FW3A, a TLF/BLF EDC flashlight - SST-20 available, coupon codes public

Sorry Pepinfaxera I didn’t know my first post was registered.
I’ll take 2 total.
Thanks for all the work, rest of the team too, awesome job :slight_smile:

At the time the poll info was sent to Lumintop the XP-L HI was the winner. The Samsung was runner up…. 2nd place.

The poll was slated to end around 22 June.

So as has been said, at this point…. it is what it is.

Hopefully there will be two choices of emitter…
……… XP-L HI / (#1 poll choice) & Samsung / (#2 poll choice).

Well said joechina…… :+1:

And while we all realize it is a preference that we each have individually. I too am looking forward to that beautiful beam……
…………. of the 5000K XP-L HI. :wink:

Those are two VERY different LEDs though…
The (overrated and expensive) XP-L HI has the smaller die and no dome, but is popular with DD FET switch circuit because of its high Vf.
And it’s a typical low CRI Cree with typical Cree tints…
Good for small optics like 20mm triples with still a bit of throw.
The Samsung is probably just as efficient, maybe even a little more iirc, but has a big die and a dome, so it will have a large floody hotspot.
But the tint and CRI are pretty good.

/\ … Yep… :+1: … Fingers crossed for both versions.

They are indeed very different LEDs. However, the reason I like XP-L HI isn’t because of its high Vf… it’s because of the beam quality.

When I voted in the poll, I hadn’t actually tried LH351D emitters. It sounded really nice from what I had heard though, so I ranked it second. But after trying it (LH351D 5000K 80CRI) in person, in both 10511 and 10507 optics, I would rank it last. I don’t like the beam with either of the optics. With 10511 it’s smooth but way too floody. With 10507 it’s less floody but the beam looks a lot like a zoomie in wide mode — a flat(ish) wide circle with fairly sharp and colorful edges, and virtually no spill.

Out of all the triples I’ve tried, my favorites for beam quality are XP-L HI and Nichia 219B, both in 10511 optics.

Is that, FW3A with XP-L Hi, is floody; With LH351D 5000K 80CRI the FW3A flashlight is very floody floody,
No Zebralight 602 but …

Well thats good to know. Got any beamshots? just curious.

I its not about right, more

- sb. had the lamp and used it over a longer time (e.g. a week)

- I would normally flock over to 95cri. But when you build a house you normally ask the expert, the architect, what would you do?
And the answer was HI led cause beam distribution is nicer.

  • When Toykeeper, Djozz, Texas Ace (and a few others I forgt to mention) say this lamp with that config is nice you never get a bad light.

- I plan to get two Hi and one Samsung version.

And maybe:
Get an additional triple MCPCB with Samungs and slice them. And replace one Hi with that.
( I never sliced a single LED so I have three chances to screw it up :-/ )

You’d really rather a XP-G3 or G2 than an even flood, even if it’s wider than you wanted? I know you prefer the center to be much more intense so you can aim level and not have as much foreground light, but as far as the beam, maukka’s messing with the Wuben triples seemed to say that a bit more mixing would be desired than the 10511 can provide. At least, that’s what I took away from it. “I replaced the clear 10507 optics from the TO46R with a floody frosted 10509 which got rid of all of the tint shift in the beam. The less frosted 10511 and 10508 didn’t quite mix the tint enough, but I was white wall hunting. ”-maukka

Anyway, what I’m more interested in is hearing about is if any of the earlier prototypes have been seeing much use, and how they’ve been doing. I think you’d been carrying one around. Don’t remember what they put in that one.

It’s not quite like that though. You’re asking someone who likes to drive autocross what they like in a car, and then assuming that what’s good for them is good for you, even if what you’re looking for is a car to carry your family around and carry all your luggage on trips, or maybe to go drive on a rough road to a campsite. And… I have to point out, TK does have some differences in visual perception, even above usual. So it’s really not an unconditional endorsement if someone says they like something because it’s better* in some aspect. (may not be an aspect you care about, may only seem better to them, etc.) That’s the point. Sure, you’ll end up with a light that’s good at /something/. But if you’re looking for a light that you can use for the things I’d like, you’ll find that I want something with good CRI within the 4000-5000k range, reasonable in most other aspects, without serious color shift in the beam. That’s because what I imagine I’d use this for is mostly for only up to maybe 300 feet away, and I don’t need incredible throw for that. sometimes I’d be using it to light up something near me very evenly and with correct color, so that I can either compare the color to another item, or take a picture of it, or whatever. Sometimes I’d turn it on minimum just to get around in the dark. Different purposes. Not trying to shine down a narrow snowy road to find an owl in a tree? Don’t grab your D1S.

Anyway, I’d like to put this to bed. Any other fw3a related stuff we could talk about instead of the emitters?

The lanyard?
What kind of lanyard does it come with?
:stuck_out_tongue:

The XP-L HI has much more to love than just a high Vf. It has been one of the most consistently beautiful beams with a great tint. The only LED that can beat it in those two aspects is the 219B, IMO. I understand that many people are CRI freaks, but if it comes at the cost of terrible tint, I’m out.The 219C has been terrible every time I’ve seen it, and reports of the 351D seem to lean that way as well.

[quote=Eraursls1984]

Interesting, I know the 219B is the favorite child of the family, but there are lots of lights out there with really nice, pure neutral 219Cs. Yeah, some batches are more green-hued now but I’ve had plenty of bad tints with the Cree lottery too.

Supposedly the batch of 351s for this light should be not-green but I’ll admit TK’s description of a “colorful” edge to the hotspot is a bit concerning.

+1 on the Cree HI emitters all having great tint though. I just hope there is an option for lower temp than 5000k on them for this light.

She used a 5000k 80CRI LH351D.

I can say that the 4000k 90CRI LH351D version looks miles better than the one Toykeeper tested.

Do incredible throw & FW3A even belong in the same sentence?? I think not…

Looking forward to that beautiful XP-L HI beam.

Very interesting ’real world’ findings by TK. :+1:

please put me down for another one please for a total of 2.

Thank you

I’m in for two, please!

Hopefully someone thinks about a lanyard hole without the need of a clip!

In terms of tint and CRI yes.

But the beam patterns would be the same. Toykeeper mentioned that having tried it with 10511 and 10507 optics she dislikes the beam pattern of the LH351D.

I think this sounds like a nice, useful beam. I do own a good zoomie and find that kind of beam fine up close. The edges of the beam don’t matter so much to me because I’d be using the middle of the beam to illuminate stuff most of the time anyway. It may not be aesthetic on a white wall, but it doesn’t affect my ability to use the light to see things.

But it’s not for everyone, nor for all the time. There’s a reason I’m on the list for four of these, which will be getting some different emitter/optic combinations.