Tally-ho wrote:

The new pocket clip seems to be black.

Rusty black, to be more precise.

As long as it’s durable, I don’t care at all about its color. Adding/removing paint is pretty dang easy.

zak.wilson wrote:

While I generally like black, painted clips chip over time and look bad. I’ll come out against this, but buy the same number regardless of the finish on the clip.

I can’t tell from the photo if it’s painted or some kind of conversion coating like black oxide or parkerizing.

Or perhaps its light playing tricks on the photo.

Personally, I don’t have a strong preference one way or the other. I just hope the community doesn’t make collectively as big of deal about the clip color as we went through about the body color.

The community has collectively made a big deal out of

• The body color
• The body shape
• The surface finish
• The emitter options
• The color rendering index
• The color temperature
• The tint bins
• The battery compatibility
• The optics

What gives you the idea there’s any chance the clip color/finish will be different? But I’ll buy just as many regardless.

Hmmmm, ‘personally’ I do not see black; just lighting anomalies. But that & any other speculation is counterproductive at this point. It is useless. Time will tell.

The good news is new prototypes are being sent out, so hopefully we will have info soon. Also that “should” mean we are close to production. Maybe.

Actually, it says samples are being sent, not prototypes, which may be even better news. Maybe.

closer production then this it cant be since they are releasing those lights if it gets ok from those people they will start production so that sounds positive to me.

teacher wrote:

Hmmmm, ‘personally’ I do not see black; just lighting anomalies. But that & any other speculation is counterproductive at this point. It is useless.

The problem is to know if they are going to adopt this black clip for the production version or if it was just a color test that they finally rejected.
It is not the first and unexpected “drift” from the initial prototype, so we would like to know for sure what the production version will definitely looks like.

- “Maybe a black painted button to match the pocket clip ?”

I liked the silver clip, and I liked that the tip section was smooth. It has a good texture for thumb fidgeting.

Not really excited about a black clip, or having an extra hole in the end. Color will probably scrape off, and it already has a better place to attach a lanyard.

Would be nice if the only change was to fix the driver fit issue.

Yes, that would be nice. I don’t care about the clip at all, but I see no reason for making silly changes at this stage of this very long saga.

While the bare clip might be slightly nicer, I don’t think Lumintop’s decision to go with a black clip is enough to punt it back and hold up production.

As long as the light works and the driver fit issue was corrected, it might as well go into production as-is.

Tally-ho wrote:

teacher wrote:

Hmmmm, ‘personally’ I do not see black; just lighting anomalies. …. (snip)…..

… (snip) …. but this is definitely black and it is not due to a lightning anomaly.

….. (snip) …….

But I will say this, if it is paint; it appears to be a very poorly done job. There is still a lot of silver visible.
You can start with either side of your ‘red arrow point’ & then go right on to the edge of the clip to see silver.

If whoever orginally posted this picture would chime in, the mystery could be certainly solved……

Either way, it is what it is……

I think that’s just a lighting anomaly. The white on the clip in that reflection looks to me to just be reflections off a shiny black clip.

Time will tell……

In general, white and black are just the same color at different brightness levels. A white reflection on a black clip doesn’t mean there’s silver showing through.

The pic makes it look like the clip is painted black, but the pic was also taken by a potato cam. We might not know for sure until items arrive for testing.

Put me on the list for whichever version comes out first, if that’s SST-20 or what.

in for 2 thx

I would like one!

Please sign me up for one.

teacher wrote:

I am still going with a lighting anomaly.

I would like two (2) lights.

Tally-ho wrote:

teacher wrote:

I am still going with a lighting anomaly.

I hope you are right.
This clip with the extra hole is from the first prototype.
Maybe they add a black o-ring to avoid this clip version to spin and wobble on the production sample, because they were short of the latest clip.
I won’t speculate more, time will tell. Sorry for the interruption.

adnj wrote:

The FW3A team is doing a good job at keeping everyone informed. Thanks!

tatasal wrote:

April 8th, 3:41pm FW3A update:

Barring any unforeseen circumstance, this week, 2 samples will be sent to 2 members here in BLF and one sample to a member in TLF.

The final approval from the three persons will pave the way for the light’s mass-production.

As usual, in the meantime,

——————————————————————————————————————————————-

A photo of the version of the sample light to be sent to the 3 members:

(Isn’t it a thing of beauty?)

!{width:70%}[img]https://i.imgur.com/p55dXJE.jpg[/img]!

Reviewers, please check fit of button-top cells. Thanks!

ToyKeeper wrote:

I liked the silver clip, and I liked that the tip section was smooth. It has a good texture for thumb fidgeting.

Not really excited about a black clip, or having an extra hole in the end. Color will probably scrape off, and it already has a better place to attach a lanyard.

Would be nice if the only change was to fix the driver fit issue.

I much prefer not having to read post after post that is “Much Ado About Nothing”.
It is going to be a fantastic light at an unbelievably low price.
It is essentially a done deal now and is in the hands of very competent BLF and TLF Team members.
Each one of us has a choice when it becomes available…if you like it, you buy it. If you don’t like it, don’t buy it and move on.
‘Nuf said.

Eraursls1984 wrote:

ToyKeeper wrote:

I liked the silver clip, and I liked that the tip section was smooth. It has a good texture for thumb fidgeting.

Not really excited about a black clip, or having an extra hole in the end. Color will probably scrape off, and it already has a better place to attach a lanyard.

Would be nice if the only change was to fix the driver fit issue.

I much prefer the clip tip with no hole. (snip) … The painted black will look terrible after a day or two of carry.

clip is silver

No laser rabbit on the button

The Lumintop etch on the switch looks classy.

Oh that’s just sexy as hell. Etching and no circle on the clip, that’s just a very sleek look.