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.
Some have switches that do that, some haven ’t. I believe the first batch of FW3A’s were fine, later batches have the squeeking thing necause of a slight design change. I have one of both.
I think they may have increased the speed on the machining tools or something, to try to keep up with demand… but that means less-smooth parts. I’ve seen some buttons which weren’t so smooth, and ended up with friction or a non-flat surface. And one person posted a pic where machining patterns were visible on the aluminum parts.
It seems somewhat uncommon though. Maybe it was just one batch, or just one machinist. I don’t know.
Same here, no squeak at all. Not completely silent but very quite… nothing close to loud.
These are my first two from first batch. Two more on the way, it remains to be seen about them.
What was the “slight design change” djozz??
I missed that…… :person_facepalming: .
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Edit: Looks like TK answered while I was typing.
I received my FW3A today! great light. (but some how i received the Warm white version and not the SST-20 4000K)
Some questions, (as this topic is 12K posts long and would take forever to find) is there available the SST-20 4000K star with the LEDs on it to swap in) also did anyone do any amp load/draw testing using the “stepped mode” setting for each of the 7 modes on a full 30Q or VTC6 cell?
Way back in this thread, there was speculation the length of the plastic nubin(or whatever it was called) changed in the second batch to avoid accidental activation.This caused the button to depress further and rub. I don’t know if this was ever confirmed. Maybe someone with both can take a peek .