Arc AAA LED Light

7/30/06 - The diminutive Arc-AAA light from Arc Flashlight is small enough to carry on your person every day, but is amazingly bright for a light of its size. At first glance, it's easy to dismiss it as another little keychain light like the Maglite Solitaire AAA light I used to carry with my keys years ago. But closer examination reveals that this is not your common, cheap mini-LED light, but more of a miniaturized version of a higher end light, like a SureFire. It measures only 2.7" long and 0.5" in diameter, and weighs less than an ounce. Not much larger than a .308 round, it'll fit almost anywhere unnoticed. I've been wearing it on my work ID badge that hangs from a cord around my neck. It was designed to be carried every day - a flashlight isn't much use in emergencies when you don't have it on you. If you're in the habit of carrying a tactical light on your belt, the Arc is a perfect backup.
The Arc is machined out of 6061aluminum and grey Type III hard-anodized (an attractive colour I prefer to black) for corrosion resistance and durability. When I slid the metal pocket clip off the body, it was tight and I cringed as I expected it to leave a silver trail of worn-off anoziding, like it would on cheaper lights. Not a mark, even after I removed and replaced the clip quite a few times. The body and bezel are lightly knurled, enough to provide a firm, non-slip grip but not aggressive enough to be abrasive to harm what it comes into contact with. The end of the body has a hole for split-ring attachment (included) or dummy cord. The metal pocket clip can be used both ways (face it backwards and clip it to the brim of a cap for hands-free use), and is strong enough to keep the Arc in place under normal use. The gold-tinted coat on the interior of the body is Chemkote for corrosion resistance.
The head/bezel is tapered/rounded so it slips more easily into a tight pocket. It is sealed by a single O-ring to waterproof the Arc to 100 feet. There's a small foam donut on the bottom of the head which keeps the battery from rattling. Should the O-ring or donut ever wear out, Arc will replace them for free if you send in a SASE. The Arc is turned on and off by rotating the head.
As I mentioned before, it's easy for people to mistake the Arc as a Solitaire-type clone without examining it, but it's very apparent when you turn it on. The common reaction when I turn it on is 'Whoa, that thing's bright! What is that?' It's noticeably brighter than any other light of its size that I've owned. The Arc comes in two models - standard and premium. The standard has a 3 Lumen output and the premium has 5.5 Lumen output. Shown here is the premium model (marked on the body with a 'P'). A converter is used to boost the voltage of the tiny AAA battery to power the 5m Nichia LED. This was done so that the common AAA battery could be used instead of more expensive and harder to find lithiums. No matter where you are, chances are you can find a AAA if there are batteries to be found. There is no lens or separate reflector - the reflector is machined into the front of the head, with a very even beam being produced. The LED is sturdy enough to negate the need for a protective lens. For more in-depth specifications and technical information on the Arc, read their FAQs page.
The Arc is more than bright enough to navigate easily around a dark house. There wasn't much of a comparison between the Arc and a common keychain light in terms of brightness, eveness of the beam, and throw. Optimum usable continuous run time is about 5 hours on a single AAA battery, with output slowly tapering off after that. Diminished output is still usable for close-up tasks.
Carried on my badge around my neck, in my jeans watch pocket, or on a loop of PALS webbing, the Arc is forgotten almost instantly until I need it. Chalk up another one for the phrase 'Good things come in small packages'.

QUIQLITE

2/6/04 - Here's another neat item I picked up at the SHOT show. I've got a bunch of mini-LED lights - on my keychain, in my bags and gear etc, but none of them are hands-free, so when I saw the QuiqLite, I thought it was a pretty neat idea. It was designed by Brian Quittner - a LE officer. The QuiqLite clips onto your clothing, pocket, or PALS webbing - just about anywhere you can find a spot. The plastic housing forms the clip, and houses the battery. The LED swivels up on an arm through a 90° arc and can be angled anywhere in between to suit your needs. A rubber button on the front is the constant on-off switch. 2 lithium batteries provide about 40 hours of continuous use and it features a 7 minute auto-off timer. They're available with white, blue, red or green LEDs. It's very unobtrusive (about 3" long and 1" wide) and prove very useful when clipped to the front of your vest or LBE when you need that little bit of hands-free light. (Note: this model is now known as the 'Classic Quiqlite')

Update 2/4/05 - Another year, another SHOT show, almost to the day. Quiqlite now has a dual LED model - the XP-440, which incorporates 2 super-bright LEDs (available in white/white, blue/white, red/white, green/white, UV and IR models) into the same package as the Classic. The light arm swings open 180° instead of 90°. It also has a removable 'Quiq-clip', which enables it to be clipped to thicker objects. You can turn on one or both LEDs, and it's bright enough to read by when clipped to the collar of my t-shirt with a book in my lap. It can be mounted just about anywhere and is a good alternative to a headlamp for hands-free use.

3/22/06 - The little SO-LED (Special Operations LED) available from County Comm is the same one Crye uses for their Visorlites cap. Instead of a push button, it has a slide switch so you don't have to keep pressure on the switch to keep it on. It's mounted to a small metal clip which rotates 360° with 8 detents. They come in red, white and blue LEDs, and are also available without the clip as simple keychain lights. They're so inexpensive that the batteries cost more than the keychain lights! They'll clip just about anywhere and positioned correctly, you can aim them in the needed direction.

