A mechanical tail switch is on or off and uses “off time” or “on time” to determine the action you are making. An e-switch can have hold functions and utilize single/double/triple/etc.-click operations without the light turning off at all.
If you’ve used any of the Emisar or Fireflies lights, its allows for an updated version of that UI vs something like Bistro or Biscotti where its just taps to do a quick power cycle that also changes modes.
That sounds very useful. I’m mostly used to dual switch lights, so I didn’t realize single mechanical switch lights would have an issue with turning off when you switch modes.
Yeah, a mechanical switch physically disconnects power. It literally can’t keep putting out light while the switch is off, because it’s effectively unplugged. The user interacts with it by connecting and disconnecting power, which makes it a little difficult to do anything fancy.
An e-switch works more like clicking a mouse on a computer. It can be up or down, but in both cases the computer keeps running while you press the button.
Stuff like “hold the button to ramp” doesn’t work on a mechanical power-disconnect switch.
Its a balancing act between fitting shorter cells (how they were designed and sold by the original manufacturers) or longer button-top/protected cells. You always sacrifice some fit on one end of the spectrum for more on the other.
From my highly non-technical & less than scientific research , my predictions for FW3A Battery Fitment are……
Most all 18650 Flat Tops will work.
Most 18650 Button Tops will not work. This will depend entirely on the height of the 'Button Top' installed on the cell... but it ain't looking good for "button tops".. .
These findings are based on the stated Maximum battery length of 66mm for the FW3A.
Since both pair of my calipers are hiding from me at the moment , the measurements listed below are taken mostly from LIION Wholesale & MTN… with a couple from Illumn & IMR.