Are there any good rubberized glow rings that would fit on the little groove around the bottom of the Lumintop FW3 lights that hold a glow for a long time? All the glow rings I’m finding online get bad reviews.
I was looking at some GITD tape also but a lot of it appears to have trouble staying stuck around smooth, small diameter tubes.
I recommend a Glow Gasket
I like Aqua, you may need to spend some quality time with google search to get that color… I would avoid Neal’s Gadgets… he can be unreliable (overwhelmed).
Thanks John! I was more thinking about a band on the outside (so it could be easily removed if/when not needed) but to be honest I was looking at these “under the optics” gaskets originally. Between Illumn and Neal they seem to only have a couple of sources. Apparently there are crummier 3D printed ones as well. I wonder how well they hold up under the heat of one of these lights on Turbo…
Why do you prefer the Aqua? Is it the color or the apparent brightness (or the glow time)??
Thank you
I did mine with GITD tape when I first got my FW3A.
I have a dot of green glow tape on the button of one of my lights. It IS visible on my nightstand, but very dim, since I dont precharge it before I go to bed. The residual glow is just from ambient light it picks up during the day.
the beauty of glow gaskets, is they get charged up from using the light. they still lose their brightness quickly, but remain visible, in their dim state, when I wake up in the middle of the night.
color preferences vary
I find green a bit “too” bright. Aqua is dimmer, but I like the color, and it is bright enough for me, when I wake in the dark. I tried Red, but that color does not hold enough residual glow to be visible after a few hours sleep.
here is the relative brightness reference (it is for tritiums, but also applies to glow gaskets):
in that chart, Ice Blue, is what is sometimes also called Aqua
Thank you Slayer1! Do you have a recommended brand of tape? Does the glow last through the night (dimmed of course, but bright enough to see when your eyes have adapted to the dark?)
Thank you Jon- OK I do know about the perceived brightness of the different colors, I thought perhaps the Aqua had some other advantage you were thinking of.
Given that I don’t always use my lights frequently and I do want to be able to quickly find it in the dark, perhaps a tritium vial is my best bet. I saw a nifty optic that had slots sized for the smallest vials, but Neal seems to be sold out of them ( Tritium OPTICS CARCLO 10507 TRIPLE LED OPTIC LENS For FW3A – Nealsgadgets ) Does anyone else sell these? Can the vials be stuck into regular optics easily or am I better off finding these special optics to use?
this is a Tritium solution for FW3a
Is this for the older ones where the tailswitch parts just fall apart when you take the bottom off the light? How hard is it to take apart the newer style?
I assume he is selling just the metal ‘button’ and not the whole screw-on tailswitch assembly.
I’m amazed they didn’t do something like that trit tailcap as an extra. When making thousands they would cost peanuts.
The turboglow ones are very underwhelming.
When my copper one arrives I’ll make one somehow I think.
Click pic for Tritium lanyard fob, choose One color per fob:
Just bought this tape from ebay a long while back. Glow will last for a couple of hours though.
If your in the states, your local walmart may have glow tape. That’s where I purchased mine. Very good long lasting glow and sticks good too.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Duck-Brand-Glow-In-The-Dark-Gaffers-Duck-Tape-3-4-in-x-6-ft-Luminescent-Lime-Green/114845792
My OP was about putting a stretchy rubber GITD ring on the outside of the flashlight, but I couldn’t find any good ones.
I ended up doing what Slayer1 did and put a ring of GITD tape (glow side facing the LEDs, of course) behind the bezel. It’s OK but not exactly what I wanted. At least it is easy to quickly ‘charge’ the GITD material. I am concerned about the heat from the LEDs melting out the adhesive from the tape and causing a gooey mess (or fire) in the head of the light, since these lights get so hot, especially in turbo mode. I tend to not run too long with higher light output settings, so it hasn’t been a problem yet, but is a concern if I ever do let the light heat up for a longer period of time.
The tape I got glows quite brightly for a while but does lose the glow after an hour or so. Even with night-adapted vision, it is quite faint. I was hoping for a better material- I know the stuff they use for outlining emergency exit paths on commercial aircraft (and trains, retail stores, factories, etc) is pretty good (even after a long transatlantic flight, with up to 8 hours in darkness, the lines on the floor and the EXIT signs still glow pretty well).
I bought commercial glow in the dark tape from an industrial supplier and it’s still not quite as ‘glowy’ as I wanted. I wonder where the really glowy stuff comes from.
PS I did notice that Walmart sold GITD Duck brand tape but online reviews suggest it’s probably no better than the stuff I got.
For some reason I found the thicker adhesive sheets of gitd to be of better quality than the tapes.
Thanks Geuzz! Do you have a link or model # information of where to find that?
Don’t know where you are from, I guess the US. I don’t know a US source. But they should look a bit like these.
Thank you! I will keep searching for this ‘super glow’ material…
Check with them.
I bought glow powder from and clear enamel to mix and use to “paint” the inside of the head. Works great.