My thought’s exactly. I’m dying for the FWxx Lume1 drivers to make a return. I want to make my FW series lights more useful. Also eyeing up the SP33S and SP35 from Sofirn solely because of their superior drivers and runtimes. I’ve got enough FET toys for now
Does the aux light have extreme low power drain (in low brightness mode) ?
For me the purpose of aux light is to find the flashlight in a dark room - eg in a power-cut. However if it drains a battery in a few days/weeks then it is pointless.
Low drain for aux light - and also parasitic drain in general - is particularly important with a small cell like 14500
Low AUX mode with anduril uses the internal pull up resistors, which is 35K for the Attiny1616, that means that the maximum current on low (ignoring the series resistor) with a blue or green led is ~50uA, about 30uA in average. ~70uA max for red, 50uA in average. This is pretty low, more than 2 years with a 1000mAh cell and a red AUX LED on low.
I agree that low-drain for aux is important, but let's not forget that with Anduril, we can turn down the brightness (not ideal for us aux fan :-) ) Maybe by default, aux should be set in the beacon mode and not set to constant on?
I read a ton of answers looking for someone that say this. 100% agree. 3 leds in a 21mm lens will be TOO floody. I have an old Olight s2a baton (with a slighty wider diameter of head) and lower output (around 500lm), and the big hotspot is really useful. It would be interesting a 14500 with 800/1000lm with either 1 led with big hotspot or 1 led with small hostpot and more throw. It might be also possible to offer both options.
In both cases will be more useful than almost pure flood that will give the triple lens in such a small diameter.
If flood would be the intent, then maybe small aspheric lenses right on top of the LEDs would be better. A perfectly even blanket of light.
The problem with any “focus-device” (TIR lens, reflector, etc.) is that when its overall diameter is small vs the size of the chip behind it, you’re not just getting floodier or a bigger hotspot, but less-controlled light coming out. And that can mean nasty artifacts like rings, corona, etc.
So even a bigger chip behind a wider-angle TIR lens (no more than 60° or so, because I’ve had 90s and 120s go all ringy around the periphery) would be a bigger hotspot, but still “controlled” light.
But then again, maybe they found a combination of optix and emitters that works really well together, so I’m reserving judgment.
I agree with LumenMax: the light will be running Anduril, so auxils will be adjustable. Some of us will be buying this light solely for the auxils, so there needs to be a bright setting too. I like how the Maeerxu have three modes for their auxil/secondarie (.more like secondaries, very bright on high). I leave them on all the time in the lowest setting. It will drain the battery after a week or so, but…this is another good reason to pack three lights a day!
Don’t listen to anybody that wants to make it fatter to take 18500 or 18650! There’s plenty of other lights in that ‘fat’ category…what we dont have much of are small, skinny lights with features we want. You’ve built a wonderfully small and potentially powerful light, please keep it that way.
I vote for both #1 and #3, but if you are only going to make one, then make #3.
I’ve completely quit carrying AA lights because of the low performance. I own them, just dont use them. If I need a small light for dress, I grab an even smaller AAA light.
Whether you make it a triple or single, whatever you do dont make it longer. Focus on short and
as skinny as possible.