If so I’d just clean it all up with some alcohol & go with it.
Or, if you can solder & want to try & make it look prettier, give it a go. If you do, check the thermal paste while your at it to see if there is proper coverage.
The biggest thing is the LED domes really. The soldering can look ugly and still be perfectly fine.
2 out of 3 of my lights had something pretty big on one of the LEDs that had to be wiped off. No damage cause I always check for it but a few turbo blasts will really start cooking anything left on there.
Hello all. I’m new to blf. I found this forum through Matt Smith’s YouTube channel and his video about this flashlight. I watched his video, read a little bit on here and ordered one that day from Neal. I just got mine in the mail and I couldn’t be happier. This light does everything I could want and the build quality seems great. I’ll be sticking around and checking out the mod thread. Thanks for a great light.
I've been following this thread for about 6 or 7 months now. But it has been going on for a long while. I think the work and the patience of the ones involved and those of us following have been well rewarded. It is a great light!
Thanks for the hearty welcome. I really don’t think I could be happier with this light. I own quite a few lights, all production models from many companies, foursevens, olight, klarus, etc. This light is small, powerful, and packed with great features. My thanks to all involved.
I received the two FW3A, standard dark gray aluminum and the copper. The copper is drop dead gorgeous! The finish is very shiny, almost mirror like. It is the most beautiful copper light I’ve seen yet. Below are my test results:
The tint is really, seriously, great on my SST-20. I think all tint junkies would love it, and I do too. I’m just underwhelmed by the lumens difference vs the XPL-HI. I knew this, but tried anyway. I honestly prefer the XPLs.
Yea the tint on this SST-20 4000k tint bin (likely FD2) is surprisingly good on higher output modes considering how this emitter (FB4 tint bin) is known for ugly green tint. On turbo, it looks as good as some of the Cree 5D and 5A tint lights I own. But the majority of the 5A/5D lights are rosier on high output and less green at low output. But given the high CRI and R9, I would choose this over 5A/5D for an EDC flooder like the FW3A.
No. SST-20 FD2 is about 0.0028 duv at low outputs showing hints of green, whereas 219B is slightly below BBL even at low output. At high output, the 219B 4000K and 4500K ranges from –0.004 to –0.009 DUV giving it a more white/rosy appearance whereas the SST-20 FD2 is only about –0.002 to –0.003 at max on the FW3A.