In for 1! I’m also interested in drivers for other flashlights like D4 or some single emitter flashlights! Is it possible?
added my interest in one possibly two in row 52. I’ll check later to make sure it stuck. Thanks for sharing this well thought out driver design. That Aux led board look very nice. I’d pay double if one could be bundled in.
Is it possible to change our initial quantity? If so, I added a comment to my order to that effect.
Hello everyone, I just wanted to say a big thanks to all for being patient with the Google Spreadsheets! I know it's not the best of interfaces but we definitely have enough for a good group order, and I appreciate all the time you took to fill this in!
Suffice to say there are some updates coming up and I'm working through them!
Thanks for doing this Loneoceans!
I know you’ve stated before about not doing any aux boards, but given the amount of interest in them, is this something you’d consider?
In for 1
Thanks!
The preorder for the mokume / Damast versions of the FW3A indicate plans to use this driver and auxiliary lights: LUMINTOP FW3A Mokume/Damast Deposit – Nealsgadgets
Does this mean Lumintop is going to manufacture these? Any impact on this potential group buy? If nothing else, I would really appreciate it if we could get a Lumintop spring attached. Ideally, loneoceans gets paid for his hard work and these become widely available at a reasonable price 
Hello everyone,
Many thanks to all the people who have expressed interest!
There have been some new developments which I think benefit everyone. Neal from Nealsgadgets came across this project and expressed interest, so we are now working on a collaboration for Neal and his team to produce the lume1 drivers. Because of their significantly higher volume capability, they will be able to get the drivers at a lower cost than this group buy, and probably with much better shipping logistics and cost as well!
We hadn't finalized the details, pricing etc yet, so I was planning to get those details finalized before posting. However, as asdqqq pointed out, it looks like Neal has mentioned this driver in the limited edition run of FW3 flashlights. The plan is to also for Neal to be able to offer these drivers as a standalone driver for sale. We are currently working on the details for manufacturing and so on, so please hang tight. Eventually, the idea is to be able to purchase these drivers directly from www.nealsgadgets.com, and also possibly in future flashlights.
Thanks and please look forward to more details coming up!
:+1:
Thanks for the update. Sounds like a good solution.
Awesome!
Many thanks for your efforts.
So if Neal is going to be handling this, and he has links with Lumintop, does that mean the springs will either come installed or at least available to purchase?
Sounds interesting. Hopefully they don’t cheap out on the components.
Good point Scallywag. Component quality should be maintained.
Yes, Lumintop did mention that the BOM cost was higher than preferred, which is understandable. They also have a business to run, so it makes sense for them to use the lowest cost components.
The Lume1 driver was designed with quality and performance first, and cost as a secondary priority (though I also tried to keep the cost as low as would meet the requirements I had set). I communicated to Neal and Lumintop that this driver will be more expensive, but I think will still be popular as an upgrade option over the stock driver, and people would be happy to pay a slight premium for better quality.
In addition, I highly suggested to them to use the specific components specified in my BOM, and highlighted the critical components that should not be swapped out. All these are still in discussion, but it's very useful to know that people are willing to pay a little more for a higher quality product! If members here let Neal that they are willing to pay a little more, than these cost concerns can be mitigated.
Thanks everyone for your support again!
I’m willing to pay more to get high-quality components on this driver.
IMO, there isn’t much of a point to spend say $12 on a driver that I don’t need and has cut-corners vs paying what $18 and getting what it was supposed to be.
This is a premium product designed solely to be as efficient and reliable as possible.
Want a cheap FWxx driver that works okay? Use the stock one, I say!
I totally agree with this sentiment.
While I’m glad that Lumintop building the driver might mean it’s available to purchase beyond the initial group buy, I think we’ll have to watch out for them starting to cut corners after the initial batch.
Subscribed now the list is moot.
Certainly hope it doesn’t cheap out, it’s not like the stock driver is bad, it’s just not as efficient as it could be. I want the best it can be!
Very keen to get these putting out less heat, the heat that comes off a fresh cell is insane and unnecessary.
Theres also most no limit to the amount of lights I would be willing to pay a premium for for a proper switching driver.
Now if Neal would just respond or ship out my last order I’d be happy.
Any idea of a rough time frame for these?
6 weeks? 6 months? 6 years?
Is there also any chance an arrangement could be organised whereby the original interest list get first dibs on batch 1?
Would suck to lose out to the public after all of this.
Thanks everyone with the support. I'll continue to reiterate to Neal that using the proper designated components for the driver even at a slightly higher cost is much preferred over cutting corners.
For the rough time frame, I don't have specific dates myself yet and will post updates as soon as I receive them from Neal or Lumintop. However, Neal has conveyed to me that the drivers are indeed in production at the PCB factory, and the first batch will be done in a week or two at least. The initial idea Neal has is to incorporate these drivers in the new special-edition FW3 flashlights (Mokume and Damast metal versions), and to also sell the drivers standalone. So I'm expecting the timeline to be more like 2-4 weeks instead of months. I am just as anxious as you are in getting these drivers produced! I'll convey to Neal about the original interest list, but I'm pretty sure the number of drivers produced will exceed the total number reflected in the interest list since greater production quantity = lower cost.