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

So your logical and pratical sense should have suggest you to not turn off your flashlight before putting it back to your pocket.
80% of the time it would turn off the flashlight without effort.
:wink:

:person_facepalming: How did I not recognize this as a value-added property! ? ! ugh…

:wink:

Sorry
I meant the nubbin removal trick

Anyone know when the FW3T (Titanium) is coming out?

My SST-20 order arrived today. I opted for the “new” optic and spare lenses rather than waiting. The good news is it isn’t too green, but it’s certainly not rosy either. On most levels below turbo, Duv hovers around 0.0007, with extremely high CRI including R9. I can confirm the lenses being shipped are the standard FW3A lens I’ve tested previously. Swapping the optic to 10511 with a lens increases Duv a bit, so for example 8x7135 becomes 0.0015. It’s not overly green or anything and is a significant upgrade over the XP-L HI, but it may bother people who crave rosy tints.

I noticed the anodization is a slightly different shade, and it has the silver colour clip discussed earlier in the thread, but the most significant change is the switch. The travel is now much shorter and it can’t flop around like the original. I believe this change was made so it’s more recessed and isn’t as easy to mistakenly activate in a pocket. I hated the new switch when I first tried it because I was used to the old one, but it doesn’t bother me now.

Unfortunately I received 3 x SST-20 instead of the requested 2 x SST-20 and 1 x 219C, so I can’t test the 219C version. I will be posting a full write-up with colour and output measurements and photos later, but I thought everyone would like to see the preliminary results first.

8x7135 with new optic
8x7135 with 10511/AR lens

Thanks for testing that Bob, here’s some more testing of the stock AR lens vs a replacement AR lens I bought (same as Kawi):

You got the 22.61mm x 1.90mm one right? How well does it fit compared to the stock lens? Looks like a nice upgrade for the SST-20 version in terms of tint.

Right. It seems to fit fine and everything screws down. Kawi said it was water tight and I’ll just take his word for it, lol.

I think you would be right about the SST-20. For the 219B I probably wouldn’t bother since, to me, they can be “too pink” sometimes.

It helps. I'll have to try it. I already have a couple boots with smaller "nubbins" on them, one came that way and one was modified to fit a light.

I’m anxiously waiting for this, too.

Will the copper head be sealed or raw, and fade by time?

Since the FW3C is raw, I assume the head of the FW3T will be the same. I expect the shiny copper to fade very fast.

My 5 SST-20’s came in today and I like the change to the switch, much better for me, replaced the optics with 10507’s and UCL lenses - happy with the results so far :slight_smile:

Got the 3 SST-20’s that I ordered for myself and two friends. Bodies are definitely a little bit darker than my XPL-HI. That, and the uncoated clip will actually help me to easily differentiate between the two, without having to mark one in some way. The buttons on two of the lights are as described by others. On the third, though, the button is like it is on my xpl. Guess they made the change some time during production of this batch. Maybe it’s because of the reduced output, but the SST-20s do not heat up nearly as fast on turbo vs the XPL-HI.

I switched out the new optics, and replaced them with the three optics from my YLP Gryphon G180. I haven’t been using it much, lately. And, it’ll be easier to replace them, now. Rather than having to get the replacements to my friends, later.

Left - original FW3A optic, Center - current FW3A optic, Right - optic from YLP Gryphon

That’s worrisome. They should heat up faster, not slower. It may be good to check and make sure the MCPCB has good thermal contact with the host, make sure the wire connections are solid, make sure the battery is okay, etc.

The SST-20 95CRI emitters are quite a bit less efficient and have lower Vf so they should pull more amps… which both lead to heating up faster. If they don’t, I’d be a little concerned about why not.

Maybe they used a different firmware?

Yeah, my mistake. I actually just had the SST-20 at the top of the default ramping, not full turbo. I was using both in momentary at full ramp, and my XPL is set to ramp all the way to 150.

Can someone post a pic of this revised switch?

I’ll try to post a comparison photo tomorrow, but the only difference is how deeply it’s recessed. On the new one only the chamfered section is exposed.

placed an order for an SST-20 15 days ago and I’ve heard nothing at all. This was from NealsGadgets. I’ve emailed about 4 times, chatted a couple and have gotten zero responses. I understand folks get busy but to me this is inappropriate. Should I consider this fraud and report it? Call my CC company?