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

Yep, like you said; Palatinate is a pretty good match. HTML/CSS purple (“patriarch”) is close, as is Byzantium to my eye.
Even Mardi Gras is semi-close. :wink:

Great pic for color comparison…. thanks for posting it. :beer:

Grape
Grape.crush….

I allways wanted to be able to turn off memory on FW3A ands start in fixed level of brightness. Now I see that new Emisar D4 does have this feature. Does this means I can upgrade firmware on FW3A and get that feature? Which firmware do I need? Thanks.

The latest version of Andúril has this functionality, but unfortunately it is not loaded onto the FW3As that are being shipped out right now. You can upgrade the firmware on this light easier than most due to the fact that nothing is glued in, but it will still require unsoldering two wires and dismantling the head, as well as using a few cheap but specialized tools that can be bought from China. If you feel up to it, there are people here with a lot of experience who could point you in the direction of some good guides.

I have two questions, for anyone who can answer them.

1) Is there anywhere I can buy an AR-coated glass lens for the FW3A? Neal must have them, since one of his options includes providing them with the lights, but I can’t find anything like that on his site.

2) Will the colored versions show up on Neal’s site or should I be looking elsewhere? Does anyone know when they will be available to order? Seeing pictures of batches of them makes me thing they shouldn’t be too far off and I don’t want to miss out.

I’d also like to say that while I do not have an order pending, I am impressed with the way Neal is handling this. Lumintop put Neal in a very bad spot and he seems to be doing his best to keep the rest of us from suffering for it. The delays in delivery are inevitable since the parts just aren’t available right now.

I understand why people are frustrated at not receiving better and faster responses, but given everything else that’s going on I can udnerstand why he hasn’t gotten back to everyone. I expect he has been working long hours trying to deal with the manufacturing, assembly, and delivery issues.

I also have a question, is the code only valid on the SST-20s now, and no longer on the XPL?

Interesting, if this is the case then maybe Neal is honoring the Group Buy price for all those who were waiting to get the SST20.

Group Buy prices might be over for the xpl-hi since everyone has had time to order.

Group Buy prices don’t last forever. Eventually it has to go to it’s more normal price. (There’s usually still discount codes that lower the price, but not as low as the Group Buy price)

Yes, they will show up in Neal’s site whenever they’re available for order, as to when, it will be announced. :+1: :beer:

Just ordered my SST20 version! Very excited to experience my new high CRI light. Kudos to Neal for navigating out a crummy situation and appeasing all parties. Thanks again!

Also, VinH (Skylumen) has been offering a quad emitter mod of the FW3A with several emitter options.

In both cases, probably best to get them from Neal. The lens is a weird size so there aren’t many other options… and I’m guessing he’ll probably be the only place to get the colorful versions of the light. I don’t know when that will be though. For now, it seems he only has some color samples.

He’s pretty much drowning in work lately though, so it may be hard to get a response.

Thank you!

I’ll ask Neal about it, but this isn’t urgent, so I’ll wait a few weeks. Maybe his world will be a little less crazy by then. {fingers crossed}

Brand new to BLF. I bought an FW3A end of May and received my package 6-12-19. I opened it and received a GT micro instead of my FW3A. I have emailed Neal a couple times and haven’t heard back. Is anyone able to reach him?

Try contacting him at this link using the PM (personal messaging) system for the forum.
Explain what happened and make sure to include you order number.

Message sent, thank you for assisting!

Pretty!

I emailed Neal two days ago, asking when my FW3C would be shipped as I paid for the expedited shipping. He just got back to me, asking whether I would like to wait for the Carclo optics or take one of the other two options. I chose a) as I plan on replacing the optics; he’s shipping tomorrow. That is superb customer service. Thanks, Neal!

My first impression (after I took apart the switch) what an annoying switch.. it squeeks, it doesn't click, I am overly unimpressed.

After taking it apart again and putting it back together 3 times, I think I have to live with this.

At least I found that if you press straight in the middle of the button its totally fine. If you slightly press from the side it squeeks, and annoys me.

Is it just my switch?

I watched some videos on Youtube, (maybe not enough) but they don't show this squeeking sound. Or maybe they just push it straight at the middle of the button.

I think some were under the impression that this switch would be either silent or near-silent with the behavior of a classic stainless steel switch movement.
There were conflicting views on whether pushing on the side/edge would create friction or not.

Since I do not have this light this information is only from what I read in this thread and across many youtube videos.

Mine doesn’t squeak, no matter where I push it. One edge is a little more quiet than the other edges (and center), but other than that it’s just a standard “click-click” when I push it. It’s not quiet, but I wouldn’t say it’s loud.