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

It is to eliminate the possibility of the MCPCB turning & severing the wires when the bezel is tightened.

since there have been queations:

the polished titanium / copper will come soon

stonewashed only if demand is big enough

Think I’ll have to give this a try.

Turbo heat on the head won’t cause the wax to melt I hope?

I think that heat would more probably fuse the wax deeper into the surface of the copper.

Collinite is what I’ve used for 30 years.

This is amazingly tough and long lasting wax.

It’s like Frank’s Red Hot … I put that shit on everything!

This is great news. I will definitely be in for the polished titanium / copper version.

I asked in the interest list but the discussion is probably better suited here. I personally like bead blasted titanium, what’s the difference between stonewashed and bead blasted finishes?

the polished version looks simply amazing, I am most likely going to order one.

Stonewashed would be smoother while bead blasted would have a bit of texture.

For those complaining the FW3A was to slippery, the bead blasted Ti should be great. As far as “grip” goes anyway.

The Olight S1R Baton II Ti bead blasted version looks and feels amazing!

I haven’t heard anything about either one recently. Neal at least looked through off-the-shelf diffusers to try to find a compatible one, but failed. I tried to tell him in advance that they don’t exist and would need to be manufactured, but maybe that’s enough of a hurdle to keep it from happening. :frowning:

I don’t have access to the numbers, but if it helps at all, I’ve heard the BLF-A6 has sold well into the five digit range… and I’m guessing the FW3A may end up being more popular than that in the long run.

I don’t think I’ve tried a new one yet. I hope it’s not as bad as it sounds.

It was an old prototype from 2018. It doesn’t really represent how the production version will be.

The differences I’m aware of are:

  • 2018 proto was bead-blasted, production is smooth polished.
  • 2018 proto parts didn’t fit together right, so it’s hard to get the thing to turn on at all, and the clip doesn’t fit.

Otherwise though, I guess it should be pretty similar. It’s just like the aluminum FW3A, except made from copper and polished to make it shine. And it’ll be heavier when empty than the aluminum version is with a cell installed.

I named my prototype Wilbert Stinkyhands, in case that helps with using the search function.

Nope, that one was apparently solid copper and the photo was taken with a really misleading white balance.

I hope my experience will be the same, if I ever get a SST-20 model. I think the purple one is supposed to use those, maybe.

If I understand correctly, the items currently shipping use the 05-22 firmware, which was one revision before manual memory was added. They made the drivers like half a week before the firmware got updated.

But it should be in the next batch of drivers, whenever that is. Maybe in another couple months?

It looks like, for that to happen, there would need to be two shorts — one where the outer tube makes contact with the switch contact ring, and one where the spring scratches through the solder mask to contact the trace shown in your photo.

If both of those happened, it could bypass the usual BAT- path and send all that current through a single small trace instead, which could cause it to burn. But it’s pretty strange that the spring would make contact with the trace. It’s generally held up a bit by solder, and the trace is underneath an insulating mask. Basically, it sounds like very bad luck.

Making contact between the outer tube and the switch ring is much more common though. With the tailcap parts so loose, the PCB can get off-center and touch the wrong parts. But normally this only makes it think the button is being pressed. The bulk of the current still flows through the correct path in that case.

This material always seems divisive. On the one hand, it gives a soft velvety feel with slightly better grip than a smooth metal. On the other hand, it gets visible scratches (or “snail trails”) really easily so the surface doesn’t look new for very long.

I’m fairly happy with the bead-blasted copper prototype though, after forcing a patina and polishing it. Most of the blasted texture is gone now, so it mostly just feels like regular non-blasted copper.

It’s not back luck, it’s bad soldering that lumintop is doing. Mine had the pointy bit of the spring almost touching the trace. It was also an awful soldering job, with the spring way off center and only held on in one spot. I resoldered things to make it safer, after reading about the incident.

I suggest everybody check their spring soldering. Most are probably fine, but it’s random.

Indeed it is my opinion as I would not speak for other people I don’t know and would never pretend to tell them what to think about Ti stonewashed.

Bead blasted has a mat finish and makes Ti looks a bit darker grey.
E.g. : the Haiku bead blasted looks really nice :

It’s not back luck, it’s bad soldering that lumintop is doing.
[/quote]

I don’t mean bad luck in the sense of what happened when it fell. I mean bad luck in the sense of getting an item which was assembled badly — being the unlucky person who got a dud.

If this was happening frequently, that wouldn’t be luck… it’d be a broken manufacturing process. But there’s only one known case of this happening, and one (yours) which looks like it could have been a near miss. So unless more people run into the same issue, I’d consider it a “ask vendor to send new hardware” sort of issue instead of a “ask manufacturer to fix their process” sort of issue.

I very much like that finish :+1:

Who’s selling the FW3T? My google-foo appears to be failing me at 6pm…

FW3C SST-20 has arrived in the UK!

Initial impressions:

  • It’s heavy.
  • It’s pretty.
  • The new button is so much nicer than the old one. Lighter to press but with a more positive click. Much quieter and has less wobble in the action too, like a proper E-switch should.
  • The SST-20 emitters are the best I’ve seen yet. They’re rosy on maximum output, but unfortunately seem to still be the tiniest bit green on lower levels. Still, they’re not bad at all and I’ll definitely be happy using these. A big upgrade over all previous SST-20s I have used.
  • The new optic is okay. I bought a clear Carclo and I’m going to swap it out for some extra throw though.
  • It appears to be running a new-ish version of Andúril. It has the fancy two stage lockout moonlight mode, however when not locked it still comes on in moonlight as soon as you hold down the button. Shame it’s not totally up to date, but it’s newer than the version on the first run of FW3As.
  • I sent an email and a message to Neal about my choices regarding the optic dilemma, but it seems that neither got read as I was sent the light with the plastic optic immediately anyway. No worries, I can swap a new optic in myself, but I feel bad for the guy if he has been that snowed under that he can’t manage to read a message even with several weeks to do so.

TL;DR It’s good!

Edit:
Okay, I can’t use the Carclo that was included with my order because Neal hasn’t included the glass lens he promised! Now what?

Ask him to send the glass lens.

Also double-check your box. Mine had the glass lens inside the little bag with the o-rings inside the box.

One of mine was in the o ring bag and one was between the box and the outer sleeve, it just fell out when I was trying to get those damn things separated.

Also, side observation. One of mine had a clear “all in one” plastic optic and one was frosted. I guess they made a few versions to try out.

I’m with teacher on this one, I personally love stonewashed Ti. Not everything needs to be a perfect shiny material, some dings, scratches, marks, patina is what makes it unique. CRK along with Zero Tolerance, Spyderco and numerous others use stonewashed Ti on their knives and it looks amazing imo.

No one yet, there is a thread about the stonewashed version to gain interest.

Aha, so is mine! I didn’t even see it in there. Thanks for the tip!

I’m not sure if it’s just my imagination or not, but the beam looks a little bit more green when I’m running it with a Carclo + glass instead of just the plastic optic. Possible side effect of AR coating? I might keep running the plastic optic if this is the case.

  • I have a bead-blasted titanium Olight S1 and I do not like the finish. It feels like holding a stick of chalk. Similar to the rough finish of my white or blue anodized aluminum Emisar D4s.
  • I find these rough textures only feel good in the hands if I just rubbed them with moisturizer. But if my hands are dry, it feels unpleasant.
  • Bead blasted titanium also doesn’t look special. It looks very similar to grey anodized aluminum.

For titanium, I much prefer polished. It feels good in the hands, is durable, and looks classy.