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

BLF Special Edition Products
12331

Does anyone know the size of the o-ring for the fw3a?
Thanks SpecialK

12332

Maybe that’s the reason. I carried mine clipped in my pocket last night, for the first time. (I wanted a warm white light.) Activated 3 times by accident, within 1 hour when I was outside. Luckily I had it set to a low level, and it didn’t “press and hold”. Yuck, that’s way too easy. I’ve carried a Zebralight the same way for years, and never had an accidental activation.

Carrying it loosely might help. I might try that, but I’m not sure I trust it. Muggle mode seems like it cripples the light, and lock-out is not for my usage.

12333

20mm OD (outer diameter), but it can be 19 or 18 if that’s all you can find. It will stretch. 3/4” OD is fine.
Thickness is about 1.5mm or 1/16”. This means ID (inner diameter) is 17mm or 21/32”.

12334

Thanks. I just found a rip in the original o ring and wanted to get a few spares for the future.

12335

There should be 2 spares in the box.

12336

I found some red o-rings.

12337

It would seem so. There’s a couple of prototype photo floating around, one solid titanium and another titanium with a copper head/heatsink area. Nothing official has been confirmed though, that I’ve seen.

12338

Neal confirmed that TiCu is planned here: FW3A, a TLF/BLF EDC flashlight - SST-20 available, coupon codes public - #11793 by Neal

12339

The only photo of a titanium FW3A is titanium with copper head.

There aren’t any photos of an all titanium FW3A. I think you’re thinking of photos a couple people have made of modded polished aluminum FW3As with the anodizing stripped.

12340

Pictures of the FW3 Ti+Cu and FW3 brass are here : FW3A, a TLF/BLF EDC flashlight - SST-20 available, coupon codes public - #11471 by M4D_M4X

12341

I didn’t realize the left one was brass - i thought it was the copper one.

So actual versions floating around are:

  • Anodized aluminum - original FW3A available in gray so far
  • Copper - can be ordered, unsure whether it ships yet
  • Brass - proto?
  • Titanium/Copper - proto?
  • SS - ?

Any confirmations on those?

12342

got it cool thanks

12343

Only ones I think are confirmed to be working on are:

  • Grey anodized aluminum - FW3A - available
  • Copper - FW3C - available for preorder
  • Cu-Ti - FW3T - planned. Photo of prototype
  • Brass - photo of prototype.
  • Other colors of anodized aluminum (green, purple, blue) - planned.

I don’t recall hearing or seeing anything official about any other versions of the FW3A.

12344

What is SS’s heat capacity compared to anodized aluminium? Will the Cu head in FW3T make it have better or slightly less heat tolerance than original the Al-ano? Has brass equal heat tolerance as Al?

12345

I think the best dissipator of heat is copper, then aluminum…not counting precious metals

12346

Not a scientific response, but recollection from the top of my head:

  • SS is pretty bad for heat - it conducts heat worse than Titanium and much worse than copper or aluminum. It’s also extremely heavy. Expect a stainless steel FW3A to get really hot at the head really fast, without conducting much heat out of the head to the rest of the light. It would probably ramp down pretty fast. I haven’t actually seen anything from Neal about a SS version though. I don’t think one is planned.
  • Brass’ heat tolerance depends on the alloy. My understanding is that the typical type of brass found in flashlights conducts heat worse than aluminum and much worse than pure copper. It is also quite a bit heaiver than aluminum.
  • FW3T contains a copper head combined with titanium bezel, body tube and tailcap. Copper both holds more heat than aluminum and conducts it much better. However, Titanium conducts heat much worse than aluminum. If it’s anything like the difference between the D4 and D4 Ti (which used a similar setup), I expect the copper head would heat up really fast, but the body tube would remain relatively cool. The light probably wouldn’t stay at max output for long and might even ramp down earlier than the all aluminum version.
  • FW3C - all copper version should have the best thermal characteristics of all the FW3A variants and should be able to run turbo longest. However, if it transmits heat too well, the user might find it actually to be less practical than the aluminum version. This would be the case if the entire exterior heats up at such a uniform rate there isn’t a safe place to hold the light without getting burned.
12347

The best heat conductor is copper, then brass (no matter which alloy), alu and SS and at the last place is titanium.
It’s a neverending subject in CPF group…

12348

Can anyone tell me why would someone choose XP-L over SST 20 ?

12349

The tint is much nicer, and doesn’t shift from green to purple as you increase the power. It’s also quite efficient, so it won’t get as hot. It’s also more powerful than the high CRI SST-20s, though slightly less throwy than the low CRI ones.

I’m a huge fan of the XP-L HI, but if the SST-20s that the team managed to bag for the FW3A do indeed turn out to be not green, then I might just have a new favourite emitter. CRI + good tint is a major win in my book, but I can’t stand the puke green of all the SST-20s I have seen so far, so I’m really hoping that the ones in the FW3A will change that.

12350

I’m not sure, anything is possible I suppose, but I was told this was solid ti? Not sure the provenance of this photo but it looks darker than aluminum to me. Maybe its the titanium body with a bare aluminum head? idk…