I received my SST-20 light yesterday (which was a nice surprise because the tracking never worked no matter which tracking site I used). I am glad that I got one because the tint is great. Like others mentioned, I don’t see a green tint at all, no matter what level it is on. It’s as warm as I’d like and the colors really pop. Well done.
Mine had no issues. No loose retaining ring, tight tail cap, worked right out of the box with a GA cell I have.
There are a few differences though that some others have mentioned. Brass (?) retaining ring, shiny silver clip, shorter and lighter travel in the switch button and the anodizing is slightly more blue than the HI one I got a while ago. Nothing to be concerned about, except for the switch which seem to be easier to turn on. I’ll keep it locked out or in an Astrolux holster I’ve got. It’s low-profile and a lot less bulky than the Convoy ones I have.
I chose to have Neal send me the light with the new optic and the lens. I swapped the optic for a floody one I’ve got (can’t remember the number but it’s more frosted than the one I received on my HI FW3A). It looks great and I’ll get a lot of use out of it around the house and at work.
I must say that I thought the new optic was going to be junk but it really isn’t. The beam looks good and the material is better than what I envisioned. I thought it was going to be some lousy milk-carton soft plastic, but it’s actually pretty nice. I can see why they went their own way if Lumintop couldn’t find the original optics in sufficient numbers or having to wait for them and keep customers waiting.
Overall, I am very glad I’ve got my two different models. Each will be used a lot. I doubt I’ll get another. No need for alternative materials for me and the colors are cool but not necessary, although I really did like that olive/sand one…
My FW3C with SST-20s has shipped, and hearing the reports of how good these SST-20s are, I’m quite hyped. Thankfully my D4V2 has just arrived to tide me over until then.
It’s rare there is enough current flowing through a wires soldered end for the solder to liquify. Once it does, tension in the wire can pull it loose. A scenario that can cause this is if a wire has a poor solder joint to a pad. The poor connection can create a lot of resistance which then heats up.
I posted a video of it but can’t remember which thread I put it in ,
Well one led was discoloured & when on the light was bluish from that led , when on turbo I could smell burning almost instantly,so I took the bezel & lens off to make a video of it to show neal ,and while videoing it I could see smoke & within a few seconds it stoped working & when I inspected it afterwards I found the black - wire was not connected any more ,so I’m guessing it was the black wire was getting way to hot & was melting the insulation but instead of catching fire luckily it melted the solder & disconected itself & therefore shut down.
If it’s coming from the top the LED probably had solder or flux on the dome and it burned up. Without the bezel pressing down the optics and mcpcb the heat wont get to the body as well too.
As a rule of thumb when I get a new light I turn it on in moon and check for dirt. If any exists clean with alcohol.
If it was just the wire to solder back on then I might have attempted to solder it back on , but because one led was duff makes it useless to me as I don’t posses the skills or tools to repair it.
I might be interested in an offer like that. I wouldn’t mind having a go at swapping the emitters for some 219Bs and reflashing the firmware if I had a spare FW3A host.
See if you can get yourself a replacement first though, because something is definitely not right with the product you received.
Unfortunately, I did not order the SST-20 model. I hadn’t received my SST-20 aluminum FW3A at the time and didn’t realize the SST-20 were going to be so good. Had I known I would have definitely purchased the SST-20 version.
Preliminary impression:
HEAVY - 126g empty. 168g with cell inside. Compare to aluminum FW3A which comes in at 99g with cell inside. The extra weight makes it weight about the same as a D4 TI (those weigh 126g empty). I suspect this is a bit too heavy for EDC especially since the aluminum one feels so good in the pocket.
Looks beautiful in polished bare copper. However, this IS bare copper. I expect it will look tarnished and used within a few days. I thought about sealing it with something, but I didn’t have any metal sealer on hand and would probably have had to do so before touching the light.
Switch feels the same as first-run FW3A. It doesn’t have the slightly reduced travel distance of the second run.
Comes with shiny chrome clip. I think this clip looks better than the dark colored one. It matches the stainless steel button.
It’s the Copper Glow cast upon the Polished Aluminum gives it a Brassy tint…they did a most excellent job polishing this Copper light…there was still a touch of rouge left behind in the knurl…you can see it on the sink top left…
