My FW3A is only carry-able because of the o-ring mod. I’m lucky mine doesn’t have signal tube issues.
It’s all so upsetting. Back in 2011 Spark did the signal tube thing so much better. If only…
I find Convoy S2/S2+ more convenient to carry then FW3A or Emisar E4V2, because it has smaller diameter. If length bothers you – get 18350 tube or 18500 tube from Jaxman.
As to carrying FW3A – I like the stock clip, but I find the light prone to accidental activations, so... if you don't mind carrying it locked out – go for it. I've had no reliability issues with mine.
Emisar is more substantially built, and, with protective collar around button I cannot imagine how it can activate accidentally in the pocket.
Get them all, with different LEDs. ;-)
The FW3A is an excellent enthusiast light to wow your friends with. I have half dozen and still buying more. If you are going to carry a light that can and will get you out of a jam one day, you will want something like the Convoy S2+ or BLF A6 or Sofirn SP31. The mechanical switch is going to be more reliable in the long term and you wont need to carry a manual with you. You wont have to worry about accidental activation either, very common in the FW3A.
Of course this is my opinion however I think I did make a good argument.
My sample size of 1 FW3A was awful. I assume there’s a short in it somewhere, and mine at least is dangerous. I love the aesthetics and form factor, but I don’t think the signal tube design was executed very well and they can be finicky at best. I wouldn’t consider it a durable light.
FWnA is my favorite light and my EDC for 2 years or so now. I was the one to develop the switch mod to eliminate accidental activations, and since then that’s never been a problem. The light definitely isn’t for a non enthusiast without a hands on mentality. Understanding of the design is necessary to have it be ‘reliable’, which for me, it has been for hundreds of days and tens of thousands of clicks. Plenty of drops and dunks included.
A skilhunt M200 might be a really nice light for you though.
I could not resist and just had to have the "life experience" gained from owning a light with over 1,500 posts in its troubleshooting thread. Now I have four and two of them are exceptionally reliable.
I love the smooth-operating hair-trigger tail switch which almost guarantees it will activate and ramp up in your pocket helping you remember to lock-it-out and after the first occurrence when un-locked while driving my car, it has only happened once again, but this time in a dream where first my pants and then my car caught on fire.
The Lumintop FW3A is one of my favorite and most beautiful lights, but I will always wonder why a flashlight company chose "Lumintop" instead of "Lumentop" for their name unless they were pranking us.
This is perfect.
I'm glad I got my purple edition. I do carry it sometimes. But these days the lack of throw bothers me a lot on top of everything else. The good old, turning 7 this year, SC62w gets the most pocket time from me...
Yes, I recommend it for a compact edc light. I was late to get on the FW bandwagon, but after several very lengthy topic threads, and very, very high rankings on two or more topic threads for Best Light of the Year, and because of the rear electronic switch, I jumped in. I got FW3 and FW4 modded with W2, and three FW21Pro. How the FW looks, what it does, and how it does it: I just like. I like a lot of edc variety rotation, and the FW puts a smile on my face when its turn comes up, and when I think about how happy I am that Lumintop came out with this classy and classic item.
ive wrote lumintop a billion times in searches and in forum fixes and bugs fo r the fw3a over a few yrs now and never untill today did i even realize how stupid that is too spell like that i never noticed just assumed but good point WHY? maybe it was a a detail not executed consistantly in the starting ideas of the company logo and name or maybe i was always wondering why a rabbitis there any meaning?connected too anything with flashlights?...i dido the impulsive 2 extra fw3as after my first lumintop was the gt mini wich i loved the look and anduril and the fact that it was convoy c8 size but upped the anti with i nicer wider and longer reflector and it was my first ramping light w switch so i [put emmitters i thought they would have been smart enough too offer too take advantage of too make use of that extra mm of reflecter and better more modern design they all still work flawless i wish lume1 made a driver upgrade for those instead of the fw-series but i too own 4 of diff varient and i agree if you like too tweak the lights you own and need something that is half the price of the garbage big brand lights who cares if they have flaws i even got the newer version fw3e and it was suppose to eliminate all the engeneering flaws and tolerance issues and mine lasted about 2 weeks and it failed in the same exact manner that my 3a did and i need all these parts for that series and ive heard they are near impossible too customer srvs or warrenty so i just always spent another 40 bucks and got another im still trying too find the fix for the two failed lights im super mad but i have too say at the same time lumintop is the best and these bugs happen with young companies and getting the bugs out overall they are like a woman you love most times and others hate.i stuck with the brand because im only interested in high power modding lights that you can tweak into a light you know no one else has and building from a good host light is hard too find good looking moddern lights with a medioker price with easy too work with parts and not all glued together and factorry potted thats what this hobby is suppose too be all about rite??if it was perfect we wouldnt strive too make it better or be able too add onto as new things are learned it keeps us alive lumintop is what started and has been steady at always getting better and being for the hobbiest and tweakers and they have made alot of progress in a small amount of time by taking risks exactly like they did with the fw3a and they are mostly common sense too fix the mistakes