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…
My SST-20 FW3A arrived. The tint is fantastic and makes what I thought was a good looking SST-20 I had in another light look green at low levels. The switch however sounds a little crunchy if you press down on it in the middle. Regarding the edges of the switch the edge of one side is smooth and silent (how I think its supposed to be compared to the middle?) while the other side has a crunchy sound and doesn’t always register a click. Pressing down in the middle of the switch always registered albeit not in a pleasant sounding/feeling way.
Wear gloves, wipe it down with pure lemon juice, rinse in hot water, wipe down with iso alcohol.
Wipe down with hard automotive paste wax, let dry for a few hours.
Wear gloves to remove wax and buff to a new sealed shine.
Stonewashed Ti looks cheap and ugly and ruins a damn fine material (except for heat transfer though).
Leave this bad idea to cheap knives manufacturers.
This is your personal preference/opinion, which is fine. But it does not necessarily reflect a general consensus. People like raw, polished, stonewashed, & bead/sand blasted Titanium. Personally, I like stonewashed & bead/sand blasted. It beautifies it & adds character as far as I am concerned.
… Many knife makers/manufacturers stonewash or bead/sand blast the Ti handles on their knives. CRK is a prime example, and his knives are not exactly cheap.