I committed to one light somewhere around the 1,100's on the list just 'cause it sounded interesting. Then , not knowing anything about the process, sat back & watched as something akin to mating elephants took place; much noise, trumpeting and ground-shaking stomping, with everything happening at a very high level. Fascinating! The analogy breaks down here though, because it took more than ~eighteen months to get results .
Shortly after payment my new FW3A light tool arrived, a delightful piece of industrial art barely larger than my trusty, pocketworn TG06S, but so much more useful and, entertaining to boot. Raided my C8F for the only flat top cell I own(d) to start learning the UI. (A couple of 35E's and MJ1's are on the way.)
What a great light! From my relatively inexperienced perspective I have absolutely no complaints.
I offer my most sincere thanks to everyone who invested their time & resources in making this fine light become a reality.
I'd also like to thank those who have posted about the finer points of use, maintenance & troubleshooting.
Well done, everyone! Thank You!
Now, for just one question:
Are there any leftovers; unclaimed lights from the list where people never followed through with payment? If so, how would one go about purchasing same at the GB price? Inquiring minds want to know...
slmjim
EDIT: Corrected the gestation period of pachyderms.
I had a snafu with mine earlier tonight. I was playing with it outside, I took it out of my pocket, and clicked 4 times to unlock it. It started spazzing out and strobing and clicking it wouldn’t turn it off. I unscrewed the head and put it back together and it seemed fine.
I was playing with again later and noticed an extra blink at the top of the ramp, and it was getting hot.
So at this point I realized what I’d done, earlier when it was blinking and strobing it was just in ramp config mode. Apparently I thought I’d locked it out but didn’t, so I must have turned it on coming out of my pocket, then clicked it 4 times and it entered ramp config mode. All my random clicking trying to turn it off changed the ramp ceiling setting to almost all the way up.
After I figured out that I am in fact an idiot, I got the manual and set everything back to how it’s supposed to be.
Ha ha. I also stumbled into ramping config mode and freaked out a bit at first. Wasn’t until I found the “modded cheat sheet” that I realized what I had done.
Has anyone heard from Neal recently? Between this post from TK and several of us not receiving any responses to inquiries about outstanding orders, I hope he’s alright. I’m tempted to order a 219C version, but definitely not until he makes good on my original order (China Post returned it to him; not necessarily his fault, but he said he’d look into it 10 days ago and nothing since then). Anyone know if he’s OK?
This thread was created shortly before a famous political investigation was created, and the first shipping of the finished FW3A was a little after the political report was finished.
Yes, the lifespan of the development of the FW3A was a bit longer than the lifespan of the famous report.
It's kinda interesting, but I don't want to go into politics here.
Was lying in bed last night, almost asleep, when my eyes flew open with the thought, "James, ya' dumba$$, pachyderm gestation is twice that of what you wrote!"
Seems my subconscious thinks about these things & chooses inappropriate times to announce it's findings.
Edited my OP accordingly.
Sorry for the derail. We now return you to the regularly-scheduled FW3A thread.
Side question, so my 3D FW3A comes today, I have, and very much enjoy, my Rovyvon A8 with the 219 emitter. I can see myself wanting an FW3A with the same set up.
According to Neals it's 4000K, ~1,600 lumens but everything I've seen said that it produces a lot more heat than the XP-L. Is that correct? And if so, why so with much lower lumens? I'm guessing the XP-L's are a lot more efficient? Are all High CRI emitters that way?
Man, it's not even in my hands yet and I'm already thinking about the next one. Yeah, I'm back.
The thing is that the 219C will probably make more lumens than the rating, probably around 2000 lumens, but it’s a less efficient LED, so less light OTF, and more heat is generated.
If the 219C is using the 219B firmware that’s limited to 50% FET, it may be a little under 2000 lumens, but it won’t heat up as fast as the XP-L HI version using 100% FET.
If it’s not using the 219B firmware, 1600 lumens is unrealistically low. 219C FET triples are more like 2400 lumens, depending on the battery, springs, leads, etc…. In that case, it will heat up faster. It’s not just because it’s less efficient, but because it has lower forward voltage, allowing it to consume more power in a FET light.
All of the high-CRI options that have been considered have lower forward voltage than the XP-L HI and will produce more heat, though the SST-20 and LH351D should have a bit higher forward voltage than the 219C. Increasing CRI within a given emitter design usually has an efficiency cost as well, so more heat and less light for a given amount of power. That said, the LH351D is very efficient to start with and probably won’t lose much, if any output relative to the XP-L HI. It will lose throw relative to any other option under consideration.
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