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

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It’d be really interesting to know that, no? If only we had a working line of communication with Lumintop…

That’s basically why this project wasn’t completed a year ago, and why there have been so many surprises — both welcome and not. For projects like this, BLF needs to talk directly to manufacturers… and that’s not how this project was set up.

… and I get to read everything twice. Pbtbtbtbt. :stuck_out_tongue:

I don’t have a mental condition though. I don’t know what you’re talking about. But could someone please do something about the bats?

“…but once you get locked into a serious flashlight collection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can.”

The thing that really worried me was the gamut. There is nothing more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of a CRI binge… and I knew we’d get into that rotten stuff pretty soon.



I’m a newb, so my opinion may be off-base. With that preface, here it is anyway:

How long does R&D usually go into production of a EDC light?? I think there are enough who have expressed interest to go forward with production. I still observe opinions and speculation and considerations of development. I understand the betas of final design are in the works (I think?). Can we expect an order confirmation before, or at least near the second anniversary of the announcement of the product? Sure would be cool if it happened.

Patience is a virtue… That I do not possess.

Yes please, I’m in for one, thank you in advance.

When lumintop or any other manufacturer that makes these BLF lights decides on last minutes changes, I’m curious about their point of view:

Do they think we won’t notice because we are dumb, or
Do they assume we won’t care because we aren’t picky, or
Do they just decide to use parts that are cheaper and readily available, saving just cents in each components which at the end sums up to a pretty significant amount, knowing that 99% of the people will still happily send their $$$ anyways.

Because it’s not like they can’t make it right, it’s almost if they didn’t want to. “Hey boss, FW3A is ready for production and the specs are fully compliant!” -“Good, now go ahead and put a different clip to it”

Or… All of the above? :innocent:

Or, and this is giving them the huge benefit of the doubt, they think they are doing something really cool, that they are proud of, and think we will like, then are surprised when we don’t.

That is a very real & distinct possibility also cabfrank. :+1:

We must be small potatoes.

We really need to start our own ‘Flashlight Factory’ with TK as president ….

In my opinion the designer’s original idea was way “cooler” but they probably never got/understood the idea for both internal and external design, and because they never got it they are pron to screw it up (proto4’s driver) and change it (with each new sample).
They got rid of the original raw material or clear anodization. They got rid of the machining marks. They added a long bevel to the battery tube on the head side “à la” nitecore concept 1. They added a bevel on the battery tube on the tail side (why did they not put the same bevel with moderate angle on both side ?). They changed the pocket clip (first good change IMO) and reverted it to the original one, they changed its color. They added a logo on the switch.

They have no idea what they are doing, changing their mind all the time for new things delaying the production while it would have been much straight forward to stick to the original design that they never understood. Externally, this flashlight no longer looks different than any other flashlights contrary to the initial goal. Externally, it’s no longer Fritz’s Works so why keeping its name : FW3A ?

I would wish they will revert to the original external design for a copper or brass or whatever material generally without anodization, but that will never happen. They didn’t get it.
It’s hopeless to see that they can’t make something different when left on their own despite the hard work done by those involved to make it a turnkey project.
Which is great for my wallet.

Most likely in the big scheme of things …. very small potatoes indeed.

And on top of that, very small potatoes that want certain things the general public has no idea about. And the majority of those people most likely would not want those things even if they did know.

Careful there Tally-ho. The last person who commented about these issues got a stern finger wagging from the mods and then disappeared.

Those were changed by Fritz, not Lumintop. He made sure to clarify this, and his post has been repeated a few times whenever the topic comes up. The last time was only ten days ago. I’m not sure why people keep posting the same false claims almost a year after Fritz tried to put an end to it, but it gets old.

The problem is more that we on BLF have no idea what they’re doing at Lumintop. Communication hasn’t been very good. It’s a bit like trying to chat with someone online through a router which drops a lot of packets and uses lossy compression algorithms on the rest.

To put it visually, someone sends a message like this…

… and this is what eventually gets received some time later:

So it can be a bit difficult to nail down details or sometimes even broad strokes of what was in the original message.

An old joke comes to mind…

Good joke!

He also said that the new design (long bevel) was growing on him so he probably wasn’t at the origin of it and probably not so found of it at first.
It sounds more a lumintop’s change, later accepted by Fritz who changed the angle on the tail side for a less akward combination of angles, probably.
What about the raw material with machining marks to make it looks like more a custom flashlight fresh out of the lathe which was the main idea, did he gave up on this too ?
Anyway, I already said what to do with my 4 units.

I’m not a pilar of BLF so I will not miss to anyone + I got 2 accounts permanently banned from CPF for less than that, I get used to stern finger wagging then i’m fine with whatever decision from the mods.
I will have more time to complete some mods I’m planning since long. :wink:

There’s only one mod, the forum owner and he doesn’t step in unless rules are broken and we don’t have many rules.