FLEX Asgard @ Fasttech

Opened a ticket last week. Mines still a 3-moder.

Ok, so I finally got it to work. Trying on my third computer. Looks like my comments always seem to be a FlexCandles thread killer- I’m not sure why. I just wanted to use the light I paid for. Anyway with pretty much no help from Fasttech other than an initial “well have it fixed in 24 hours” then silence for over an entire week- I have sort of solved it. Anyway issues with communication with tech support aside… Here’s what I did.

So I have a lenovo at home with built in blue-tooth. I tried to connect it to the light many many times. I added the flashlight, before the software… entered the Password 1234… It told me I was connected. Cool. Weird thing was though it told me I was at 2.0 on fresh batteries and the temperature at rest was wayyyy off. So I updated it the first time. Turned the light off, back on… it didn’t update the light even though it told me it did. Then, every time I tried to connect after that the program kept crashing. Since this was an older laptop, I though maybe the bluetooth hadn’t been updated in a while… I had tried to unsuccessfully pair a bluetooth headset in the past. So I searched online for my model…. tried to find where the transmitter was- no luck… but I read a suggestion that I may need to update the lenovo bluetooth software.

Ok so I did. Same problem though- although it gave me a new second “port” to connect to the asgard. This was very intermittent though- although this new “port 8” gave the correct battery voltage and temp… it still crashed- if I could even get it to connect to port 8.

Plan C. I had a cheap USB bluetooth receiver from years ago. I decided to plug it in and give it a go. Cool. It gave me another port… it connected every time- but same as the first. Incorrect battery voltage, etc… then it began crashing.

Brought the light to work- used an older windows vista machine with bluetooth. Crashed yet again… same error code.

Ok so I decided to open a ticket. They got back to me within a day and told me to download the latest version of the software- they linked me to the same software I downloaded from their website a day prior. I had the latest version. Still crashed. Sent them another email. They told me to download a “BUG CATCHING” version of the software this time and send them the report and they’d have it fixed within 24 hours. About 12 hours later I sent them the code…. and that was the last I heard from tech support. That was last Monday. Like the previous week, Monday.

Ok…. fast forward to today. I’m at work- have the light and the cheapo bluetooth receiver… plugged it into this machine. Paired it… downloaded the software… This time it was having a hard time even pairing… when I had the flashlight 2 inches from the receiver. So I had an idea to rotate the light while keeping it pointed at the receiver… keeping it only an inch or two away. Then holding it exactly in the same spot. It finally paired.

The thing to keep in mind though- pairing and connecting via the software are two different stages.

Ok so I opened the software… Connected to the light… just like I had many many times before. Bingo. This time I got the correct voltage and temp. Mind you I’m holding the light with one hand unmoving while chicken pecking with the other to set my modes. My arms tired I updated it- a last ditch effort- before sending an angry email to tech support asking for a refund- after their lack of help.

It worked!!

Yes!

I mean it acted strange, and gave me some super weird blinking modes I did not add in… But at least my modes were there! I decided to try and take out a mode or two. And see if it was less glitch-y now. Bingo! Now I have five modes that I’m happy with.

To try and end this briefly… This is an interesting product with a crappy beta implementation. Sorry- but I shouldn’t have had this much trouble- especially when paying $43 for a “final product.”

Oh and a side note… I sent an email over the weekend wondering why I hadn’t heard even a “still working on it” peep from tech support. I got a response on sunday night/ monday from customer service saying it was the weekend… and that they’d forward it to tech support and I’d hear something within 24 hours… I mentioned it had been more than that already- and that was some time Monday I responded to her response… Still nothing…

Anyway- anyone who is on the fence- this is just one users experience. Obviously your mileage may vary- and it has- considering all the people who are quiet/mum or have responded positively about the light.

Jasmine wanted us to PM her if we wanted the drivers only, but she hasn’t responded to my two PM’s and it’s been over two weeks since I’ve sent them. :_(

Funny, not an hour after I posted my observations- I got a response from her.

If the light gets sent back. I definitely do not want another. I am going to try and make it work one last time on my home computer- if it doesn’t cooperate then it’s on a plane to Miami.

Well, I've received my replacement driver (full preassembled pill this time) and it works like a charm! If they offer to send you an entire replacement pill I encourage you to go that route. I can't imagine you wouldn't be happy with the light once it gets sorted out. I also can't imagine anyone as angry and frustrated as I was with mine before they got the driver sorted out for me. I like the light now and am really looking forward to the new Beowulf model with the better quality host.

That.

If the Beowulf is smaller and perhaps a little more stable, I’m very interested. The size of the Asgard was its main drawback, as far as I’m concerned, though I really wouldn’t mind having something more deeply programmable too. Ease of use is a good thing, but I’d rather have a fully Turing-complete language at my disposal… in a form small enough to EDC.

Yeah, I have a feeling that she doesn’t want to send out bare drivers anymore. :_(

Ok, just an update. I went home and tried using the update on my lenovo again. Still a no go. The laptop has built in bluetooth- but it still gave me an incorrect temp and voltage. Then I tried using my cheapo bluetooth receiver that I used with a computer at work, which was successful. It will not properly communicate with my lenovo at all using either internal or external bluetooth. After hearing a few of you guys suggest I get a new driver- I might do that. Well they’re offering to swap out the light altogether which is even better. Maybe I’ll do that since I scratched up the reflector a bit trying to get it to work. I mean there’s always a possibilty it’s the laptop- so I still may end up frustrated.

Wow, I’m a complete idiot.

I was PM’ing the user “jasmine” instead of “fasttech.”

Now you can feel better about yourselves. 8)

Have you been able to order a driver only?

Sent (the real) Jasmine a PM 24 hours ago, but haven’t gotten a reply yet.

I’ll give it a few more days.

Anyone ever do a lumen output rating on this light? I'd be curious to know what moonlight outputs.

Moonlight was around or less than one lumen. I forget what I got for the High (Max) output, but it was not close to the 1000 lumen claim, more like 850 or so, IIRC.

Thanks! By the way, was that with the cool white?

Yup, CW emitter. Plan is to switch to NW emitter soon.

Cool, thanks. I got the NW and it looks nice. Glad I didn't go with CW. That said, the large reflector adds a bit of cooler tint to the beam, as it radiates out from the nuetral white center.

I find the CW version to be good, no purple and just a little cool blue. Compared to 1A tints in other lights, this 1C works very well in this light. Just looking at it now, I’m surprised at how neutral it really is.

Does anybody use Asgard any longer or what happened to the brand? Our of business?

There was supposed to be a smaller, more EDC-style one made eventually… did that ever happen? The main reason I didn’t get an Asgard was that it was simply too big.

I’m still using mine and I really like it, but it doesn’t look like they are developing any new models; in-fact they haven’t even taken the app out of beta still, seems to be dead on support now :frowning: