FW3A, a TLF/BLF EDC flashlight - SST-20 available, coupon codes public

No remorse or wife, just decided to get a couple of camping lanterns instead.(Zanflare & BLF Ultimate later)
it IS called an interest list and although I dont usually change my mind, I didnt feel I was locked in to anything

Certainly no explanation necessary, because like you said… you were definitely not locked in. And you at least had the forethought to remove your name from the list. :+1:

It just struck me as comical…. no foul meant. :slight_smile:

In fact… I was a bit envious of your restraint. It seems I rarely, if ever; get ‘buyers remorse’ before or after a purchase. :person_facepalming:
That is not necessarily a good thing either……. :frowning: …. :money_mouth_face:

+1

What are people’s thoughts on the FW3A’s surface finish?

Silver: The prototypes used a bead-blasted false silver anodizing with four visible dye seams on some parts, running lengthwise 90 degrees apart from each other. The seams on different parts don’t line up. Some people like it, but it’s not the bare look (or clear ano) we were aiming for. It’s difficult to show on camera, but here’s a quick view:

Grey: Another option is to do a more traditional dark grey ano, which would look nice and be more scratch-resistant, though scratches would be more visible if they happened, since silver stands out on a grey background. The finish would be like the BLF GT or Lumintop’s other anodized lights, but dark grey instead of black. Perhaps similar to the grey Emisar D4.

[example pic: any decent-quality grey or natural anodized flashlight]

Bare: Or maybe it could be bare aluminum without bead blasting, like the bare BLF A6. That was significantly less popular than the anodized version though, and shipped with a dull and often stained surface which didn’t shine until after polishing it. Different parts had somewhat different textures, too. Here’s how that looked, brand new: (click to zoom)

Not much help but I like all three versions.

Sounds like a very nice light. Sign me up for one light!

I don’t much care for the bead blasted look.

It would be a toss up between dark grey and bare for me. I like the milled horizontal lines on the BLF light pictured above but I’d bet that a bunch of people wouldn’t care for the “unfinished” look.

A dark grey would be a nice change over traditional black. I love my Zebralight, although I wonder how many people involved with this thread would want immediate comparisons. Standing out in its own way might be better than appearing to be a knock-off. Maybe people don’t think that way but I’d like this to be a bit more of an individual.

Also if there are going to be other materials in the future, an unfinished look would be shared between the different materials which would be pretty cool.

I like bead blasted.
I like anodized.
I like Grey.
I like most anything except bare Aluminum.

What, no green? :wink:

Here is another thought.
Fritz designed this light , let him decide the finish & the rest of us can just deal with it if it happens to not be our particular preference. :+1:

I like dark grey.
I don’t like the seams, those would really annoy me.
Bare /clear would be acceptable.
Not too keen on a fake silver shade.

I liked the original intention to try and show the work put into it, and it seems as if the best way to reflect that intention is to leave it mostly bare or maybe polished from bare. In another light, the anodization lets you do mechanical lockout by breaking the connection. Here, would this do the same thing regardless of anodization by keeping the inner tube from reaching far enough? If so, I think that would make a good case for leaving it bare or maybe seeing if they can polish it. Of course most but presumably not all of us may be willing to polish it ourselves, so long as it was just to make it shinier and not because of stains. I think it’s too easy to make the clear anodization look cheap, and not all of the prototype versions looked that good, but it might be alright. The seams were different version of the clear process, not accidents, right? I have the gray d4; it’s not bad but it’s not the look this was originally going for. I think bare makes sense.

I don’t understand why there are seams 90° apart.

In the FW3A, current travels through the outer tube, the threads, and the driver retaining ring. Loosening the body from the head does not break the flow of power. However, it does break the connection to the switch, so it can’t be turned on/off when loose.

None of that depends on being anodized. The anodizing is a purely aesthetic feature on the FW3A, and not relevant for physical lockout. Plus, the soft lockout is quicker, only takes one hand, and is probably more effective.

TBH, I don’t know either.

Both prototypes had it, but it’s a lot more noticeable on proto2.

However, I’ve heard that it took Convoy a while to get the clear anodizing right, and even then, it seems to be so thin that it can still conduct electricity sometimes. On my clear C8, I can measure electrical contact between a bunch of different places on the outer surface of the light.

I agree. No need to stretch this out even more.

So you can lock both on and off; which seems fine. Yeah, I thought the anodizing didn’t matter, thanks for confirming. Means that’s not a disadvantage of bare.

Just an FYI: the above only applies to lights that don’t have a PC board that the spring is soldered to. The PCB is isolated from the tail cap and completes the circuit between the negative terminal and the main body by making contact with the unanodized end of the battery tube.

Was referring to emisar d4

Good example. You can see that the PC board isolates the circuit from the tailcap and you could sand off the anodizing and still have lockout.
Here’s a link to a pic from TK’s review. http://toykeeper.net/torches/emisar-d4/full/tailcap-inside.jpg
That ring of copper is what the body touches when you screw it on.

But back to the FW3A, I can’t imagine any of us are too worried about the finish as this will be a “user” rather than a shelf queen. :laughing: