It is with great sadness that I write this review. The ARC company started the ball rolling for me with the worlds first commercial flashlight using the 1Watt Luxeon LED. It sparked my interest in LED flashlights and I have enjoyed watching the company grow and new products be released over the time they were in business.

The ARC4 was the pinnacle of their technical advancement in flashlight production. Not just any other flashlight with a Luxeon LED, the ARC4 was leading the way with advanced features that many would not have expected to find in such a small everyday object.

I believe that the light you see here was the very last brand new ARC4 to be sold in the world, I purchased it from the UK Dealer ODS outdoorsuppliesuk.com and it was his very last one. Unless any of you know different of course! It is still one of the last few ARC lights to be made and will always hold a special place in my collection because of that.

ARC Flashlight had gone out of business on Wednesday 22/09/2004 and I bought this light on the Friday 24/09/2004 after beating myself up whether I really wanted one or not. I knew there were several possible issues with the light and was waiting for the Rev3 version. But this was only ever released as a prototype to some beta testers and these were heavily beaten upon to test the new switch mechanism. So it was a case of now or never.

A good choice as after getting the light I am very impressed with it's features.

I was put off this light initially due to the complexity of it's operation. All of the commands must go through the single tailcap switch. So how do you operate and program a light with a single button? Good question. Well you are probably familiar with the mouse button on your computer if you are reading this. You can single and double click to do different things. Well this flashlight uses a similar principle.

There are many many options but I will cover the basics and then show you some of the really cool features.

As you can see from the pictures the presentation of this light has really been improved from the earlier ARCs that I have purchased. They used to come in a deluxe plastic baggy. Not so with this ARC4. It comes beautifully displayed in it's own embossed metal tin. It is provided with a spring steel clip, two screws for the clip, and to finish if off two CR123 batteries.

An instruction sheet is also provided which explains the basic operation of the light, but strangely (In my opinion) does not explain any of the additional features.Only though the use of the CPF will more be revealed.

Basic operation.

Unscrew the two half's of the light, put the battery in with the -ve end toward the pushbutton. Screw the light back together and you will find the light will power on and cycle through the brightness levels. The light will then power down and is ready for use.

To switch on. Quickly click the push button once.

To switch off. Repeat the above.

If you press and hold, the light will turn on. It will stay on for a long as you hold the button down. Letting go will switch the light off.

The light is designed to learn the difference between your 'Clicks' and 'Presses' They are quoted as follows from the advanced user instructions.

Click: a short push and release of the button. Your light automatically adapts to you by remembering the average time it takes you to perform a click. A click is any push of the button lasting less than twice the average click time.

Press: a long push of the button. A press is any push lasting more than twice the average click time.

Once the light is latched on (Single Click) you can then do several more things.

Double click to change the brightness. This toggles back and forth.

Press and hold for 'Full Brightness' setting. Will return to previous level when button is released.

Triple click to change to lowest brightness level.

One a brightness level is set, the light will return to it once switched off then on again.

The advanced features would swamp this review so I an going to link to a word document with the advanced instruction. See ARC4 Advanced Features Instructions.

A summary of the advanced features is as follows :-

Brightness Menu

Used for setting the torches brightness levels for each of it's pre-set levels.

Options Menu

SOS

Button Lock

Force Primary

Locator Flash

Ready for Service

Semi-momentary Tactical Mode

Pure-momentary Tactical Mode

The lights construction is up to the usual ARC high standards. The body is machined from high spec aluminium alloy. This is finished in type III natural hard anodise. The lens is polycarbonate and had a scratch resistant protector stuck over it. This can be replaced if it becomes damaged. The lens has the added benefit that it will not shatter if dropped.

Dropping the light brings up another issue. The switch mechanism. This is known to be a potential problem on the ARC4. If you drop the light the battery can move forward and crush the structure that operates the switch. This can cause the switch to stop working. If the impact is harder the switch itself can be damaged. So best thing is not to drop your light!

If you do however there are a number of ways and or people who may be able to fix it. See CPF for more details.

As my light is rare and even though I like it a lot I do not intend to carry it around much so it will hopefully not be such a problem.

Since the demise of the ARC company the owner has released the information on the serial numbers of the lights. The serial number of this light is as follows

#1768

The provided information is

1768 1.19 180 7850 .353 .272

This actually translates as The first number is the serial number. Second number is current consumption in amperes at 3volts and level 1 brightness. Third number is light meter reading in kLux with light placed on sensor at level 1.

I don't yet know what the other numbers represent. Help Please!

I am sorry that this fine company has sadly departed the flashlight world. I am sure that many people will miss their extensive range of fantastic small lights. I know that I will.

People may wonder what could possibly replace or compete with the ARC4. Well there are several options. I won't go into them here as I feel it is not the appropriate place. But I will possibly own one or two of them in the not too distant future so look back at the main review section then ;)

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