It is somewhat luck of the draw, I think. I was early on the list, and ordered quickly, but have no shipping notification as of yet. As said above, after two years, another few weeks should be expected I guess. At any rate, I am very eager to hear impressions from those that get theirs earlier.
Mine supposedly just got delivered. I ordered it on Friday and was supposed to be delivered tomorrow. Last night I got a text to authorize delivery without signature and I did. And now I just get a text saying it was delivered. How is this possible. Won’t know till I get home. I’m use to waiting for at least a month.
I ordered on Friday as soon as I got the email. I was around number 190 on the list. I paid for expedited shipping via DHL to California. This is about the fastest I’ve ever received anything from China. I applaud Neal’s service.
My initial impressions:
Looks beautiful and feels great in the hand. Though as expected it does not feel as secure in the hand as my white D4. This is because the D4 has slightly gritty grippier anodizing and a side switch.
Very clean looking design with no logos. The bare switch looks great.
Same length as my white aluminum Emisar D4, but slightly thinner at the head and body tube. Tailcap is about the same thickness as a D4 tailcap.
Weight including battery is 98g compared to 112g for my white Emisar D4 (NOTE: my D4 is modded to include a metal switchboot and a Lexel lighted bezel board so might be slightly different from stock weight).
Tailcap e-switch has a nice positive click.
No glue. Tailcap and front bezel can both be unscrewed by hand. No tools needed. I haven’t completely removed it yet, but it looks like changing the emitter does not require removal of a pill or driver. Instead you just unscrew the top portion of the bezel, remove the optic and have direct access to the star.
Tint appears to indeed be 5000K. I’ll likely fix that tonight on one of them via an emitter swap.
Dark Grey anodizing looks well done. Looks like the anodizing on a grey Emisar D4.
I have not tried to remove the clip. Previously I used to always remove clips, but now I sometimes keep them on to serve as antiroll devices. Given that the tailcap is not glued I expect clip removal would be easy.
The clip is not deep carry, but it has adequate spring tension and the body tube is nicely contoured around it. It is fairly easy to insert this clip into the pocket of a pair of pants.
The clip touches the body tube just before the head. The head does NOT grind against the clip when changing the battery.
Since this light uses a standard Carclo triple TIR optic, I suspect Lexel could make a nice aux bezel board for it. However, TK mentioned that there isn’t an available pin to control it so it might have to be wired in the “always on” configuration.
Kudos to the development team. Nice to see this project come together.
I meant to say “does NOT grind against the head”… but somehow the “not” was accidentally left out of my post. I have corrected my previous post. It is quite obvious a lot of care was taken with the design of this light and it shows.
Here is a picture of one of my FW3As sitting next to my modded white D4:
Not shorter. Actually when I put my D4 next to an FW3A I think the FW3A might be half a mm taller. But they’re so close they might as well be the same length.
However, I think that the first run D4 was a little longer than later run D4. A first run D4 might be a mm or two longer then the FW3A.
That happens to me sometimes. The “not” will dissappear and totally change what I’m saying. Lol
I’ve always looked at the development photos carefully and noticed that the clip should not grind against the head. I was shocked to hear about yours. Kinda like them changing the color, I thought they extended the length slightly.
I was somewhat late on the list and ordered promptly after getting the notification and await shipment confirmation yet others seemingly later than me have theirs in transit. Paypal not so consistent on the handoff or some delay between handoff to the carrier and shipment confirmation <span class=“not think I’d so “Unfulfilled””>? Perplexing, however I expect to receive it eventually.