FW3A colors and FW3C sandblasted,FW3T start to preorder

General info including LEDs can be found here . . .

I use white light flashlights at work for inspection and forensic examination. In general, I’ve found that warmer color temperatures give truer color rendition and cooler temps show details and flaws better.

My wife knows lights are tools. I’m getting several FW3Xs for multiple dedicated uses: first aid kit, door safety, work, and personal use. My wife is totally on board with that plan. We don’t have a lot of disposable income, but we agree that some things are worth the expense.

If it works out, maybe a way to get your wife to work with you is for you to have her pick out a FW3X for herself while you are getting your Ti version?

Again from my experience, try not to be disappointed if your spouse doesn’t want her own flashlight. But, she will probably appreciate you having one in time of need.

I think the xpl-hi is going to be the most efficient (lumens/heat) of the bunch…

I could be wrong… I’m thinking that since it has the highest output of the bunch, it puts out more lumens at the same power level. Following that logic, you’d be able to use less power to achieve the same amount of light.

In my regular (or “EDC”) use, it doesn’t matter too much as I don’t leave these smaller flashlights on turbo for very long or very often. I typically use them for a few minutes at a time and usually in the low - mid range of what they are capable of. When I’ve needed them for longer, I didn’t need them set at their brightest anyway. I usually go for higher CRI with good tint (the SST20 option in this light has pretty decent tint and high CRI from what I hear) for this type of light because that is more important to me than heat generated at higher levels. That said, I do like the xpl-hi 3Ds I have in my first one. Not really a bad option here no matter which way you go.

Received two more today:
Grey and TK edition.
So the bad:
The grey one worked out of the box, the TK did not.
Had to do some swapping of the heads and tails to figure out the issues.
TK had issues front and back:
The brass lock ring on the head was not installed properly, it would not go flush with the board. Had to take it off completely, with it off the light worked (with the grey tail). Put it back on properly, success.
Had to take apart the TK tail and clean the big round contact with alcohol.
Success.
It came with the lock ring.
Then the grey would not work, it did not have the tail lock ring and had to reset the setup.
Ended up leaving the tail lock ring off!

Now, this is important. Discovered that these lights do not like the Samsung 30Q!
I have been using an Orbitronics 18650 in my copper edition. That battery (also button top) worked in the new lights. The Samsung was too tall, and caused an issue with the switch!
I also tried some Efest high drain flat tops. They worked great. Highly recommended.
So again had to spend some time messing around to get them to work. They need to do better assembly.
Hope this helps someone.

Both had the old style inner and outer tubes.
Both had the two piece lenses.

Really! My first gen lights are running perfectly on 30Qs. And both worked right out of the box, fortunately since I break more things than I fix. My Ti/Cu has not shipped yet, but hope it has no issues. Thanks for the heads up.

I can’t explain any of it, only reporting my findings.

After some digging, it seems no one has put all 4 of the current emitter options up for a side by side comparison yet. That said it appears that the 219C emitters are definitely the least efficient, followed by the SST-20, and the XP-L emitters are the most efficient. So, I guess I’ll be ordering the 3Ds in a Ti body and the 219Cs in a Cu version sometime down the road (and hopefully the SSTs in a blue one).

My wife is more understanding than most (she puts up my auto racing and motorcycle hobbies) but she definitely does not understand the flashlight obsession. To her the $1 plastic AA flashlights from Walmart work just fine. She does say I’m her walking Swiss Army knife because I always have a blade, pen, and light on me. I’ll make do, just have to free up the funds by selling some toys I don’t play with anymore.

Oddly enough, my wife still doesn’t complain about my lights (232?) and she enjoys several of her own. She WOULD like my modding table cleared though… lol

Recieved my shipping info this morning, when I got home from work today FedEx had a note on my door!! Apparently they need a signature for delivery, good thing I’ll be home tomorrow.

As usual I’m waiting weeks for shipping. This is a real pain. I really should order somewhere else.

If it makes you feel better or not, I ordered my Ti+Cu from illumn and I’m still waiting for shipping too.

Only a little. I was told recently my light was in stock, then no shipping and all my messages ignored.

Just arrived today, amazing.

My wife and I keep our funds separate so she doesn’t care about my obsessions I waste too much money on. She rolls her eyes over firearms occasionally (if she only knew!) when she sees them as I’m heading to the range. The first time she’s noted the too many flashlights was the other day when she was cleaning the kitchen counter off. My daughter had left 6 different flashlights handy so she can grab one……the wife had to clean them off, knew that my vehicles all have multiples and I have several near the computer and several by the bed and wanted to know why I needed so many. “I don’t know” I replied, “I like them: why do you need so many purses?” LOL.

BTW, in my view that Ti stonewash is ugly. Ti can be amazing colors (check the 5 different D2ti for example), wonder why they did that ugly stonewash as an extra process?

Got mine yesterday. It’s an attractive little light, but I have to admit it’s a bit of a disappointment. Mine appears to be the “V2” with black locking ring in the tailcap and slightly different inner tube design. Out of the box it would not turn on at all. I’ve been tinkering with it all morning…disassembling, cleaning, tightening…and at least I have it at a point where it turns on and works correctly. Removing the black retaining ring in the tailcap seemed to help. Only thing is I have to screw it together REALLY tight to get it to work, tighter than my aluminum version. I hope it’s just my particular light, cause no light should require this much fidgeting to make it work out of the box.

I totally agree, I don’t find the stonewash look attractive. It just seems to be a “thing” right now at least in flashlights and knives.

I had the same issue with three out of four lights.
One thing that helps: wipe the contact ring in the tail with alcohol on a swab. They seem to have some grease on there that blocks the switch signal.
And made sure the brass ring sits flat against the driver board in the head.

Yeah did all that. Cleaned all the contacts with alcohol. I think re-seating the driver board and snugging the brass retainer ring helped a lot.

I see other posts talk about lining up the notch on the driver board with a notch in the tube…my board has the notch but I don’t see anything to line it up with? Might have been another change.

These lights are great but damn finicky.

None of mine have anything to line up either.
Once they start working, so far so good.
Just a PITA in the beginning.

Oh and also, annoyingly, with all the fiddling this morning the thin white o-ring above the pocket clip broke. Wonder if I need to replace it?