People have different likes, so it is a good thing there are leds with different characteristics.
I have gone from wanting every lumen possible with almost no regard to color of the light or the CRI. Then I began to favor led’s with 4K to 5K color temperature and I found some had undesirable edge colors when shone on a white wall. After realizing we had very few actual white walls I began to appreciate leds with higher CRI. Now my EDC has a high CRI. But I still have a couple lumen ‘kings’ that are less color true, but very bright.
Neal has had every opportunity to up his game and source the then desired alternative LEDs, told us that he had done so. Turned out to be un-true.
Likewise failure to source basic stuff like optics in good time. Maybe down to him, maybe not.
Nor willingness/decency to arrange for prototypes to be sent to those who matter.
No confidence in his ability to eventually get these out to BLF or TLF lists in an orderly manner. Or cope. Expect a free-for-all.
But I dare say he will try to take his cut however it works out. AFAIK he is just a drop-shipper, little physical presence. He seems to be a chancer with little real positive contribution, perhaps the opposite, but somehow seems to have inserted himself and become key to this project.
Suggestion to Lumintop: cut out the middleman, make these once you have all the bits and are confident in the product (maybe send some more out to selected others for final checks, a little more delay is not going to matter in the grand scheme of things), distribute through serious distributors who have all the procedures in place worldwide, and know how to manage a big list. Banggood, Gearbest etc. And can manage returns etc.
Unique codes per listee, valid for say 50 days, then open it up. Meanwhile also sell at full price by all means.
Otherwise it’s all looking very mickey-mouse.
Apologies if I have mis-judged him.
This could be an enduring money-spinner, capable of future development, but it’s already getting old, even if it delivers tomorrow. And some on the lists may already have run out of patience, don’t rely on all of us to order.
There you go again, Tom Tom, you and your wet mouth.
It looked like like you only “behaved” for a ‘very long’ week (in your case) before showing your true self again.
You don’t have any idea who Neal is, and up to what extent is his only role and participation in this FW3A project is, yet you are (mis)judging him already.
“Apologies if I have mis-judged him.” - no need for this if only you only used even a fraction of your brain before blurting out those uncalled for accusations.
I strongly suggest you cease reading and posting in this thread.
Your comments are the last thing the project wants.
Lumintop, Neal, and the FW3A team DO NOT deserve such bone-headed comments.
They may have their lapses, like all of us do…but to have this project delayed up to now is NOT one of them.
But a little direct communication from someone seeming to be a key player would be appreciated by many I think.
A situation report. Every now and then.
Defence of a friend is laudable, but I don’t know him so can only judge him by his public actions and track-record, which I have observed for many years, and had personal unsatisfactory dealings. So yes, I might have a bias, but try not to let that colour my judgement. Everyone deserves a second, even third chance.
It is unfair to expect e.g. TK| to step up to be the only conduit of information here, that’s even when she has some.
Fritz seems to have disappeared long ago, but was never communicative even before then.
I have no idea who is still running this thing, if anyone ?
This is not how we like to do things in the West. Straight talking is what we respect.
So, if either of you know what’s really going on, tell us, or if not, say so. You appear to have some inside knowledge. No disgrace in saying what you know, or don’t know, it would be welcomed I’m sure.
Simple stuff, how close is it, what remains to be done, what obstacles are being actively managed (procurement etc.) what plans are then in place to deliver ?
A little reliable communication can go a long way. Far better than just sitting on difficulties.
Been waiting far too long, and have others that do the same or better. Lighting up a generic triple is not difficult, nor is packaging it nicely. Off the shelf, or custom, easy.
Fancy tail e-switch with all the ensuing complications, well I wanted to be convinced, but still haven’t been yet. Particularly since it still hasn’t been delivered. Uglification of body also added. Only redeeming features keeping me here are the interesting driver and the firmware. And cheaper than making my own.
It's probably pretty tough to post here from China, dude.
How good is your accounting of what is Neal's fault, and what was out of his control? I wasn't there but I have a feeling you weren't really there either
Fritz, if he's around, is probably around on the German forum, which is where this light originated. (It's probably pretty egotistical of us at BLF to act otherwise, but that's another story)
This is Fritz's light project, and Lumintop has been nice enough to build a light for enthusiasts that's actually more challenging than your average light. We can appreciate this, wait, and realize that everyone on the enthusiast side of things is not getting paid for any of this or you can continue your entitled attitude and toxic posting. If you're really so fed up with the wait and whatever details of the light and the communication, I'd be happy to consider participating in the group buy you run. I also think constructive criticism is super useful here, but you're just whining. It gold old dozens of pages ago.
I know just enough about what’s been going on behind the scenes to know Tom is only saying things others are too polite to say. Neal isn’t a flawless saint just because he sources flashlight discounts for BLF, and there’s no excuse for how he’s handled many aspects of the FW3A development and production. Do we need regular Tom Tom misery posts to remind us? Probably not, but don’t act like he’s just making it all up.
User stylesheets. Slick and thanks for the link. May need to switch mobile browsers to get this to work, but I’m thinking it’s worth it. Seems straightforward to nuke quoted replies as well. Just a matter of matching the nesting. Fun project for tomorrow
It certainly does get old. But it’s not just “dozens of pages ago”; it’s now over three years. Despite appearences, he’s well aware of how these things work, and even attempted a group buy in the past. So there’s history. The condensed version is: There was a lot of complaining and drama, a lot of “put up or shut up” responses, and some attempts to “put up”. But it didn’t go well. Threads were closed by the admin. A rude point system was added. Some extremely inappropriate private messages were sent. Then the posts and account were deleted, though I’m not sure if it was a ban or a quit. I assumed it was a ban, but I could be wrong. Things were quiet for a while. Eventually a new account showed up with similar behavior, but nobody knew for sure until last October when he revealed he was the same person.
So… there’s a lot of background involved. Sometimes he has useful and constructive things to say, though that can be hard to see when it’s so often cloaked in negativity. Sometimes it’s just angry rambling. Sometimes false or made-up stuff. Sometimes FUD. Sometimes I can’t even figure out what he’s talking about… like coded messages or something. And sometimes he’s helpful.
It’s not an easy thing to deal with. Responding tends to turn threads into flame wars, but the common wisdom of ignoring it is often harmful in other ways. So BLF has a button for it which attempts to avoid both failure modes. Regardless though, the action recommended by our admin is to click the button instead of responding, and otherwise generally try to stay on topics which are relevant or enjoyable.
… and on that note:
This is Fritz’ design; he and Cawi started the project on TLF. However, every original team member has left the project. As far as I’m aware, no one has heard from Fritz or Cawi since late 2018. They seem too busy these days to be involved. So Bluzie took over duties on TLF, and I’m helping with stuff here.
The “BLF after dark” link in my signature has some useful stylesheets for this.
It’s not ruled out entirely. We’re mostly just trying to make what people voted for first, before possibly venturing into other options. The flavors which got the most votes were:
XP-L HI ~4900K
LH351D hi-CRI ~4000K
But I personally wouldn’t mind if Lumintop decided to make a full spread of XP-L HI versions. Like, 3300K, 4100K, 4900K, 5700K, all in rosy “A” or “D” tint bins. We even have enough poll data to determine approximate quantities of each, if they want to try that sort of thing. But I think the actual plan is to do ~4900K first, then try to do LH351D as soon as emitters can be obtained, and then maybe try other tints later if they think it’s worthwhile.
This sums things up well:
The plan is to try to cover a variety of different preferences. But that’s pretty much up to Neal and Lumintop.
