Finally bought a FW1A and gotta say I’m disappointed. What’s up with the artifacty reflector/beam?
Also with everyone raving about how much better the FD2 was compared to the FB4 I can’t see why. Maybe I just lost out in the tint lottery again.
I’m pretty sure the reflector has changed from the first run. The artifacts are disappointing.
I think it’s designed for XP-L HI, so SST-20 doesn’t look quite right. Also, SST-20 generally looks even more green when used in a reflector, and the tint bin probably isn’t better enough to fix that. Even the “good” bins look green at low levels, and a reflector makes the effect even stronger.
Of course, given how many times the FW3A has been changed, the FW1A also could have changed since the initial release.
Here is a comparison photo.
On the right is my original FW1A (with SS bezel).
The left is a photo I requested from Craig/Illumn of his latest batch.
My FW1A SST-20 is green tinted and artifacty too. I might try an sw40 in it. Mine has the thick plastic ring as pictured on the left.
Wow that’s drastic
Yep. Has me a bit concerned about the FW1T.
Holy crap, that’s bad.
The pic on the left looks like the Pro reflector imo.
These are my two FW1A lights. The pro is on the left, regular model on the right.
I had wondered if they decided to just use one reflector for both models.
I bet that’s it, only need one reflector now instead of two.
Yes, and given all that went into the design and production of these lights, free to Lumintop, this is very disappointing, to say the least.
So, is there anything that can be done about this new reflector? Anybody know of a better one that would fit?
I don’t know how the FW1A differs from the FW3A in the MCPCB shelf/cavity, but I used the Convoy S21A reflector. I was probably one of, if not the very first to convert an FW3A into a single emitter. . Currently with a sliced 4000k SST20 —Tiny, tiny hotspot. Looking to try a 3500k LH351 from Digikey next… Very happy with it overall.
Just received a Nichia FW1A, must be from new batch because can confirm has new reflector with wide spacing, a little disappointing to be honest.
Disappointed to learn of the reflector issue. Lumintop are total cheapskates who have no pride in the quality of their products.
Yup, hugely disappointed. Along with the smushy, doomed to fail switch on the GT mini, its unlikely I’ll be buying another Lumintop product.
large hole at base of reflector with small LED, is not a good match
some possible ways to improve the beam
1. Use a wider LED such as the LH351d
or
2. move the small LED closer to the reflector, by creating a 0.5mm thinner centering ring
What about filing down the back of the centering ring?
I could use a bigger LED, but I was hoping for some throw in a little pocket light. I was expecting more than the S2+ since the reflector is wider, but it’s actually less throwy than the smaller S2+ reflector.
I avoid modifying the original part
fear of breaking
I sand down one these alternative centering rings instead
so I can go back to stock if all fails