I don’t think it’s quite a deal breaker for me, but it’s certainly a reason to keep using my FW3A. It’s the primary reason I keep using my FW3A instead of my D4, even slightly moreso than the fact it runs Anduril.
On the bright side, with Anduril on the new D4 I should be able to cap the ramp at something reasonable like 300 lumens to limit how much power I fritter away. The new option to make it always switch on at any desired level (such as max regulated) will be really useful too.
Don’t worry, the 3-channel driver is nice but also overrated. Sure it is a nice thought to have it in your light, but the slight efficiency gain you get in medium modes will not be noticable in your runtimes.
I seemed to notice that my FW3A goes for longer at the maximum regulated ~800lm level than my D4 at the same sort of brightness. Is this most likely because I just keep overshooting and ending up with 1000lm+?
Anduril will surely make it a lot easier to know how much output we’re getting. So glad it’s now included on Emisar’s newer flashlights.
Are external dimensions the same?
I think that magnet addition would increase the length (even for those who don’t use it) which would be a small step back…
That is a good question, though from my experience I have found Anduril to operate just like Ramping IOS V2 if you only use the relevant button presses.
I have found the simple shortcut to directly ramp down instead of having to guess the ramp direction to be an incredibly useful addition in Anduril however.
I compared both my D4 and FW3A at step 130 which is full regulation for the FW3A. My D4 stepped down 2 minutes later than the FW3A with the same thermal config. (the FW3A has a slightly newer Anduril build though)
I guess more thermal mass and running the emitters in a more efficient zone has something to do with it. D4 is SST20, FW3A is XP-L HI, so I expected the FW3A to actually go longer if not near exactly the same.
I really need to crack open my D1 and flash it. RampingOS isnt bad, but I would like most of my lights to be consistent.