Maybe I’m wrong, but those shiny copper FW3A’s seem to be going away. I went looking last weekend and fleabay was the only place I could find them. Just checked, and it still says one left, same as when I ordered, but I ordered two, and the shipped notification email has arrived…. Notice it is from Shenzhen.
The bead blasted copper didn’t seam to take off, you can still get them.
Maybe I’m wrong, but is that prototype FW3A V2 Lumintop’s first production light with tritium slots? (assuming it does go into production.)
Edit:
It looks like it’s got both a (magnetic?) brightness adjustment ring, and an on/off switch.
IMO, this is not a flashlight for “many”. It should be owned only by “freaks”, who have the necessary knowledge to deal with it safely. There’s way too many reports of melt-downs due to a variety of speculative causes.
It’s a very nice-looking light, but potentially much more dangerous than most other lithium-ion lights. The design is inherently bad for the kind of manufacturing tolerances used to produce it cheaply. And, add to that, firmware which has some dubious safety issues in recent months (D4v2). Maybe not the version used in this light, but who knows what other bugs are waiting to be discovered?
People should be careful with this light. It’s a fun light, but don’t leave it on some paper and go to bed, even if it’s “off”.
I totally agree with you. This light is a danger to muggles and noobs. If twice as much was invested in the light it might have been a different story. I love my FW collection…
For a few days i was suspecting shenanigans from La Poste as the parcel status was bouncing from "has arrived at the site for distribution" to "deposited in the recipient's mailbox" and back again several times but it eventually reached my mailbox for real !
There are a few difference with my first FW3A that was from 1st batch.
Pros :
the most obvious at first sight is the smooth SS clip wich i like better than the original one
new Anduril version with the 2 levels momentary lockout (nice move !)
retaining ring added for the tail pcb
Cons :
the switch action doesn't feel right and the button sometimes stay stuck in the pressed position
The switch problem was easily solved thanks to JaredM's post about the "o-ring, no nubin" mod so everything is perfect now but as much as i love this torch i have to agree with the people saying that, with that kind of issue, the FW3A might not be for everyone.
Well I received a shipment of parts and lights from Neal yesterday, and it would appear the new deep-carry clip and 18350 tube is not compatible with older versions of the FW3A…or at least not with my particular version (no retaining ring in the tailcap). I can’t get the 18350 tube to work at all. The inner tube does not seem to contact the switch board correctly because I’m getting no continuity on the meter when the switch is pressed. Tried screwing it together as tight as I could, with clip, no clip, nothing works. The short tube does however work with the brand new FW1A that also came yesterday, but really I wanted it for the FW3A as that’s my EDC light.
Same issue with the deep carry clip…I think the ring is just thick enough to keep the inner tube from contacting. It appears to be slightly thicker than the original clip’s ring.
At least the new SS bezel fits on my old FW3A…nevermind that they sent two FW3A bezels instead of the one FW3A and one FW1A I ordered. My shiny new FW1A will have to wait for it’s bezel upgrade.
If anyone has gotten these new parts to work with older versions of this light please let me know how!
I made a brass signal tube for mine. Had to make brass signal tubes to replace the signal springs in my NovaTacFW3 mods and my FW3A shorty, FW3Ti shorty mods…
Now I can run any accessory I want… no more messing around…