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

The 3 in the name refers to 3 emitters. This is a direct drive, FET powered light so it’s sensitive to resistance at max output. The 30Q is a nice comprise between capacity and current. Some cells can deliver more current and some cells deliver more capacity.

I do not agree, the 30Q is a very high current cell, fine for that short full blast but when aimed for a “nice compromise”, it is not needed for the FW3A. A nice compromise is a cell that can handle the regulated 3A ceiling for most of the drainage of the cell with the full FET blast still impressive, a GA cell for example will achieve that and have the extra capacity on top. The full blast will not even be noticibly less compared to the top performers.

The SST-20 version, with lower voltage, will even run perfectly fine regulated and full FET on the low-drain NCR18650B.

It’s just a matter of opinion. If you want to think of the 30Q as a very high current cell, then that’s fine. It’s a 3000mah cell with a 15A CDR.
I tend to think of a cell like the Sony VTC4 2100mah with a 30A CDR as a very high drain.
No biggie.

Doh! I had it wrong all this time :laughing: :person_facepalming: Thanks for the clarifictaion everyone.

NOT is a peculiar word. It can disappear from a place where it should be, like in this case. Or it pops out of nowhere to a place where it never should have been. William Jefferson Clinton can testify to that when he said: I did NOT have ……. :cowboy_hat_face:

Just modded one of my FW3As.

  • Replaced the emitters with 4000K XPL HI taken from an older triple light. 5A2 tint I think.
  • Replaced optic with 10507 narrow spot optic. Think I’ll try polishing the stock 10511, but couldn’t find my jeweler’s rouge.
  • I need to order some more 5D XPL HI from Mountain Electronics. Thinking maybe replacing the emitters with 2x5D and 1x3D.
  • Or maybe I should try LH351D. Checking my parts bin I actually have a 20mm triple star with LH351D 4000K 90 CRI already on it.

As expected, the FW3A is very easy to mod. Unscrew and lift off the bezel (it’s not glued and comes off easily with just hands), use a tweezers to lift out the optic and the star on the shelf is exposed. You can remove the star and reflow, or you can swap in a fresh 20mm Noctigon triple star with your choice of emitter.

The light does have a glass lens, so if you wish to insert a Lee Minus Green filter you can.

The head of the light feels very lightly built. This is a light going for compact size, light weight and clean design over thermal properties. At first glance from the top of the light the the shelf appeared extremely thin. However, from looking at pictures of the driver side of the head, I can see that the shelf is actually quite a bit thicker, but tapers inward towards the front of the light. However, even with a decently thick shelf, this is definitely not an Emisar or Fireflies with a thicker shelf, more mass to the head and body and heat sink fins.

FWIW, the recommended cells for this light are the highest-mAh cells, like a GA cell or 35E — Panasonic/Sanyo NCR18650GA and Samsung INR18650-35E. The LG MJ1 should be good too. Basically, anything from a reputable brand with 3400+ mAh.

The downside is that turbo won’t be quite as bright, but it’s not really noticeable without a lux meter. The upsides are longer runtime, less heat, and less risk of heat issues.

Even use a luxmeter and you may be disappointed, the top high drain cells compared to a GA or lower drain may get you higher output for 5 seconds, then nose-diving under the output with moderate drain cells because of the extra hot leds.

The FW3A performance makes for the perfect usable EDC, what stands out is its small size yet still impressive output and good efficiency up to 3A, but as an extra has the BLF-touch of a short FET-blast when people need to be wowed.

Swapped in a Noctigon triple with 3x SST-20, 4000K 95 CRI. The results are about what you would expect:

  • better color rendition than the stock 3D XPL HI
  • noticeably dimmer than XPL HI
  • slightly greenish at lower modes
  • I tried installing some Lee 279 filter as a test. The filter reduced the green and produced a beautifully rosy tint. However, the filter reduces output 14% and makes the tint warmer so may not be worth it.
  • gets hot insanely faster than XPL HI due to the lower vF emitter. That’s not a good thing as it means less runtime in turbo. And because of the lower output I’d probably want turbo more often.

I’m not sure the benefits of tint and CRI outweigh the large loss of lumens and turbo runtime compared to XPL HI. When I sit this light side-by-side with my resistor-modded Jetbeam TCR-01 triple XPL HI, the stock FW3A appears brighter at 2.8 amp mode. When I do the same with the SST-20 modded version with Lee Filter, the hotspot appears dimmer. I have to go to FET mode if I want it brighter.

I suspect I’ll end up swapping this light back to XPL HI of some kind. It just seems to be a more practical emitter for small triples with minimal heatsinking.

Thanks!

Thank you for the detailed report Firelight2. It seems to verify to me what ToyKeeper has said all along
……. the XP-L HI is the superior LED for ’this light’.

I’ll get a STT20 if it get’s made, but only to use a host. The SST20 has far to many downsides to be of any value to me in this light. Thanks for your report verifying that to me.

Although that’s what the 30Q is rated at, many drain tests show that they can achieve nearly 20A CDR in reality without any temp issues.

Found this site via a search, I am apparently too late for this groupbuy - will there be another groupbuy for this light or will there be another/newer/different variant of it?

Thank you!

Not asking you to spend time on anything you’re not planning on doing already, but after hearing about your SST-20 swap, I am quite curious to know if the LH351D could be an acceptable middle ground between XP-L HI and SST-20. With the floodiest optic available, it could make for one heck of a portable photography light.

Thanks for posting your SST-20 findings by the way. Really useful info.

M3CSL, this is not technically a groupbuy at BLF. You might want to try the other forum, if you know what that is.
I started there, but like this one a lot better.

Thank you. I am not in an urgent need of a new light, but google gave me the link to this thread. I am happy to wait for the next version of this light, if there is one. Otherwise I will look to the other 2 forums I found.
Thanks.

Apart from the FW3A, you may like to stick around here, there’s much more flashlight stuff to enjoy. We’re full of people who are “not in an urgent need of a new light”, that attitude fits right in. Welcome to BLF :smiley:

I would check on Nealsgadgets.com Ask about the $36 price. It might have gone up a few dollars. I’m sure there will be coupon codes. It’s just all sold out at the moment.

You guys will help me develop another addiction :smiley: Recently I got rid off my knife, car parts/tuning and R/C hobbies! My credit cards are starting to get anxious again…

(full disclosure: I have several Maglites and also recently purchased another light on banggood)

Thanks for all the links, will look into them.

Welcome to the bottomless pit!