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

maukka, can you measure that MCPCB and make sure it’s the same width as all the other triple MCPCB’s?

I’m pretty chuffed lumintop are making this, I’m very happy with the build quality on Tool AA v2 and my EDC 01.

One question please, will all the XPL HI versions have a frosted flood lens?

Isn’t that output quite low? The D4 measures around 4300 lm with 4 XPL-His. My naive calculation would expect a 3 emitter light with XPL-His to be 4300/4*3 = 3225 lm.

The D4 does 20kcd so I would expect this light to get to 15000kcd. Is the difference only the frosted optics?

Sorry if went wrong somewhere. I am not good with flashlight maths xD

@kanton, the FW3A doesn’t have the same extremely low resistance path such as the Emisar D4.

I’ve noticed since I’ve signed up that everyone has specified their emitter choice. I didn’t. For mine I’d like XP-L HI if that info is needed. I may also take a second in the LH351D option but for now just the 1 XP-L HI. Will I have the option to decide on the second light when they’re ready or to I need to sign up for both now?

Uncancel me and put me down for an XPL-Hi version.

Maybe one should explicitly mention that the flashlight is very short and only short unprotected 18650 batteries should be used with it. Or else something could be crushed trying to fit in a longer battery? That happened to me with another light. Almost damaged the driver board, barely saved it as I noticed the crushing sound.

Getting excited for this one, hate to ask but can you add an additional light for me? Think I need one in each flavor. I'm #1033 on the list.

Thanks!

I put in a request for one, but can I update that and ask for one of each emitter? I’m #1326 in the list.

Getting super excited about this. I checked in just a couple days ago, and my mind was blown by all the talk since I saw last!

So I wonder now, which is going to be the true production anno color…

[quote=tatasal]

Please add me for a 4th. I am on the list for 3 already.

1 is already going to be gifted and when another friend sees this he will want to purchase it for sure.

It’s looking great and I am getting excited again!

Thanks! You got this info posted fast! All I’ve got so far is a note from DHL…

It’s really unfortunate that cool white emitters were used. I’ve asked about why that happened, but I don’t expect to hear back for a while.

Later. The list data does not include emitter choice, so it doesn’t really help to specify anything about that now. The plan is to make equal amounts with each emitter type, because the poll data of ~500 people was split almost exactly 50/50.

If you want more throw, polish the 10511 optic or switch to a 10507 optic. The amount of throw attainable is not currently known, but it should be the same as any other XP-L HI triple. It is not going to be a throwy light no matter what you do though, because that’s not how these triples work.

Maukka has more accurate and better-calibrated measuring tools than any of the people behind this project. The estimate was about 2500 to 3000 lumens, or maybe even above 3000… and with my light box it would probably exceed that easily. But my light box isn’t calibrated as well as maukka’s, because mine is still using the Zebralight / cpfselfbuilt scale instead of the less-impressive-looking ANSI scale.

In any case, it looks like it does reach 3000-ish lumens, but turbo is only for brief use anyway. It’s a burst mode.

The lowest mode should be about 0.2 lm, roughly.

Muggle mode goes from about ~10 to ~300 lumens. Ish. Or maybe 5 to 250. It hasn’t been properly measured yet, but it does not go up to the highest regulated level. The highest regulated level runs too hot for children to operate safely.

I haven’t had much luck getting in touch with a lot of the original team lately, like fritz15 and The Miller. However, because people keep asking, I might set up a Patreon account or something. If I do though, I want to make it clear that it’s just me, not a team thing. I don’t know if I could send money to Fritz if I tried, nor do I know if he would want me to. Past attempts to do a team-funding thing haven’t really gone well either, so any donation thingies will probably be done on an individual basis with no illusion that it’s for everyone.

I remember the issues in that one, and I’m worried too. I can only hope things will be better this time. IIRC that was the first project a new business did, and I hope a year of experience has given them enough time to fix things.

The spec includes “no glue”, but I can make sure that point is repeated… and hopefully there won’t be any surprise glue. I can’t confirm there won’t be though, because the nature of surprise glue is, um, surprising.

There might be glue in the tail end though. The decision on tail glue has gone back and forth. But there should be no glue in the head end.

The spec also includes “no logo or other markings on the light itself”, and this point has recently been repeated to Lumintop. I don’t think it’ll have any logo, but as usual, nothing is ever certain until after it happens.

No, it’s supposed to be a “3D” tint, ~4875K with a slightly pink bias.

Exactly. :person_facepalming:

I don’t know how Neal is planning to handle that. He might have individual coupon codes or something, matching names and quantities exactly. Or he might make it an honor system. Or something else. Really not sure yet. Maybe Neal or M4D M4X can explain how that’ll work?

After a request is cancelled, it cannot be un-cancelled… but a new request can be added. Requests and cancellations go in chronological order, so you’ll be added at the end of the list during the next update.

Added to the OP.


Anyway, I think I should be getting a sample tomorrow, and plan to do testing and pictures right away.

Shouldn’t a Duv of 0.0052 be slightly greener than a typical CRI90 219C? Looking up a couple 219C measurements (MF01 and 219C GB), it seems like 0.003 is pretty typical.

I made a spreadsheet that does the same calc as steps.py as an easier way to figure out these levels. While not defaults, from some quick trial and error, here’s some suggestions that include Max 1x7135 as a discrete step:

Format: Ramp min, Ramp Max, # of Steps
1, 130, 7 (if you want to include moonlight)
22, 130, 6 (similar to default stepped ramp minimum of 20)
15, 140, 6 (higher ramped ceiling for smaller jump to turbo)

Excellent! That’s a small detail that means a lot to many of us.

If you have a chance to respond, how’s the feel of the body size-wise compared to the D4? The pictures don’t make it look much smaller, but I’m hoping the difference will be noticeable.

I’ll try to finish the review this week, but as of now, I’m impressed.

The stepped ramp starts at level 20 (PWM 19/255). A rough theoretical calculation would suggest, based on Maukka’s 3.6 lumen measurement, that the minimum moonlight is about 0.2 lumens, but I think in reality it tends to end up slightly lower than theory due to how 7135’s react at very low duty cycles.

Muggle mode ranges from level 22 to level 85 (about 20% of the 7x7135 channel). Again, theory only, I estimate that as roughly 5-300 lumens.

If an unprotected button top 30q barely fits, I hope another 1-2mm can be added to the length of the tube before they are manufactured.

it is a sample,they use the LEDs they are in stock
the production will use the 3D tint

Nope. A 30Q fits fine, but it will not be getting any host changes before production. Use unprotected cells only. Personally, I recommend the 35E cell, because it gives more runtime at every level except turbo, and the FW3A is not designed to operate at turbo for very long. It’s not a hot rod.

Thanks, this is good news! :slight_smile:

I have a feeling it won’t be long before someone turns it into one.

I didn’t mean to suggest the light support protected cells… I was just concerned about varying length of unprotected cells, similar to what is going on with the e07 and the 21700 cells.

If I understand correctly, the E07 issues aren’t really about the host design as much as the solder blob on the springs. Some have thicker blobs than others, which can cause battery fit issues at random. But the FW3A does not have bypassed springs, so it should be more consistent.

Put me down for 2, please!