OTHER HANDHELDS

The hand held flashlight has come a long way from the Maglites that were so popular a decade ago. SureFire is at the top end of the quality and price range (but well worthit, IMHO), with a plethora of other manufacturers snapping at their heels. A good light can distract or blind an attacker momentarily, and is always useful when walking in darker areas. There are literally hundreds to choose from - I have a few 'old school' SF 6Ps, and the C2 is my only other handheld from SF. I chose it because it can be used with the SF/Rogers technique when using a handgun.
Shown here as a curiosity is a Vital Gear light (from HK I believe). They offer three different bodies (1, 2, and 3 cell). The bodies are essentially the same diameter/design as the SF Scout lights and are compatible with Scout heads, but not tail switches.

The MK6 Fingerlight on the right from CountyComm can be bought in red, white or green LED configurations and comes in a kit with includes a variety of attachment options and a little pouch. It's a hands-free alternative to the little micro LED lights. The different mounting options are: Velcro finger attachment, swan neck clip, and spectacle clip (visit the website for more details). The plastic housing has a rotating thumb switch at the rear and a clip to which the other attachments are snapped onto via a ball-and-socket configuration. The only complaint that I have is that the LED used doesn't provide an even spot of light, like the other microlights. It has bright and dark rings. It's the LED, not the clear plastic protective lens, as I took the lens off and it didn't change anything. Personally, I'd like to see a better LED used that provides more even light.

3/22/06 - Digilight USA offers quite a range of tactical flashlights, from incandescent/Xenon types to Luxeon LED lights. I've begun preferring the whiter light of the Luxeon lights, and have been using one of their LXK-53B's for a while as a general purpose light. It's a 3-watt, 70 lumen light with a 180-minute run time. It uses two 3V CR123's. The machined body allows a secure grip and is designed to be used as a hand held light, as it cannot be mounted in rings on a weapon. The push button tail cap switch is on/off, and doesn't have momentary capability, which is my only gripe. The beam is as focused as the P60 incandescent bulbs on my SureFires.
The 1 and 5-watt S-series lights shown here are slimmer lights (pre-production samples pictured). They have momentary/on push button tailcaps. The beams are wider than the LXK-53B. (note: Digilight USA has closed and is no longer in business).

Inova 24/7 LED Smartbright

This is one of the neatest little gadgets I've come across. Just about everyone I show the multi-functional Inova 24/7 to wants one - my wife commandeered my yellow one just after I got it from Woody at TRGear. The 24/7 is personal light/signal that can be worn or mounted in a variety of positions. It measures 3" high by 1.9" wide and 0.9" thick. It has 4 white, 2 red and 2 yellow LEDs and is powered by a DL123 battery. The plastic housing has an octogonal dial/bezel covered with a rubber coating that rotates to 8 different positions, which make the LEDs light up in a variety of combinations:

TAD Gear Battery cases

6/4/07 - Okay, so you've got all these lights, electronics and optics - where do you carry the batteries? TAD Gear offers their compact BC4 and BC8 pouches made specifically to fit the Batuca battery cases.

The Batuca battery cases are made of translucent injection molded polymer, and measure 2.7" wide x 2.3" tall x .75" thick. The lid is a flip-top, and is not waterproof. Each Batuca will hold 4 AA, 6 AAA or 4 DL123 batteries, or combinations. There are internal ribs to hold the DL123 batteries at the top of the case, since they're shorter than AAs, and you can fit Aimpoint batteries in the space underneath the 123s. The Batuca cases are pretty much the most compact way of carrying batteries as there is very little wasted space. Two Batuca cases can be joined together at the bottom by sliding them together.

Batuca battery cases

2 cases attached

BC4 pouches

BC8 pouches

MultiCam pouches

The BC4 and BC8 cases are sized to fit one or two Batuca cases exactly, and add only about .1" to the overall dimensions. They're made out of 500D cordura and lined with smooth Oxford nylon. Both cases have 1" wide velcro belt loops to fit up to 2" wide belts. They're molle-compatible and will fit on 2-inch systems like on the FAST pack waistbelt, where the 2" webbing is sewn down 2 channels of PALS apart. The BC4 and BC8 have velcro-closure lids with a pull tab. The pouches can also be used for small items other than the Batuca cases - the BC8 fits my compact digital camera perfectly without bulk, and the BC4 is the perfect pouch for the SureFire helmet light shown below. The BC4 holds my pager horizontally on my belt, which is more comfortable than the vertical holder it came with.

Mounted on riggers belt

Rear view

BC4 on molle webbing

BC4 on FAST pack belt

TAD Gear Ranger Eyes

8/5/06 - These are TAD Gear's Ranger Eyes; cool little glow-in-the-dark skulls that can be used the same way luminous tape is used on USGI helmet bands with cat eyes - for identification at night.
The Ranger eyes are 0.75" X 0.64", and molded out of flexible PVC. The black base has hook velcro sewn onto the back, with the luminous TAD "Terminator Skull" logo molded as part of the base. They can be attached anywhere you've got loop velcro - packs, shoulders, caps, helmets etc. If you want to have the ability to hide them without having to take them on and off every time, an option is to get one of EMDOM USA's ID Marker Panels (shown in the bottom right photo). It has two little velcro panels that fold down or up to show or hide whatever ID patch you put on the panels.
The Ranger Eyes are 'charged up' by illuminating them with a flashlight before use for a few seconds (about 10 seconds is all that's necessary). They'll glow brightly immediately after charging, and quickly fade to a more subdued glow which lasts for a few hours, very much like the Luminova used in good watches. I tried charging them at night, and could still see a faint glow after 4 hours in the darkness. They're very bright under night vision, though, even after a few hours.