COMPARISON: Wurkkos TS10 v. FWAA

Maybe some sort of anti slip tape can work better? Like the ones used on the floor. It may be harsher for the hands and clothes, though.

I think you must be a really Knurly Guy… lol

different perspective

My TS10 experience is not squirty at all… the waistline makes for a very nice, balanced, secure, cigar grip.

Much more secure than a stock FWAA cigar grip, which tries to squirt out of my fingers due to the flare at the head end, making the waist of the FWAA uncentered and the balance head heavy.

I like the TS10 beam, switch pressure, and form factor, better than my FWAA. Plus the TS10 aux lights are a really nice locator feature, that the FWAA lacks.

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Wrap a rubber band around it for grip?

Cigar grip is when the body tube of the light is held poking out between the index and middle fingers, with the thumb on the tailcap button.

With this kind of grip on an FWAA the flare at the head of an FWAA is irrelevant to grip since you’re only touching the back half of the light. Does it feel unbalanced holding a light this way? … a bit, especially for ones with copper heads. But FWAA is so small weight isn’t much of an issue.

This is also why there’s a sharp indent going from the tailcap to the body tube on the FWAA and FW3A. That indent is intended to catch on your fingers to prevent the light from sliding forward out of your hand when you press the button.

I notice you reverse your body tubes on your FWAAs Jon_Slider, so you do not get this sharp indent at the tail. Result is cigar grip on an FWAA may be a bit less secure for you than a stock unmodded FWAA.

In the TS10, the sharp indent from the tailcap to the body tube is not present. Instead there’s a gentle incline both directions. This is aesthetically pleasing, but the gentle incline is less likely to catch on the fingers when the button is depressed. Result is the light just feels less secure in cigar grip.

In a handshake grip the light is held in the palm of the hand facing forward like a side-switch light. Knurling makes the biggest difference for handshake grip, and the TS10 basically has none.

Thanks for the write up. The fwaa does look much better.

not my experience.

I find the opposite is true
with the flare at the tail, cigar grip does not squirt forward. I also find it more comfortable than the steep ridge at the tail, when the tube is not reversed.

Plus, the waist of the FWAA becomes centered when the body is reversed to put the flare towards the tail, so the light is more balanced.

.

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I think aesthetically, my titanium and ti-cu FWAA do look a lot prettier than my black aluminum TS10.

However, the TS10 has many features that just make it an overall better light:

  • better button
  • better beam pattern and better stock leds
  • aux leds
  • more compact
  • more recent firmware that includes features the FWAA lacks like protection against accidental pocket ramp-up.

what feature do you mean?

afaict, an UnLocked FWAA has a feature that if the button is held down (as if in a pocket with accidental activation), for about 8 seconds total, the light will ramp all the way up to ceiling (which is why I use a safe ceiling), and then automatically ramp all the way down to the floor, and a moment or two later, the light Locks itself.

I definitely consider my Fancy Metal FWAAs prettier than my Black Ano TS10.

afaik, Sofirn has never made fancy metal lights, I even recall them saying their equipment cannot handle Ti and Copper, so I have Zero hope of a Fancy Metal TS10. I would definitely buy it if they did offer Ti or Copper.

Yes, that’s the feature.

The FWAA lacks this feature as it wasn’t present on earlier versions of Anduril 2. I tested mine this morning and it ramped all the way up and stayed there.

The TS10’s more up-to-date firmware has the protective feature: it ramps all the way up, pauses for a couple seconds, then ramps down and locks.

EDIT: I just double-checked and stand corrected. Both the FWAA and TS10 have this feature.

A have an update which seemed to fit in this old but great thread.

I went through four FWAAs before I got one which seems to have been built with some quality control and so far seems dependable. The too easy to accidentally activate switch is the worst issue with this light.

On the other hand, the T10 I got a few days later seems better built and is much less prone to accidental activations.

Counting accidental activations, both lights have about the same use. And each light has its included 14500; 800 mAh for the FWAA and 900 mAh for the T10.

Using the built in feature of battery check I noticed the FWAA showed 3.4 volts. Whereas, even with the auxiliary LEDs of the T10 constantly on low, it’s battery reads 3.7 volts.

With batteries switched, each light worked correctly and respectively shows 3.5 volts and 3.7 volts.

I was never interested in a FWAA

  • a good LED choice right from the beginning
  • flash pins
  • PRICE

This are the points which make me buy a TS10.

There was an unusual number of good reviews saying this light is good. More than an AA size light normally get.
Nice tint, no green, high CRI
A bit of reach on Turbo

And flash pins are a feature I really want on a Andúril light. Every time I think there are no more functions possible @ToyKeeper adds one! e.g. The newest revision has a low battery warning for single color AUX LEDs which would be nice for the TS10.
It is easier to fix FW-bugs. You can have exactly the same User Interface on all Andúril lights. You can make your settings survive a factory reset.

Since I have normally bad luck with 14500 light and tend to don’t like them it shouldn’t be expensive.

So indoors and around the house this my most used light at the moment.