will be a learning experience too look on and make better things than other companies havent dared too try thats a big statement those calaberators paked alot of inginuity into that little machine in a very small package so the pros way outway the cons once you have one and get the jist of it you realize how awsome of a light it is. im actually on this thread now again for the 3e version too see why it doesnt turn off once the head is tightened and thats what went wrong w my older version wich is weird too me could there be two diff bugs that have the same outcome on both versions ive tried everything even had them fixed but only brieff then back too not turning off button does all other functions anduril isnt effected exept i think no moon it has a new default bottom of ramp is slightly brighter and the beeps work for programming bu they are dimmer and harder to see is this something obviouse im just thinking too hard past is it connection of head spring switch tolerance change not hitting at the same point as when from new? i take them apart often i put lume1. constant c. buck boost and 4 sst20 and other has lume1 and 3 osram pm1 w1,glow gasket tail button, carlco upgrade but checked and non of uprade are reason the new driver fixed the older version so now that tells me what the issue was i just arent as advanced as tom and ty and jared texas ace etc i checked and you cant even run the loneoceans circuit in the new 3e version it is killing me ………good points on both sides of the coin obviously all these messages made a big diff if they tried revamping the design in my case i think mine is fixable i just need someone skilled w the internal workings. sorry so long but i only write private and seldom im more a reader guys names ken ive been in this hobby awhile but didnt start actually building and hands on till A year ago when i started reading all you smart guys stuff on here this group of people are a great thing too adding onto the community and sourcing all this tech that years ago we never even knew we would be able too get this deep into this hobby its amazing too me.
I have one FW3A. It is probably still the best looking light I own. It is also a burn-your-house-down dangerous light. I won’t even put a battery in mine. Long story short, it comes on completely on its own and ramps to max with no thermal stepdown. When this happens pressing the power button has no effect, the battery has to be disconnected to shut it down.
The first time this happened I had been using the light a couple of months and loved it. The light was sitting on its side on my kitchen counter, and I walked into the kitchen and saw the light was on. I grabbed it to turn it off and it immediately gave me second degree burns where I touched it. This caused me to drop it, and the light was hot enough that two of the three LEDs de-soldered themselves. I had to grab a pot holder and hold it under running water until it was cool enough to manipulate, that’s when I found out the button had no effect and I had to unscrew it.
If I put a battery in it now it will work right sometimes but then randomly ramp to max. That’s not very high now since only one of the three LEDs still works, but the problem is still there. I want to love the light (getting in on the initial FW3A buy was actually the reason I joined this forum), but after seeing everyone else’s very mixed experiences with them I won’t buy another. It would be one thing if I got a one off bad example. but it seems like a huge percentage of them have one problem or another, and the problems they have are potentially disastrous.
I bought an FW3a, and then I bought an FW4a, both modded with W 2.1, and I bought 3 x FW 21a Pro, and a fourth FW 21a pro modded with three times SBT 90.2. I gave two F21a Pros to friends, after spending sufficient time to instruct them on how to use them safely, and they are still going strong over a year ago. The FW series has been around for a few years, the FW series is very popular, and I love mine for the same reasons that lots of other people love theirs, and I treat mine carefully for the same reasons that many other people treat theirs carefully.
I have an FW3A that I have carried in my pocket virtually every day, everywhere, since June 2019. I use it with a flat top Sony VCT6 cell. It is bone stock, never done anything to it, not even a rubber o-ring mod like many have done with the switch button. The anodizing shows points of wear, but that is only cosmetic.
It has functioned with no problems at all. I have dropped it twice that I recall. Once in a while I screw up on the clicks, maybe forget if it is locked or not, and have found the simple way back to normal is to remove the head and then replace it. I use the electronic 4-click lockout all the time. To me it is only a slight inconveniece for the positive lockout against inadvertent activation. I never have felt a need to be able to be the fastest draw with my lights.
drizzydrake…. I mean this in a kind and constructive way. If you hope or expect people to read your posts, try using punctuation such as periods at the end of a thought, and a capital letter to begin the next sentence. Paragraph breaks also make a posting much easier to read.
My brain after reading this.
Punctuation is your friend.
Is that really one long sentence?
I’m glad it wasn’t just me. I tried reading it but gave up after the first line since it was making my eyes and head hurt. It’s way easier for me to read typing that has typo’s and bad grammar than a wall of text without punctuation/formatting.
my brain registered it as a photo
I bet he was using voice recognition.
This is the best post I’ve read regarding the FW3A --truly love it, thank you for posting.
Perhaps the spelling, “Lumintop” was selected on purpose?
Such as…
Tumblr
Reddit
Digg
Flickr
Publix
Dunkin’ Donuts
Chick-fil-A
Froot Loops
Cheez Whiz
People tend to remember oddities.
In the internet age strange spelling may make it easier to register an internet domain.
Or same thing going as when parents choose odd spellings for their child
’s name.
Jackson = Jaxson
Emily = Emmalee
David = Dayvyd
I love my FW3a’s (both of them)