It’s important for a company to “get” their customers, to truly understand and treat them as peers in a community instead of just resources to extract profit from like a gold mine. But this project was a case of the opposite… not really “getting” it at all.
Yeah. I have enough FW3As to last a lifetime, but only one FW1A. I didn’t know it was going to get nerfed so much, so I didn’t get another one while they were still good. And it has been a very practical light for general-purpose outdoor use.
I’ve mostly switched to KR4 for daily use, because aside from the extra size/weight, it’s basically a much better FW3A. And a KR1-18350 for thrower purposes, because it shines so far in such a compact host. But between the ~4cd/lm KR4 and the ~120 cd/lm KR1, there’s something missing.
It may have surprised Lumintop, but it seems like people here knew it would be a hit. Although it had some unresolved issues (button too soft, finicky inner tube, overall quality), it was pretty much guaranteed to be popular because of the overall design.
… and as I hinted a moment ago, there’s another “obvious surprise hit” design waiting to be made. Hank really should make a Noctigon SC64 or S20/S10, basically. A thin, lightweight 1x18650 / 1x18350 light with a single nice LED, a side switch, a head-mounted deep-carry one-way clip, well-regulated driver with good low modes, roughly 8 to 20 cd/lm depending on LED type, and of course, easily reflashable.
It wouldn’t be a hot rod like most of what he makes, and it may seem kind of mundane… but it’s an obvious gap in his product line, it’s a huge sweet spot for flashlight design, and it’s something nobody has really nailed yet. I suspect that, if he made what people keep asking for, even if it meant going outside his chonky-light comfort zone, he might end up with something even more popular.