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Have a recent TS10 and an older FW3A. No complaints about either of them. But according to the latest comments it seems Lumintop is cutting corners all the way to the bank. So I would put my eggs in the Wurkkos basket.

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Perhaps I should get a TS10 sometime. It seems nicer than the FWAA. Neither one is really what I want though. Would rather have a single-emitter 1xAA light like the SP10 Pro, but with a nice 219B sw45k inside, a tail e-switch, a nice one-way clip, and a thin body. Like, instead of an entire inner tube for the switch, it could probably just carry the signal through a ribbon in a narrow channel of the body tube.

Eagtac D25a has a nice clip, and is one of the thinnest tail clicky AA lights I have tried.

but it is not eSwitch, and you cannot buy it with sw45k, LED would need to be swapped.

As far as the TS10 and FWAA, I prefer the beam of the TS10, because it is half as floody,
https://i.imgur.com/MYMOW4E.jpg
and I prefer the switch of the TS10 because it has double the resistance of the stock FWAA switch. I also prefer the symmetry of the TS10 waistline, and the TS10 also has flashing pads…

otoh
The TS10 LEDs match the E21a footprint, not 219b compatible. The latest TS10 in Brass offers 3000K CCT, but the aluminium models so far, are only 4000K or 5500K.

The TS10 has no retaining ring for the tailswitch, and no lens over the Tir… The TS10 pocket clip is not fully captive, and it has a protrusion on the body side that snags when sliding over a pocket. It is a terrible choice for a pocket clip.

I use a Lumintop EDC05 pocket clip, that works much better:
https://i.imgur.com/XawcFXp.jpg

… yeah, we’ve talked about the D25A before. I have a couple, and even did a review here a while back. It’s a great size and shape, but I would have to replace almost everything inside the tube. And I’m not big on hardware modding.

I doubt I’ll buy a TS10, since I’m swimming in flashlights. But it does seem like a good option for a 14500 light.

For now, I’m pretty happy with my KR4 Ti sw45k. It’s a bit larger and heavier than I’d like, but is otherwise really close to ideal.

I like both lights, but neither are perfect.

FWAA:

  • Beam pattern is too floody
  • no aux leds
  • stock clip sucks. However, the alternate deep carry clip is quite good when modified to remove the extra bend.
  • Overall, I’d rate the FWAA is more reliable than the TS10. I’ve never had an FWAA fail, but I have had individual leds in the TS10 fail.

TS10:

  • Stock beam pattern and color temperature are both quite a bit nicer than the FWAA.
  • Stock clip sucks, but it is possible to get a slightly better clip.
  • CSP leds are very sensitive. I’ve had a number burn out during ordinary use (fully topped off battery running in turbo. But I do not refresh the turbo. Instead I led the temp sensor reduce it). Running a light in this manner isn’t abusing it. It should be able to handle it. But in my experience, the CSP leds tend to gradually dim and sometimes burn out. I’ve had this happen on two different TS10s. I also no longer use Vapcell H10 with these lights since they clearly can’t handle the current. On the upside, the CSP leds are extremely cheap, so I was able to reflow fresh LEDs on. I was able to buy 10 CSP leds from Wurrkos for about the same price as a single Nichia 519a.
  • Smaller selection of “premium” materials. TS10 was available in aluminum and brass. FWAA was available in aluminum, titanium with a variety of finishes, copper, ti-cu.

Both lights are very compact and quite mod friendly.

For everyday carry, I find I prefer the grip and form factor or a Sofirn SP10 Pro modded with the leds star and bezel of a TS10. This gives a nice little triple with sideswitch. And it helps the CSP leds that the SP10 Pro’s driver does not deliver very high current. I added a cut down washer around the button to reduce accidental pocket activation.

Is it possible to buy the ts10 bezel and led board separately from Wurkkos?

I hesitatted to comment here because I don’t have the FWAA. But the grip thing caught my attention. After reading this I played with my TS10 quite a bit last night. Now I had never noticed any grip problem, so apparently I have had no problem with it in the past. My experimentation just confirmed that. The light is a bit slippery, but in either the “cigar” or “handshake” grips I had absolutely no problems maintain control of the light. . Nor did I feel like I was in danger or dropping it. So it is a very small and smooth light, I don’t think control is a problem (for me).
As I said, I have no FWAA lights to compare it to, so whether it is better or worse in this regard, I cannot say.

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Maybe. You might send a message to Carrie or Terry on here to ask. They seem to be a little more hesitant to sell parts that don’t involve warranty issues compared to Sofirn, but they’re friendly. (Actually, I read here recently that someone asked for a Wurkkos part when talking to a Sofirn aliexpress rep/chat and got what they wanted that way. Early on, Sofirn on ali sold me some of the cool Wurkkos blue switch trim rings without any hesitation and for cheap.)

Looking at the business end of both lights, the TS10 reminded me of something. Whereas, the FWAA did not. I finally figured out what I saw in the makeup of the TS10 emitters; the triple spiral of a triskelion.