. And there is an Arc(teryx) jacket in the video as well. I own all three brands.

 

[HesNot]

I know this is an old thread - but was digging around and just realized that arc has officially disappeared (hadn't had much cause to search them out ...)

Add me to those who reflect (mostly) fondly on the ARC history. An ARC AAA was my first really decent LED flashlight followed rather quickly by an LSH-P which truly was the light that hooked me. I had one or two other LSH lights including the 2xAA extender tube and they were great lights and really impressive at the time.

I owned an Arc 4+ and it was a phenomenal idea that in function didn't work terribly well. It had the Henry designed UI that I love to this day and that lives on in the HDS lights albeit updated. And it was, and may still be, the nicest body design of any non custom light I've held. It was ultimately doomed by the switch design which if you've owne any of the legacy UI lights (HDS, Novatac, Ra, etc...) is really fundamental to operation due to the reliance on click patterns. IIRC it relied on a head mounted electronic switch that in turn relied on the battery size etc... effectively making contact. I sold mine it was not reliable. But I lamented it's demise as it was a looker and the first of a generation of lights I enjoy to this day. I still use a K2 modded Novatac 120P (Henry era) and had an HDS U60 prior to that. The UI remains my all time favorite - I only wish Henry would make a more svelte model - his design philosophy has veered toward the more robust and the original HDS lights were already pushing what I felt comfortable carrying in business pockets.

I am likely alone in this one - but I also have an Arc6 and actually like it. It seemed like the best blend of McGizmo's classic PD design and ARCs innovative software. I still use it regularly as an EDC light, warts and all. The PD interface is well known and is pretty useful still - plus it allowed it to be a really portable/pocketable form factor. Mine has a K2 emitter which improves it a good bit over stock. It has it's warts - even not discussing the marketing/release issues - the driver is not terribly efficient and on high it has some inductor whine. But it is programmable and I've got it setup with level 1, 3 and 7 and find it to be a great daily EDC light. The story is an interesting one - perhaps also one of the issues - Peter was if nothing else a dreamer and at least anecdotally went into a lot of deep explorations when working on the design for this light - many of those explorations never made it to production or went unrealized (there is a connection point on the board which was supposedly intended to allow users to configure the interface themselves - but serves no function in practice).

I only own the Arc6 - wish I still had one or two AAAs around - the others being sold or traded at various points.

But a salud to ARC for being truly a pioneer in the LED flashlight history.

 

[this_is_nascar]

Cheers to Peter and what he's done for the LED flashlight industry.