TLF/BLF/Lumintop FW3A review (18650, 3x XP-L HI cool white)

Most people have been using the Samsung 30Q. I’ve been using 18650s recovered from an old laptop battery, they are only 1800mAh but I’ve got 8 of them lol. I’ll get some better ones when my FW3T comes in.

It was a high drain 3,000mah like a 30Q.

There are a lot of battery choices as long as it it not button top and no protection circuit. These add length and the max length that fits is about 66mm.

Here are some top cells in 3000mah to 3500mah:
Samsung 30Q or 35E.
LG HG2 or MJ1
Panasonic NCR18650GA
Sony VTC6

Hi BOO5TED

You have a lot of 1800mAh and never run out of stocks, Thank you for the info,

No problem, many cordless power tools have 18650s in the battery packs also.

Thank you very much…. JasonWW

Hey, do you know if Lumintop FW3A can use the 18650 protected batteries (with the same length)? I need a precise info please because I alredy have four 18650 protected batteries with the same length as those used by Lumintop FW3A. THANKS

Max battery length is 66mm, if you can find a protected cell that length or shorter I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. That being said, I’ve never seen a protected 18650 even close to 66mm.

Plus you’d need the protection circuit to handle at least 10 amps or so. Anything less would probably trip the circuit. The light would turn off if going to Turbo. That would be a pain in the rear.

I got one of these a few weeks ago, and I really want to like it, but it has a few things I cannot get past. First of all, the switch is a bit too easy to trip, and even though I see there is a mod to fix it, I am still not sure it would work for me. The second and main issue I have with it the heat this things pours out of the front! Even at 760 lumens before I go to turbo, the light warms up real quickly and it will burn skin and anything else that gets close to the head. I do not own another light that does this, even ones that put out 1000 plus lumens. There are a few ways to lock the light out, but one can always forget to do so. I am afraid it will start a fire. It seems to me this light is trying to put out too much lumens than it was designed to do. Something this bright should have a better heat sink at the head, and be made of thicker steel. The EDC18 may be this light, and may be something I will try if I see a good deal on it. I would like to see this FW3A format in a single AA design. I think it would be better suited for something like this, instead of trying to be a miniature spotlight. I love the way the light looks! Fortunately, Amazon has given me a generous amount of time to return the light, so I have a while to play with it. It I see the EDC18 price go down, I may swap it for that!

You should be able to limit how hot it gets.

The FW3A gets hotter, quicker than many other lights as it is quite lightweight, and that was by design. It does not have a bunch of aluminum (mass = weight) to pull heat from the front end and then dissipate it. (It’s aluminum, not steel… steel would be worse for heat). I don’t think it was ever meant to run on high levels or turbo for very long.

Like many things, not every device is loved by everyone. I truly love this light. My needs and wants are probably quite different from many other people. I don’t usually need mega-lumens in a light that is my EDC. Before this my EDC was an Olight s15, a light with a max of something like 400 lumens IIRC. I ran it on a 14500 (AA sized lithium cell) that had a capacity of 800 mAh or so. This FW3A lets me use an 18650, 3000 mAh cell for much improved run time and it is only slightly longer andlarger in diameter. I’m repeating myself; I love it. And I realize others have an opinion 180 degrees from mine.
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The EDC18 is a little heavier. Maybe that will trnslate into slightly cooler operation? I don’t know.

One other thing I like about the FW3A is I always know where the switch is; the tail. With the EDC18 you need to rotate it until the side switch is where you want it. Not a big deal, but for a light that will be dropped into a pocket, not clipped, I prefer the FW3A. But that is me.

I would probably like the magnetic tailcap on the EDC18, if it is powerful enough to really hold anywhere placed.

I agree with a lot of what you say. Sorry, I meant to say Aluminum, not steel! lol Like you, I rarely need more than maybe 500 lumens from a small, EDC light, and that is why I said this lights design is not optimized for 2800 lumens. I think the light is TOO lightweight. In my opinion, making it a bit more robust and a little bit heavier would not only solve the heat problem, but would also not affect its portability. I need to read reviews of the EDC18 and see if it is better in the brighter settings. I also agree the tail switch is much easier to use, but I do not mind side switches. I have a few lights with both!

No, not really. There’s only a little bit more mass; nowhere near enough to handle the amount of power it uses. If you want something with a more appropriate power-to-mass ratio, the EDC18 won’t make much difference. It’s basically a FW3A with a side switch instead of tail switch.

About the switch being too easy to press though, I agree. The prototypes had stiffer buttons, but for some reason it was changed right before production started. The prototypes needed about 800g of force to activate, while the production models have mostly been about 300g. :frowning:

Thanks Toykeeper. Saves me the trouble of ordering it. I think I am going to try to make the FW3A work for me. I may mod the switch to make it a bit stiffer, then program it to maybe max out at about 400 to 500 lumens when ramping. Is there a way to “lockout” the turbo mode?

Removing the FET and some 7135’s would be the permanent hardware method.

Probably a quick fix is just to disable the FET. Just unsolder the R1 resistor. It can still ramp up to 900-1000 lumen, but not higher. Then you could probably set the ramp level to a lower point so it maxes out at 500lm or whatever. A double click would turn off the leds, but the brains will still be active. Just don’t double click, or if you do, ramp back down before turning off the light. No programming involved.

If you want to reflash it with custom code, maybe that’s easier than soldering for you, then you could do that as well. You’d still have to unsolder the led wires to get to the driver, though.

Thanks everybody! All great info, but unfortunately I am not nearly that good with a soldering iron! :disappointed: Has anybody used this light in muddle mode? Maybe setting it to ramp from low to 400 lumen would do the trick. I wish I brought the light with me (we are visiting my wife’s parents this week for Christmas), but will play with it this weekend!

Muggle works fine for me. Ramps up and down only and the brightest doesn’t make much heat.

I was just thinking about something regarding this light and flashing it. It does not have a USB interface and to reprogram it, it involves some desoldering. With so many things these days being bluetooth, why not a flashlight interface with a bluetooth connection with an app you install on your phone? We all have our phones on us all the time so it would not be an extra thing to lug around and would make programming, and just setting up the light as we want so much easier. Is this even possible, or has a light already been designed like this and I just missed it?? What do all of you think? Is this a brain storm, or just a slight drizzle?? :sunglasses: :smiley:

Toykeeper actually made special software and this driver was designed with an optical input (pin 7 on the MCU) that accepts flashing the driver from a blinking light source such as a cell phone. Unfortunately it took a long time and was overly complicated, so it was not put in to use.

I’m not aware of any flashlight with a USB interface, only USB charging.

There are older flashlights with a bluetooth interface and an app you control with your phone that let’s you do cool stuff like change the settings, flash to music and remote turn on/off, but it was expensive so people didn’t buy it. The app was not kept up to date either. It doesn’t seem very practical. IDK, maybe future designs could use bluetooth, but it adds so much more complication.

Things today are going the way of the flashing pin array that you access without removing the driver and you can reflash the driver from your phone. Check the Emisar D4v2. The FW3A was designed a couple years ago when flashing pins where not popular.

Toykeeper is the one that’s really on top of flashing interfaces. I only know a little bit.