[♛ FreemeGB] Fireflies E07 7* Nichia/ SST20/ XP-L HI Emitters 21700 Flashlight Group Buy -【 New Copper+Titanium 】

While they certainly have some quality-control issues, I don’t think the situation is nearly as bad as you think:

  • Excessively sharp heat sink fins - FIXED. FF fixed this issue by chamfering the fins in the latest E07 builds (clear anodize).
  • Too short battery tube - REPORTEDLY BEING FIXED. FF has indicated they heard the feedback and are increasing the length of the battery tube by 1mm on future runs.
  • Improper heat path from star to head - FF is trying to address this. Their advice from their supplier was use a “thin” layer of thermal compound on 2 flat surfaces. That’s what they did, but unfortunately their inexperience showed. They failed to take into account that the edges of the pill around the star weren’t completely flat and were causing an air gap underneath the star. The best way to fix this is probably to make future stars 1mm less in diameter so the edges don’t touch corners. Alternatively, they could bevel the lower edges of the star. They should also check any holes drilled into the shelf to make sure the upper edges don’t stick up, and after installing heatsink paste they should check to make sure a layer of paste is evenly distributed on both the star and the shelf proving good thermal contact.

FF has clearly heard the feedback and is trying to address this. They’ve massively upped the amount of thermal compound on the shelf. If it gets rid of the air gap this should be a vast improvement over the original build, but still isn’t as good as having a completely flat connection with a thin layer of compound.

My take on this issue: FF’s heart is in the right place and they are trying. But their inexperience clearly caused a problem.

  • Fake 40T batteries - not confirmed. Yes, the batteries have an imprinted ring on the bottom, but I’ve yet to see definitive confirmation these are fake. The “fake” battery still seems to work pretty well. In any event, I hope FF is looking into it and will provide us an answer. If they are indeed fake, hopefully FF will ship is the correct cells for free and consider changing battery suppliers.
  • Clipping leg of optic - irrelevant. This doesn’t affect functioning of the light in any way so why does it matter? Other lights like the D4 come with 2 legs clipped intentionally and nobody complains. It may offend the “purists” that the assembly house made a mistake in drilling holes and “fixed” it by snapping a leg off the optic…. but from a user perspective it does not matter as it does not affect the look or function of the light.
  • Wrong LEDs or wrong tint - agreed this is a problem. FF needs to beef up their ordering process so that people get what they ordered. My E07 came with purple aux LEDs instead of the blue I ordered. I’m happy with it. Now that I’ve got the purple I think they look better than blue would have looked. But still… I should have gotten what I ordered.
  • Broken aux LEDs - poor assembly. This shouldn’t happen. FF needs to beef-up their QA in their assembly department. Still… most customers seemed to have received EO7s with fully functioning aux LEDs.
  • Stripped screws in head - poor assembly due to improper use of electric screwdriver. This shouldn’t happen and FF should address it in future runs. However, this is less of an issue as only die-hard enthusiasts will actually open up and disassemble their light. The average user won’t even notice this issue and it doesn’t affect the form or function of the light.
  • LEDs self-destructing due to excessive heat - plausible given the thermal compound issues, but I’d have to see more than one post on this thread stating it for confirmation that this is happening.
  • Blob of solder on LED - Nobody on BLF has complained about this, but supposedly there is one complaint on TLF. While this clearly shouldn’t happen and suggests problems with QA and management in their assembly house, a single report isn’t enough to show that this is a problem.

And despite the problems let’s also consider what Fireflies DID give us:

  • A superbly designed pocket rocket that feels and looks great, has a great UI, and an absolutely exceptional feature set at a relatively inexpensive price: Anduril UI, Lexel’s Aux LEDs, 1 cm thick shelf, 6mm deep heat sink fins, copper star, 7 emitters, 21700 support, etc.
  • Good build quality of all parts.
  • For most people it works fine out of the box
  • The average user won’t even notice most or even all of the issues mentioned in this thread.
  • Most people are getting what they ordered and it works out of the box

Fireflies took the time to make an innovative, exceptional light that every flashaholic should have. However, they are a new company and their inexperience might be showing. But fortunately, they appear to be listening to feedback and addressing concerns as they come up. This is the kind of attitude we like manufacturers to have.

If a flashlight manufacturer makes a mistake I do not care if they apologize. What I want is for them to fix the problems …. and this is what Fireflies seems to be doing.

Well the guy is complaining and hasnt even received his light! I have used mine a lot since I got it some time ago and love it. My battery fitted without a problem, my aux LEDs are fine, the FL is not too sharp IMHO and the missing optic leg is so stupid that nobody ever notices without actually trying to.

From the various design issues that I hope FF will fix, the two things that I can not easily address myself is a clipped-off optic-leg and a short battery tube. I hope that at least those will be improved, and the improved version announced in a way that I can be sure that I will receive the improved design instead of old stock.

If the clipped off optic leg really bothers you, you could try making a replacement.

  • obtain a replacement optic leg, either by cutting one from another similar-sized optic or by making a new one from epoxy.
  • Use a pin-vise drill to drill a small hole partway into the remaining optic and into the top of the new leg.
  • Insert a short piece of small paperclip into the holes you drilled at the top of the new leg and in the bottom of the optic to hold the new leg in place.

Also, the too-short battery tube is also easy to fix:

  • Order copper washers (there’s a link to the correct size in this thread somewhere); or
  • take a piece of sheet copper or aluminum, cut it into a narrow strip, then bend the strip into a ring shape and insert in the tailcap.

Thanks Firelight2 for the suggestions :slight_smile:

Hmm, I’m not afraid of some modding, and would certainly fix the light if it has issues, but I’d rather have the light done right by the factory, not even because I think they should (I do think that they do themselves a favour if they do the fixes :slight_smile: ), but because my fixes always look worse than what the manufacturer can do with a simple design change.

Once my 2nd E07 arrives I guess I’ll try and fixing the thermal paste issue. It looks like some tiny delicate soldering. Definitely not gonna be purchasing any “premium” models :smiley: In fact I’m not going to purchase anything else till there are many improvements. I would dread attempting any actual warranty work from them. I’m still on honeymoon with my raw aluminum XPL HI 5000k E07 and wowing my coworkers :sunglasses: The 40t that came with my light has the suspicious ring around the neg side. I’ve ordered extra from IMR to compare.

1. The whole point of the video you linked is described at minute 16:20. The cooler tightening down pushing out any excessive paste, meaning that the layer of paste will always be as thin as it can get. From what it sounds like this would not happen in the E07 unless the MCPCB gets bevelled because it does not touch the surface beneath it.

5. I don’t know but there are images of it here: Fireflies E07 | Taschenlampen Forum It’s also a light with broken aux LEDs which is the reason he opened it up in the first place.

6. Nope. SST-20: Fireflies E07 preview - #801 by DB_Custom And Fireflies said that high-drain batteries should not be used with SST-20 and the Nichias. In comment #901: Fireflies E07 preview - #886 by FireFlies “* For E07 SST20 / Nichia version , we only recommend max 20A battery , 20A battery can reach max power for E07 SST20/Nichia version. With a 30T battery on SST20 or Nichia the turbo will go blue no matter how much paste used.”

There are just too many things going wrong imho. Many of which might be small issues or even non-issues for some, but there are just too many things wrong to wave it off. I did not compile the list of issues already found to nitpick on each and every detail but to express my concerns with Fireflies QC and their responses. Most of the issues aren’t even adressed. So why do a “premium edition”?

I hope so too and I hope we are both right. And I agree with that the 40Ts being fake is not confirmed yet. I will adjust that statement in my post above. But at this point with all the open issues and unanswered questions, doing a “premium model” seems kinda counter-intuitive.

But Fireflies already admitted that (and not due to excessive heat, apparently). See quote at point 6. again: “For E07 SST20 / Nichia version , we only recommend max 20A battery , 20A battery can reach max power for E07 SST20/Nichia version. With a 30T battery on SST20 or Nichia the turbo will go blue no matter how much paste used.” I have not found this recommendation anywhere. Does it come with the instructions maybe?

Edit/P.S.: I don’t want to give the impression that FireFlies is the devil himself. Far from it. They produced a fabulous looking light. They listened to us when we demanded a clear anodized version. (Which is the version I ordered) I just can’t wrap my head around all those tiny details they are lacking. That are sometimes so obviously wrong. Like the PL47 headband. I am really looking forward to their future.

It shows on there website now not to use over 20a batteries on the sst20 emitters. Not much mention about the nichia leds, they must be out.

It may be that the Nichia or SST20 just can’t take the current and that’s why they are going blue. If that’s the case, then no amount of improving the heatsink path at the star-pill interface will help. The problem is the peak output of the light is too high for the emitter when used with a full cell.

I still don’t see an explicit warning (all I see is “For SST20 version, around 20A discharge rate needed, LS 20A 21700 recommended”) but it’s good that they now have better recommendations online… I guess I will try mine with the 30Q to get to know how sst-20 look like before attempting the emitter swap to Samsung.

For something completely different: I have seen people with a mixed blue/purple aux-LED setup. I would have ordered that but I couldn’t find it anywhere so I went with just purple. Are those custom modded or would FireFlies have done that if I had asked?
Edit: Here is a sample image on Neals page (but apparently those are the generic FireFlies product images):

Are we really believing that any 21700 cells are outputting a constant 49A?! That’s about the point SST-20s die at (x7 emitters).

I’ll buy the Ti version if there is it’s all Ti and no copper etc to ruin the look.

That is cool. I’d really like one too.

I’ll wait for the Ti version :sunglasses:

Easy enough to measure if anyone cares to do that (I have no E07)

Ordered two, but decided to order one from BG, the other from FF, so it won’t really matter who sends faster.

Used your links and codes, thanks!

Thanks pal! Appreciated.

Code for bg ? Thanks

Got my 3rd E07 from Neal and he shipped much faster than Fireflies direct.

the MCPCB have little thermal paste but not enough spread evenly. Had to add more for extra heat transferring :slight_smile:

Is it too late for some sort of Code? I’ll take one if there is still valid option out there!
Thanks