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

I would say one year from idea to market is normal for a Chinese company to develop a lamp.
The Sofirn C01 was unusually fast.
When BLF is involved you can add a few months, because there is no design freeze. The community will suggest stuff till start of selling and even afterwards.

I like to wrap a lanyard around light ant have to come out through the hole to go around my wrist.

Hole at the top, not the hole at the end of the clip.

There could have been a design freeze, but somebody decided it needed paint on the clip and the easter bunny on the button. That wasn’t BLF.

I did not say: Lumintop should not worry excessively about BLF.

The message was: We at BLF should not worry excessively about a particular flashlight.

Lumintop should care, because it is a business and we are its customers. But we should not let things like this bother us, because we are here for enjoyment, and being bothered defeats the point of being here.

If we come here for pleasure and find ourselves unhappy instead, that’s a sign that we should step away and do something else. People involved in the project may be kind of stuck here, but everyone else has the freedom to engage in a different activity, focus on other threads, or approach things in a different way which does not cause distress.

I thought it was cleared up that the clip wasn’t painted, and the logo isn’t going to be on the group buy lights?

Well said TK. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I can be a bit obsessive over even the smallest details if I’ve spent too much time trying to absorb everything I can about a subject, flashlights being no different. When I get to the point of sweating (literally) about trying to cram entirely too much info into this little cranium of mine, small things can set me off down a spiral of anxiety as opposed to the joy I should be feeling learning about something I enjoy. Don’t get me wrong, I bought a ticket at the aft end of this crazy train, but I’m glad to be riding it!

“You need the dark in order to show the light.” Bob Ross

That’s the funniest thing I’ve seen all day. :smiley:

Anyway, it seems the fate of the FW3A is in the hands of the potato gods now. If I understand correctly, production may have already started and all that is left may be the final assembly and sales. I have a tracking number for one of the samples in Neal’s pics — the ones with the dark clip. But I don’t know if that is how production units will look or not. We probably won’t know for sure until sales start.

As usual, I can’t really say anything with 100% certainty… but I heard a bit more about the emitter options:

  • It sounds like Neal is still looking for a good SST-20 tint bin. FA or FD tint, in J4 brightness. Not FB or FC, and not J5, because those are reported to be green.
  • LH351D is still possible but it sounds like international relations may interfere with that.
  • So it’s likely that only XP-L HI will be available at launch time.
  • Since the other emitter types haven’t happened yet, it sounds like Neal wants to offer XP-L HI in two tints, and he was talking about 3D and 7A.

I tried tossing the emitter poll data at him again, and suggested offering more choices, in ratios matching the poll data… but everything just bounced off. So I asked about a version with no LEDs. I haven’t heard back yet.

So it sounds like your sample is just a token for all your work, as opposed to being for review before production begins. Hmm.

Ive always been baffled by folks that let a bad golf shot ruin their day…… If you cant enjoy yourself you are better off staying at home.

I’d buy it with no emitters. I wouldn’t buy it with XP-L HI unless all the other options are abandoned.

I’m glad Neal is trying to get a nicer tint bin for the SST-20. Nobody has offered that in a flashlight or small quantities of individual emitters yet that I know of.

Come on 5D. Fingers crossed!

If 3D and 7A are the options (if), 3D would be brighter and slightly greenish, and 7A would be much warmer and not as bright, right?

Option without emitters sounds interesting….!

3D would be about 4750K - 5000K, mostly below the BBL. The 3D’s I have I do not see any green, although if the bin (?) were above the BBL I guess there could be a minute trace of green. 3D is one of my two favorites.

7A is about 3030K - 3250K and all below the BBL. Much to warm for me, I have 1 x S2+ I got before I understood anything about CCT. It is ‘rosy’ for sure. Get’s no use except to visually explain CCT to others.

As far as “brightness”… beats me. :wink: I ’think’ that would depend on bin. (If “bin” is the correct term)
.

+1

“I am pretty sure most people would really love to buy a light with 4000 to 4500k… we made polls”
“so let’s make one in 3D and one in 7A…, If you use them together, you got your desired tint 5A/5D tint”

:person_facepalming:

huh… i dont get it ?

Yeah, no one does :smiley:

I get it

I tried to get 5A as an option, because it looks so nice in the last sample they sent…

At first, Neal wanted to do 3D and 1A only (~4900K and ~6700K). A cool white option would be nice to have, but not at the expense of offering nothing for the majority who wanted something warmer. So I tried to get him to do 5A. Or, ideally, 7A, 5A, 3D, and 2A (~3200K, ~4100K, ~4900K, ~5900K). But I guess he doesn’t want to do a ~4000K model with XP-L HI if there will eventually be a 4000K model with SST-20 or LH351D. And apparently not more than two options at launch. So he kinda decided on his own to do 7A and 3D.

I got an answer about a version without LEDs too. :frowning: