Sorry for the double post, but just to keep things separated..
So.. First things first, obviously I do like this light as it's potentially covering lots of my requirements for a compact enough EDC, thus, I might bite the bullet sooner or later.. so that's out of the way.
Next, I would want to know some info about the reflector and the driver and maybe make a few small suggestions, just to know how moddable this host would be to better fit my own preferences.
What is the reflector size for the FW1A - Diameter, Depth and less important emitter opening Diameter ? Is there any compatible size common reflector that could be used as a drop-in replacement (S2/S2+ for ex.) ?
How is the power stage driven ? I know there's a 1 + 7 + FET setup, but I'm not really sure how that works.. I'll take it that the 7135's are driven in high freq. PWM and the FET in voltage ?
And how and why is there a 1 + 7 setup for the 7153's ? What would be the difference to.. say, 8 + FET or 1 + FET ? Also, how is the MCU driving them ? each channel gets a PIN from the MCU to drive it ?
Like in 2 PWM pins from the MCU are driving the 1 * 7135 and the 8 * 7135's and a 3rd pin is driving the FET ? In this case, could the driver be modded to accommodate a less powerful emitter like an XP-G2 ?
So, with only 4 * 7135's and no FET, the MCU would only drive the 4 * 7135's and that would leave 2 available pins for controlling a bi-color LED (Red/Green) as a battery status indicator while the light is "On" ?
What I'm thinking is having the reflector replaced, remove the FET and few 7135's, leaving only 3 to 5 of them depending on the emitter, swap the emitter to an XP-G2 or an LH351D or a Nichia 119D/219D, or something nice, then drill a small, plain round hole on the side about driver level to accommodate a small SMD bi-color LED that will be used as a battery indicator and use the 2 MCU pins that are remaining from the FET and one of the 7135 channels to drive that small battery indicator LED. All of the above if possible ofc.. :)
Another thing I've noticed, was a tactical ring accessory for the FWXX lights and it's looking nice, only I would take a Nitecore style one over it because it would make for a better anti-roll design.
Ex. of a Nitecore Tactical Ring:
Very nice anti-roll design, in comparison to the current offe.. ring:
Which is nice and slim and good looking, but not really looking like it's serving too much practical purpose. I get that the pocket clip would be the actual anti-rolling element, but I can still see a bit more.. "tabbed" ring would do even better.
Besides this tactical ring, I would also add another two optional rubber elements/accessories (color options maybe ?) to the head and tail of the light, just to add to the anti-roll design for one, add some bezel cutouts and also protect the light from drops and scratches, something along the lines of this light, but ofc. slimmer and removable:
Yay!..