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

FUBAR

Dammit, you’re right, it’s my memory that is SNAFU (and FUBAR)

Both seem to date back to WWII though As per this nice summary

In for two please

Please remove me from the list. The list in the TLF is now updated.
Thank you very much for your efforts and apologies for the chaos caused.
1717: leo l.
1718: leo l.
1719: leo l.
1720: leo l.

can you put me down for one please? Thanks for doing this

I don’t need this, but what the heck. It’s an impressive collaboration, and the tail e-switch is neat. Put me down for one with LH351’s.

I missed the discussion surrounding emitters - was SST-20 ever considered? I’ve been pretty happy with them in smaller TIR lights. I don’t mean to say that an established decision should be reconsidered or anything, I’m just curious. It’s a swap I might consider down the road, if they weren’t specifically rejected for some reason.

No SST20 came simply to late for the game.

It definitely seems worth trying a swap, given the low cost a triple board with SST-20’s can be had for. I’m hoping to compare it LH351D’s and SST-20’s and decide which I like better.

Hi I would like to sign up for the buy if I still can. I’m in for an XP-L HI and a Samsung LHD!

Thanks!!

I think the SST-20 is a great option for a future update. I will definitely put SST-20s in one of mine.

It wasn’t yet known to this community when voting on the emitters for the FW3A took place, and trying to add an additional option now would only delay production.

The SST-20s 4000k are easier to get than the LH351Ds.

So unless the LH351Ds are of a good chromacity bin, going with SST-20s would be great for even better color rendition, and more throw.

Why would they give more throw?

Much smaller die area than the LH351D, and even optical emission area is smaller than the XP-L HI.

So they are also less bright?

@JasonWW

Q2 tint bin LH351D currently available: 340 lumens at 1050mA(minimum)
J5 tint bin SST-20 4000k(highest one available): 279lm at 1000mA, 292lm at 1050mA(minimum)

So, with the current Q2 tint bin, the LH351D is 16,5% more efficient.

With the higher R2 tint bin being available for 4 reel orders: 360 lumens at 1050mA(minimum)

With the R2 tint bin, the LH351D is 23,5% more efficient than the SST-20.

So, yeah, less overall light will be emitted.

However, since this is an EDC light, the LH351D will be much more floody, and will require higher power levels to be usable outdoors.

The SST-20 would be a better overall choice in terms of usability.

That all sounds good on paper but my Ti/Cu scratch built EDC uses a Carclo quad optic with Samsung LH351D 80 CRI 5000K (U6 power bin) emitters and works quite nicely outdoors in the big wide open area’s we have here. It’s certainly no thrower, but it’s not lacking either, even run on an 18500 cell. :wink: Beam profile is sweet, sans the Cree artifacts, with a defined fat hot spot that I’ve found very much to my liking.

At what level are you running the light :slight_smile: ?

Max. Always Max. :wink:

I like the LH351D because it gives nice NW color while still giving similar output to xpl or xml2.

So the SST-20 is a bit more similar in die size and output to the XP-G3 or 219C?

From what I hear, it’s not always max. It’s frequently at lower levels, especially candle mode. A lot of people care about the tint in low modes, not just turbo. And unfortunately, a lot of emitters have their worst tints at low power levels. The color temperature and tint can shift quite a bit between a low mode and a high mode.

That’s why I didn’t like the SST-20 4000K 95CRI emitters I tried. The tint was okay on high modes, but I almost never use those… and at the lower levels I actually use, it was a long way from white.