FWAA a Jekyll / Hyde Review

LED Flashlights – General Info 1 x AA / 1 x 14500 Flashlights
1

FWAA a Jekyll / Hyde Review

As friend to BLF Hank, of International Outdoor, (https://intl-outdoor.com) has gone a different direction than tiny LED flashlights; by creating his incredible high quality versions of LED flashlights - I (unfortunately) had to search elsewhere for a small single AA LED flashlight with ramping.

On Black Friday, while on Amazon, I used my credit card reward balance to try two LiminTop FWAA flashlights. Why try two you wonder? Because they were from LuminTop and I knew I had a 50/50 chance of even getting a working light.

Instead of dumping on LuminTop, I’m going to juxtapose the good and bad of these tiny 1 X AA LED flashlights.
Good = Jekyll (J)
Bad = Hyde (H)

The U.I., Andúril, same as Hank lights. So this is a moot point.

Seller
J) Amazon, easy to return a defective item.
H) The Amazon Store was LuminTop.

Fit-n-Finish
J) The anodizing of all parts match pretty well.
H) The threads are as enjoyable to use as getting beach sand out of your crotch.

Build Quality
J) No missing parts.
H) Not completely assembled. The circuit board retaining rings in the front were loose and had to be tightened to be able to completely screw on the heads.

Soldering
J) Circuit board joints seem good and clean.
H) Emitter board joints are horrifically terrible and filthy.

Optics
J) TIR optics with anti-reflective glass lens.
H) Too floody for practical use. I had to polish the optic on one light. This tightened up the hot spot and made the beam more useable. I could only do this on one flashlight because the bezel on the other had apparently been partially screwed on then pounded on the rest of the way; making it impossible to get off.

Care
J) The clip seems tough for its size.
H) After a few days of casual use, the anodizing already has snail trails.

Feeding
J) Eats 14500 and 14505 batteries; though with much diminished output - as expected. It accommodates different length cells!
H) With three emitters, battery life will be short.

Summary
J) If Hank would make his version of this flashlight, I would purchase several.
H) If I had not essentially gotten two free and easily returnable flashlights, I never would have tried them. The literally pounded together light will be returned.

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It’s funny. I bought 2 on launch. 1 worked. So I think we are on the same wavelength.

3

I have three Anduril Lumintop lights and did not realize they made one that took a AA size cell. I will pass on this one. It is too small for my taste, and will not take standard AA NIMH batteries. The 18650 ones I have are a perfect size for EDC, and they put out a lot of light for their size, but that is one problem about them. They are little dogs that want to be big dogs, and you have to be really careful when using them. I would never give these lights to a novice or a child. I only had a problem with my first one, the FW3A. I made the mistake of removing the tail cap, but then later had to remove it again to slightly mod the switch so it did not turn on too easily. How many holes were burned in pant pockets using these lights! :open_mouth:

4

The FWAA also seems to (far and away) have the best output and size combination for 14500 battery types (even 16340s seem to be fairy close in size range with significantly reduced output). So it’s a bummer to hear it has so many issues. Is there a single emitter version of this light? Any way to “mod” the light to fix these issues?

5

yes,

retaining rings can be tightened, threads can be cleaned and lubricated, and dirty solder joints can be cleaned

My Copper FWAA has been working reliably.

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It sits on my desk. I dont carry it because I dont trust the pocket clip to hold. I think it is a very reasonably priced light, that comes in Fancy metal options, that I like.

its a cute little Anduril light. It has a very floody optic, good for indoor distances. The switch is easily activated, plan on using Lockout if pocket carried.

dont expect perfection, but the assembly issues are imo solvable,
or, buying thru Amazon means easy returns

here is the flowchart I use to change settings on my FWAA:

.

6

Sorry to hear people are having issues with their FWAA. Received mine about a week ago from nealsgadgets and hands down this is the, nicest, smallest, brightest 14500 flashlight I have ever owned. I’m using it often and haven’t had an issue or complaint, fingers crossed.

Mine’s the SST20 4000K, love the tint! I got the bundle with the Sapphire Lens but I haven’t tried it yet. I measure 1828lm @turn-on, which is insane for this small light! In the first 30 seconds it drops steadily down to 500lm. A fiendishly impractical tiny hotrod light, and I’m totally enjoying it.

I’m beginning to become quite a Lumintop fan, this is my 4th in the last month!