Lumintop FW3S Discussion and Review

I recently had a chance to finish my review of the FW3S, my first high powered stainless steel light. Obviously this metal is heavy and doesn't shed great as well as aluminum, but it's extremely strong, durable, and looks fantastic. What do you think about stainless steel being used in more production lights?

I don't mind the heft, but the inability to shed heat is what prevents me from getting most stainless steel flashlights.

They do look very nice, however.

Nice pic! That baby won’t “patina” like it’s CS cousins.

I have a tiny MecArmy X2S that is SS that I quite like. Stays clipped inside work backpack so I have it on trips. SS not an issue for this small and for intended purpose.

Nice picture bmengineer.
I own only one flashlight in stainless steel (DQG AAA) but even if this metal looks good, it’s so detrimental to heat management that I will continue to avoid it like plague.

Yeah my only other stainless light is the HLAAA 2.0, which I also quite like. Heat is rough, but as long as you stay away from the higher modes it’s fine.

Great review as usual. I always kinda wanted a steel FW3, but never actually got one. I’ve been using a bare aluminum one, but steel would be really cool to have too.

I don’t mind the heft of stainless. I have a few. I don’t notice the weight and I rarely if ever use them to their full output potential. For example, I have a Reylight Gemini, 18350 triple. I think it’ll do around 2000 lumens if I remember correctly. I am perfectly content using it in muggle mode. 3 nice evenly spaced modes with the high of about maybe 700 lumens or so. Just guessing.

Most of my lighting needs are fairly close range and aren’t needed for extended periods of time.

The only complaint I have about some stainless lights are, the lack of knurling or something to insure I don’t drop it every time I get it out of my pocket. Lets make it out of stainless. Yes I know it’s 5 times heavier. They’ll love it. Oh yeah and by the way, polish it up real nice so it has the grip of Teflon. :smiley:

there’s a bit of a texture on this one from the machining process - it’s not visible, but you can feel the tiny grooves the tooling left in production. I agree though, that won’t do much if your hands are wet.

Thanks!

Hefty but cool :smiley:

I have it since the day 1 of release. Regret it ever since...

I’m using it (was) at work and most of the time on MAX when after 2 days i’ve noticed one emitter is kinda odd. Removed the bezel and found 1 emitter with the dome almost melted and two others were like chewing gum.

I was sure not buy whole Titanium light before but the look of SS got me attracted.
Anyhow, emitters desoldered, mcpcb grinded and soldered with another, added FW1SS bezel and Clemence E21 quadtrix. Need to find time for fine tuning of details for perfect fit.

Other then that, will never buy again a light without Alu or copper junction between mcpcb and the body/head.
They only look great, perform aweful, cooking emitters

ive got a fw3a SS in the post, should come in a week or so

is there something in the firmware that can limit the turbo mode, im a little worried i might burn it to death

has anyone have any tips not to make it die a horrible death

I haven’t used Turbo, max only and it was enough.

You can programm it to deacticate Turbo

That’s crummy id, you should definitely try to reach out to wherever you bought it and see if you can get it replaced. I’ve toyed with the idea of making mine a single too, but I think I would still prefer the aluminum body with the stainless bezel most of the time. Mine was fine even after my turbo tests, so maybe yours wasn’t assembled properly.

And great shot Ryley, is that wired with aux LEDs or just a glow gasket?

I also think the same, convert it to single. I happen to have fw1a and fw3s, direct swap the internal parts but still have to drill cable hole in the head.

Thanks, it’s aux led from Lexel, single color ice blue led.

Is it possible to deactivate turbo on anduril?

Sure, but muggle mode also limits features and the output power to a very low level.

Hi everyone, I just got mine with nichia leds and i have to say that weighs a lot, if you use it at high power, heats up in seconds… but it is really, really, really beautiful!!! Excellent material and machining. It’s a very beautiful object, and holding in your hand is a pleasure! And if used at medium-low power, also perfectly usable … better if in winter perhaps :slight_smile:
A collector’s item but also quite usable.
And in the box I also found one rubber tactical ring :+1: