Re: Flashing vias - Ah okay, I must have been thinking of a different flashlight then. I know the D4S has them, and I think there was a rather premium keychain light project that was going to have them too. That might have been what I was thinking of.
The fifty shades of grey anodizing is looking really nice. It’s silvery reflections can fool you depending on the lighting condition. Looking at the short angled area of the body near the clip… In one pic it’s the brightest area of the body, but in another pic this area of is turned away from the camera, and it’s so dark that at first glance I thought “Why is there an extra O-ring there?” It’s even better because something that could have been a major drawback of the light turns out to be a superior point.
It’s not as good as the naked prototype, but it’s as good as it possibly could be.
For comparison, here’s some lights so you can get an idea of the shade of grey of the FW3A
Beamshot comparison with different optics. The difference between 10508 and 10509 in the photos is very small, but measurably significant. It is possible though, that the optic installed in the light was 10509, since I don’t have a 10508 to compare it to.
GIF
Individual beamshots
Nice. Thanks
Very nice review for a very nice flashlight!
Question regarding updating the firmware, since there are no flashing vias, how does one update the firmware if that’s possible?
You’ll have to pull the driver out and attach the clip to the MCU (like normal).
Is that glued or soldered? Any idea how difficult it might be to remove and to reassemble back?
The driver is held by a retaining ring. There’s no glue, but it sits quite tightly in its recess so some gentle prying will be necessary.
Can one of you measure the physical dimensions (including weight) of the final light please? Thank you!
From page 1 of the review:
Measured dimensions and weight
Length: 92.5 mm
Head width: 25.5 mm
Handle width: 21.5-25.5 mm
Weight: 52 grams plus 47 grams for an 18650 battery
Thank you. Sorry I’m an idiot 
I’m still wondering why they put lens over the optic other than to “protect” it.
Does the bezel hole slightly larger than the optic’s diameter?
There are two purposes:
- To protect the optic
- To avoid blocking light from the edges of the optic
Most triples partially obscure the outer edge of the optic, which also blocks some of the light which would come out the front. The FW3A doesn’t do that.
For example, the FW3A (left, 10508 optic) next to a Rey Triple Ti (right, 10511 optic):
… and a Rey Dawn (left) next to a FW3A (right), both with 10507 optics:
The entire optic is exposed, which is a nice change from the usual.
Thanks TK, well explained.
I like the 10507 optic beam.
Have you tried one in person, with XP-L HI? It generally has a yellow center, almost no spill, and a bunch of fairly visible artifacts around the edges. It’s still quite popular, but I generally replace mine with other optics to get a nicer beam at the cost of some throw.
I have not.
I just liked the beam shape in the photo.
Would it act the same with the LH351D emitter?
XP-L HI in 10507 makes a nice photo, though the yellow center is still slightly visible.
LH351D in 10507 looks totally different. It makes a big wide circle with pretty much no spill and no artifacts, aside from some coloration at the very edge. It’s a lot like a zoomie on wide mode. Here’s a LH351D 5000K in a 10507 optic, on the right, next to a ROT66-219B on the left. White balance is set to “daylight” 5000K.
Ah.
Thanks for the comparison.