Blast from the past- flashlight

Discussion in 'Functional Gear & Equipment' started by Hanzo, Jan 24, 2015.


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  1. Hanzo

    Hanzo Monkey+++

    Recently went through an old survival tin. I knew what was in it, but dug out the old trusty Arc AAA Premium to play with.

    Far from the brightest light and it doesn't throw very far. But it has got to be the most rugged light I own.

    As you can tell by the name, it is powered by one AAA battery. In fact, it is barely bigger than the battery itself. It gives a nice floody 10 lumens or so. And will go at least five hours before hitting 50% brightness. And even then, it will go on for a long time. Even though dimmer, still useful when it's very dark. Even saw where they took batteries that were drained in other lights and the Arc still lit up pretty bright.

    Here's a beam shot to the roof from about six feet.

    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1422092917.241227.

    Plenty enough for close quarters.

    Here's what sold me on this little, expensive key chain light. It's one tough buggah! Read stories about a guy spelunking and lost his. Found it washed out in a stream five years later. Stuck in a new battery and it works. It works frozen solid. Read one story of it being dropped something like 4,000 feet and it still works. To me, what's amazing is they were even found.

    Saw one where the light got bent and it was still running.

    Not the brightest, but reasonably long lasting. Oh, and waterproof to 100 feet. Light won't really do anything for you underwater except mark your spot. But it will handle.

    It has long since been retired as my EDC, but back in the day...
     
  2. Hanzo

    Hanzo Monkey+++

    Maybe the next thing to review is my old Benchmade Bench Mite, sharing the tin with the Arc.
     
  3. Bear

    Bear Monkey+++ Founding Member Iron Monkey

    That's a classic and a collectors item now @Hanzo tough as nails and that little single led will last forever ;) yup Gerber made a bigger version that was IMHO just as good but larger....
     
    Tully Mars and Hanzo like this.
  4. Hanzo

    Hanzo Monkey+++


    I think Arc is still in business and still selling them. Or at least their website is still up.
     
  5. Hanzo

    Hanzo Monkey+++

    Here's what the light looks like.

    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1422169244.877873.

    Compared to today's LED flashlights, it's not very bright. But how bright is it?

    Bright enough to light up most rooms to see by. Here, it is nicely lighting up a bathroom. It started to get chilly, so I took a hot shower. You may be able to see the steam.

    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1422169409.873940.

    I went outside and took this one. The figurine is 3-4 feet tall and I was 6-8 feet away. So you can navigate in the dark with it.

    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1422169483.913259.

    And 10 lumens will "x-ray" your finger. Or another way to give you a low red light.

    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1422169519.217490.
     
    kellory likes this.
  6. kellory

    kellory An unemployed Jester, is nobody's fool. Banned

    For deer hunting, a small light is what you want, when getting into, or out of your stand/blind in the dark. More light just spooks everything in the neighborhood. Red is best, simply because deer can not see reds, so they know something is there, but the nature if their intruder is not well defined.
     
    Hanzo likes this.
  7. Hanzo

    Hanzo Monkey+++

    Benchmade Bench Mite

    Another "old" item from a survival tin.

    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1422230835.073488.

    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1422230960.315952.

    It is quite small, very easily fitting in an Altoids tin. In fact, I think it will fit in a mini.

    One of the things I really like it the lock. It locks both in the open and closed position. The small size makes me feel downright abo. Like I'm using a modern flint tool. Despite the small size, it is most solid and quite hefty. And it is shaving sharp. Made very tight little curls. But then, all sharp blades should do that.

    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1422231167.566966.
     
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  8. Hanzo

    Hanzo Monkey+++

    Was looking for an old video and found an old blog that I had started...

    Hanzo's Outdoors
     
    Bear likes this.
  9. Bear

    Bear Monkey+++ Founding Member Iron Monkey

    That was cool @Hanzo kids were so young... ;)
     
    Hanzo likes this.
  10. Hanzo

    Hanzo Monkey+++


    Mahalo @Bear. See you tomorrow. Soupy kine weather for sure.
     
  11. Hanzo

    Hanzo Monkey+++

    Not too distant past, I updated my EDC flashlight to a Fenix E99Ti. Great little light. 4 lumens for 28 hours, 27 lumens for over 4 hours, and 100 lumens for 50 minutes.

    4 lumens is enough to most close quarters use, 27 for most everything else you would ask of a AAA pocket flashlight, and 100 lumens is pretty frickin bright in this small form factor. Full disclosure is the 100 lumens drops off to 27 after about three minutes, but you can switch it back to high for three minutes immediately. It does this to protect the light as it gets hot on high. No problem on low and medium.

    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1422256879.174456.

    Here are some similar beam shots as taken with the Arc +P.

    The shower scene.

    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1422256939.562511.

    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1422256952.113043.

    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1422256962.548312.

    The "x-ray"

    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1422256989.299772.

    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1422256999.650421.

    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1422257008.701618.

    The figurine from 6-8 feet

    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1422257031.653499.

    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1422257047.338251.

    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1422257058.589245.

    Kind of self explanatory they were low medium high.

    Please share your gear for us to see too. No OPSEC issues here. I don't care if people know I carry a small flashlight and a Swiss Army knife. I haven't disclosed anything pertinent like my adamantium claws... Oh cr@p! Must edit...
     
    Yard Dart likes this.
  12. Hanzo

    Hanzo Monkey+++

    I just realized, looking back, that the shower scene was done at a different angle. Close enough. I didn't realize I held it with a different hand tonight.

    When I teach qigong and taiji, I add my little twist to some of the exercises to work both sides of the brain. That makes doing things ambidextrously less uncomfortable. And doing things ambidextrously works both sides of your brain.
     
  13. Hanzo

    Hanzo Monkey+++

    I dropped the Fenix light onto linoleum from about 2 -2 1/2 feet height and the light went out. Wasn't broken because I could turn it back on and everything works and it is still waterproof. But if that happened in pitch black outside, your light is possible gone. That illustrates the value of tethers when you are out and about. Overkill at home.

    So I thought, I bet the Arc wouldn't go out. So I dropped it from three feet on its head. No problem. Still lit.

    I think I dropped the Fenix on its head and that was enough to nudge the light off. The Arc is tighter, but less smooth. No problem with one handed operation. But tight enough to be tumbled around in a river and still be operational. I am doubting the Fenix survives the same torture.

    But for EDC, the Fenix is quite awesome. You get the combination of nice looks, reasonable toughness, a frickin bright option and a dimmer, very long run time option.

    Am getting an Armytek Wizard Pro XM-L2 Warm for my wife for her trail runs and early morning or evening runs, when she takes those. Max is 1,100+ lumens. And runtime galore on the lower levels. 9 days at a very usable 6 lumens. Waterproof to 10 meters and drop tested to 10 meters also, according to specs. I think that is tough enough for my wife.

    This is a very good review from youtube fixture virtiovice in Japan. (He likes his knives and lights!)

     
  14. kellory

    kellory An unemployed Jester, is nobody's fool. Banned

    This knife was made by my grandfather, as s boy. It was some sort of kit, where you used leather discs to form the grip as fit your hand best, then sand the discs together.
    You may notice, it is a true survival knife, with a good blade that still holds an edge, and a built in bottle opener.
    The lanyard ring locks the handle to the tang. IMG_20150127_092701321. IMG_20150127_092711912. IMG_20150127_092821020.
     
    Tully Mars likes this.
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