Try out a BLF X5 with an Efest 14500 battery. Or, a lumintop gt micro. You will love them both if you want something smaller than 18650 with great throw.
Thanks for the help. I found a good article online by bmengineer that recommended the luminos SST20 so I went with that option.
I hear good things abut that guy. Glad he could help.
It was helpful to a novice like me. Often I find flashlight stuff intimidating but I appreciate that you can write to both novices and experts.
Now let’s hope I like your recommendation lol
Received my light and I’m very disappointed. A light that activates in my pocket is a no go and this light has already done it twice in two days. I’m hoping I can figure out how to modify the tail switch. I’ve never taken a light apart but the modification seems fairly straight forward. Could anyone provide me with a video on how to do it? I can’t seem to find one on YouTube. Also can anyone tell me the o ring size or products they’ve used? Thanks!
Can anyone comment on the waterproof rating of this light? I definitely want one for EDC/outdoor use but if I’m going to take it backpacking or walking in the rain it needs to be reliable in all weather. I’ve never owned a Lumintop or a forum light so I don’t have a sense of the build quality. Is this a toy with nice design and specs, or a day in, day out, all-weather user?
The proper solution is to lock the light out. When the light is OFF, tap the button 4 times. The light will flash twice. Once it’s locked it’ll work in low mode only when the switch is held down, but it won’t stay on.
To unlock it tap the button 4 times.
I’d say it’s more of a toy than a rugged outdoor light. It does have o-rings and should be ok in the rain or getting splashed, but I certainly wouldn’t submerge it or anything like that. All it takes is one spec of lint on an o-ring and the seal is compromised. It’s very finicky about how the signal tube makes contact with the head and tail so if you might be dropping it or banging it around a lot, I’d probably look elsewhere.
Sounds like its not my best choice for a woods/hunting/backpacking light. Anything small and budget that you think is reliable? I’m looking at variants of the Convoy S2+ right now that would fit my needs.
Disassemble the tail cap, if it has a retaining ring you can remove it with snap ring plyers or the end of a binder clip. I used the binder clip because that’s what I had.
It should look something like this when done.
Remove the little “nub” (as some people call it) from the center of the rubber part of the button and replace it with the o-ring. It should look like this.
Reassemble everything without the “nub”.
I forget what size the o-ring is but I’ve heard the o-ring from inside of the valve caps on your tires works also.
O-ring #008, your local hardware store should have them. 3/16” ID, 5/16” OD, 1/16” Width is the spec.
Thank you very much for that. I had a pair of snap ring pliers and they didn’t work for this however the binder clip did! I was very nervous to do this mod and worried about ruining the threads. I think going slow and easy is the key. I did the mod and I must say the light is now amazing. So far no accidental activations. This is how the light should’ve came from the factory. IMO the light out of the box is dangerous and shouldn’t be carried without this mod or locking it out. Locking it out is a pain and if you use the light a lot so I’m glad I found this mod. A member on here hooked me up with some o rings. This is a great community!
3300k 7A has been on my belt since Sept 2019 when it came out. It’s been dropped on concrete and other hard surfaces. I finally put an o-ring in the tail cap. I like it even more.
No problem. :+1:
Finally bought a FW1A and gotta say I’m disappointed. What’s up with the artifacty reflector/beam?
Also with everyone raving about how much better the FD2 was compared to the FB4 I can’t see why. Maybe I just lost out in the tint lottery again.
I’m pretty sure the reflector has changed from the first run. The artifacts are disappointing.
I think it’s designed for XP-L HI, so SST-20 doesn’t look quite right. Also, SST-20 generally looks even more green when used in a reflector, and the tint bin probably isn’t better enough to fix that. Even the “good” bins look green at low levels, and a reflector makes the effect even stronger.
Of course, given how many times the FW3A has been changed, the FW1A also could have changed since the initial release.
Here is a comparison photo.
On the right is my original FW1A (with SS bezel).
The left is a photo I requested from Craig/Illumn of his latest batch.
My FW1A SST-20 is green tinted and artifacty too. I might try an sw40 in it. Mine has the thick plastic ring as pictured on the left.
Wow that’s drastic