Lumintop Tool AA - Quickie

Hum, sorry for bringing back this thread, but I’ve been thinking to make a driver swap on my Tool AA, but I was hoping to leave the emitter as it is now (just unsoldering/soldering the wires).

I have one doubt, though! The “thermistor” it has on the emitter, can it provoke any kind of malfunctioning with the new driver? Is it supposed to work only with the stock driver?

Sorry, but my knowledge on this is at “zero level” so any input is welcome!!
Thanks in advance!!

I also wanted to know if anyone swap the driver for this yet?

I want to put FET 15mm dive in it but will not order on MTN just for this item (15$ shipping…)
When I’ll do it, I’ll post it here.
This AA Tool has great potential as a host :slight_smile:

I have one of those 15mm drivers (with Crescendo installed) on the way from MTN, and I may end up using it in this host!
As the original tint is not that good, I may swap the emitter too and put an XPL-HI U6-3A on this.
It should work nicely with the SMO reflector it has :sunglasses:

Please let us know if it works with this host. Maybe upgrading the mcpcb to copper as well?

I have XPL 3D on mine at the moment and don’t mind a little more output.

Hum, that’s an issue I have! The plate I have (14mm) is aluminium, not copper, and is thinner that the one the Tool AA has currently!
So I don’t know what will happen when running it on max with a 14500 battery!
I hope it doesn’t unsolder the LED due to the heat!

One thing that I guess I’ll have to do is to “sand” the bottom borders of the pill or, instead, the edges of the driver to make it fit well. The stock driver has that different shape to fit the pill, so it may need some work first!

But, sure, I’ll post here the mod when done! :wink:
The driver is still on its way, maybe it just arrives next year, I don’t know :zipper_mouth_face:

BTW: 3D tint must be muuuuch better than the original one :sunglasses: That greenish look…. :person_facepalming:

Today I decided to play with some TIR lenses in the Tool AA, just for fun! Below you find some beamshots (click the images to get larger)!
Please note that the TIR lenses used are more suitable for XP-E and XP-G Leds and the one on the Tool AA is XP-L HD!

REFLECTOR >>>> TIR 1 (60º angle) >>>> TIR 2 (Pebbled 60º Angle)

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Modded my Lumintop Tool AA. 4.25A at the tail.

MTN-15DDm FET+1
Sanded down a 16mm copper MCPCB pulled from Astrolux S1
XP-L V6 3D


Nice :smiley: Got some pocket rocket over there for sure :wink:
What batteries are you using with it?
Did the beam suffered any change with the new LED (with that reflector)?

I’m still waiting for my pieces (driver) to arrive! :expressionless:

I see PVM on low. Fairly obvious to me.

Do you guys think theres any chance Lumintop will introduce a AA Tool with nichia or warm/neutral xpl?

Anyone found a GOOD clip that could go on the tool AA ?
I want to love this light but the stock clip is both useless (too flimsy) and misplaced IMHO…

I plan to use one of these

I use them on all my AAA lights to make them dissapear in my jeans pocket. Hope it works for the AA too.

I have a bunch of them, but do you glue them on the flashlight ? or just use them normally as danglers ?

I use them as danglers X3-

The tool aa came in the mail this week. I really love the size. Really great for EDC. I used the tool aaa for that last year, but 10440 is just draining a bit fast.
18650 is too thick IMO.

I plan to mod it with a Fet+1 driver (I need voltage check) and warmer emitter. I also want to swap out the AR coated lens to get rid of the purple spill. Illuminated tailcap would be a nice bonus. I will try to recess the button a bit too, so it can tailstand.
That being said, I like it a lot, enough to use as my new EDC host :+1:

I just got my Tool AA. So far, it’s not impressive compared to something like the Sofirn SF14

  • The mode spacing is not the best, low could be lower, high could be higher.
  • A lower low is more essential to this product since the modest high translates as longer runtimes, so it’s a fair trade off depending on what you need from a flashlight.
  • L>M>H UI with no memory is way better in my opinion than the AAA M>L>H. Actually, even the mode spacing is better than the AAA despite still needing improvement.
  • PMW, while worse than the AAA, is actually not as bad as I expected. I can only hear it if I actually jam it into my ear, but maybe I’m already going deaf from extended earphone use. And I cannot see it unless I point to something like a ceiling fan, or wave something in from of it. I also can’t see PWM for lights where it’s lower frequency and louder, unless in the cited conditions. It would be bad in a photograph, thou.
  • Build quality is nice, the walls are thin but you get a lighter product, again, a fair trade off, specially if you know exactly what you need from it. I also found nothing wrong with the clip, which is something I’ve read negative remarks about. It clips nicely to my cap (only downside I find in the Sofirn SF14 is not having a reversible clip for cap brim use)
  • It’s missing a lanyard hole on the magnetic tailcap. I like lanyards.
  • Talking of lanyards, I have a bunch of lumintop’s own cool orange lanyards. It’s weird that this light came with a purple flat one. It’s not bad, but I like the other ones better.
  • The GITD difuser is a nice accessory that will see use in other AA flashlights I have as well.
  • It’s pretty compact with the thin walls and magnetic tailcap. I bit awkward to have as a twisty that is not small like the Tool AAA, but I can get used to it.

I’m citing the SF14 a lot because it has a lot of the same characteristics, but with a lot of the added qualities I miss on the Tool AA, and for about half the price. So taking price into consideration, the Tool AA is not high on the AA recommendation list as the Tool AAA is on the AAA list, even thou I like it.

If you use the magnetic tailcap with the clip, you can attach the lanyard in the top of the clip, there is a small hole there :wink:

One question I have about the emitter:

the Tool AA has an XP-L, while the brighter SF14 uses an XP-G2. At AA levels of current, does one has any edge over the other? Wouldn’t cost favor the XP-G2 in this case? The XP-L does have a larger hotspot, so might be a matter of making the beam floodier?

Not perfect, but is a work in progress (on the tip and on the top :person_facepalming: ), and maybe it can give you some idea!
I used a Convoy clip and cut it, put a srew and a hexnut in one of the tailcap holes, and used heatshrink tube around the clip, just because :smiley:
Here’s the result! Not pretty, but it will be :wink:
The original is in inverted position just…because :smiley:

It’s a start, but it’s how I imagine that I will do it too.
I’ll start with a convoy clip I think, they’re cheap and strong enough for an AA light (but not for an S2+ IMO)