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

It looks like I missed a lot here recently… though it seems like perhaps it was stuff I’m better off missing.

In any case, some of the moonbeam buttons arrived today and I wanted to show how it looks.

It’s shiny bare machined metal with a matte grey etched area around it, so the shiny part changes color while the etched part stays mostly the same. It feels pretty flat so the etching isn’t very deep, but it still gives a nice two-tone effect from almost any angle.

It can be hard to show the color of silver in a photo though, so … here are several angles in a few different lighting conditions. I hope it gives people a good idea what to expect.


Those look great. I’m still looking for a bunny too.

Nice moonbeam buttons!

LOVE the buttons. I would pay a fair bit for one of those. :heart_eyes:

would love one with a stylized bunny astride the crescent :sunglasses:

Looks great!! Are they available by themselves? Would be interested in one if so.

I’m not sure if the buttons will be available on their own, but they’re not at the moment.

Looks great! Do you know which lights will have it? Will it be on the ti that will start shipping in a week?

@Helios azimuth,

The purple FW3A will have it.

@Tally-ho
Thank you

i thought all lights outside group buys will have them? maybe not ? …

My SST20 FW3A from Neil was delivered yesterday, and this morning I was going through the different modes and configs when it suddenly shut down into some kind of momentary mode. It will not turn on, the emitters just sort of flutter at moonlight level when I press the button. Can’t get out of this no matter what I try. It’s a freshly charged Samsung Q30 battery that I ordered along with the light.

Any ideas?

The tail is not making good contact.

Crank the tail down before screwing the head on.

There is a thread regarding first time maintenance as well.

Thanks, that’s exactly what it was. Tightened everything down and it’s back to normal.

Just ordered my third FW3A… I have dropped 219b sw40’s in one, left the stock SST-20 4000k in one and will be either trying LH351D’s or SST-20 4000k FD2’s in the next. One thing I have noticed, I have the FW3A in the stock SST-20 and I have the D4V2 in the stock SST-20, they are not the same tint bin! The D4V2 is quite a bit more green/yellow at all output ranges. The FW3A SST-20 4000k actually does not look terrible when compared side by side with the Nichia 4000k sw40’s. So hats off to whomever sourced the current 4000k SST-20’s.

Also when changing led’s I am updating to the latest firmware. The solder work on the drivers is very good as the SOIC-8 clip attaches very well to the chip. The more I use and carry the FW3A, the more I love the light. It has replaced my Zebralight in my rotation. Runtime is great as long as one stays in the range of current regulated output and with the 219b version being my EDC, there is not much to be gained by going to FET drive anyway. The final result will be to determine the led’s I want to use in it and then I will order that good looking purple one and build it for EDC.

I am hoping to get a chance to do some tint comparisons with the above led’s, my NW Zebralight and my old standby XM footprint XM-L2 4C light.

Neal said the SST-20 bin they used in the FW3A is FA3, which is a very good one. I think it tests good, but I guess there’s no way to tell if they are REALLY FA3 or maybe FD2s or something. They look pretty much the same as the FD2s to me. Way better than the FB4 I got in a convoy light.

There is almost zero chance these are FA3. They are 39xx CCT and above BBL at all levels except turbo. Better than most sure but I think FD2 is a better educated guess.

Not sure, all I am sure of right now is the very early SST20 FW3A makes the D4V2 look like puke! I have some FD2’s that I will reflow and test, if the light does have FD2’s then they are pretty good.

It’s a shame Emisar didn’t try to get the same ones Lumintop did. I kind of want a D4V2 but not with the green SSTs. And due to the fancy board with the aux LEDs I don’t really want to try to reflow it.

I was thinking of trying the D4V2 in the 3000k SST-20. I’ve heard the 3000k ones are generally a good tint.