My Favorite EDC of 2020

I agree, that the FW3A looks more sleek & refined. But the LM10 has grown on me. I like its rugged looks, but the price is a bit of a put-off. I’m going to look for a possible discount sale later on in the year.

I consider two types of EDC:

  • Small enough to sit in your pocket without being felt, typically your 1xAAA or custom mini battery type.
  • Large enough to be powered by an 18650, while small enough to still ride in a pocket (though you’ll definitely feel it)

I was a real fan of the Jetbeam-U, for it’s super small length-diameter hosting an AAA, as well as high quality anodizing, body sculpting, and reasonably spaced modes. The tint is cooler than I prefer, though. So, I convinced myself to pocket the Lumintop CuTool Nichia 219C AAA for a while and despite the lesser output on high, I’ve come to love it. It is my “corner pocket” EDC now.

For the larger pocketable EDC, it’s a tie between the Lumintop FW3A and the Zebralight SC64c LE. The Zebralight has just the right body design with wonderfully large recessed side switch, pleasing tint, and excellent efficiency. Alas, it has an unusual UI and there’s no physical customization possible. But then there’s the FW3A. Anduril UI totally opens up this light to wonderful possibilities. Plus, the BLF team was smart in design, allowing a wide range of user customization via simple parts swapping. It’s so easy to customize. For these reasons, the Lumintop FW3A has to be my favorite EDC.

A couple of simple changes eliminates the slippage problem. I installed a nice big O-ring that sits just below the bottom tail cap lip, and also a segment of bicycle inner tube. The aesthetic has grown on me. The inner tube provides excellent gripping and the O-ring is a nice auxiliary grip.

i use my fw3a with ww tint from the group buy most i have a copper version also but not using it so much, i think they went way out of hand with the lm10… too expensive and just looks weird… the idea from start was a cheap good budget light with good tints - not a luxury light….

Not sure if the SC64c has it, but the SC64w and 64w Hi do have the ability to custom-program the mode settings. It’s fairly easy to custom program the UI so it functions like an Olight (long press from off for low, double-click high, press and hold to ramp up modes).

I tried something like that. I installed Talon Grip tape on one of my FW3As.

This completely fixed the slippage problem. But the light still feels quite flimsy and cheap … especially compared to the LM10.

Titanium is expensive and doesn't shed heat well (like aluminum does.)

I'll take a FW3A any day over the LM10.

Yes, the SC64c does have some limited custom-program mode settings, as it should be the same driver as on the SC64w. Mine is set for long press from off for low, single click for high in last used mode group, and double-click from off for medium, then press+hold to ramp up. While on, double-click changes mode groups. It’s a decent UI, and I appreciate the strobe modes flexibility… but I’m getting spoiled by Anduril.

Yes, that does look good, the Talon Grip tape. My FW3A doesn’t feel flimsy. Maybe it’s your button that’s the problem? I couldn’t stand how loose it was out of the box. But I installed an o-ring in place of the nubbin and now it’s firm enough to reduce accidental activation. Screw threads on parts have excellent tolerance, so no problem there. The inner tube as cut in the photo above enables easy 3 finger control without slippage.

I performed the o-ring mod on most of my FW3 series lights (several FW3As, two FW3Ts, FW3C, LM10). In pretty much all cases it greatly improves the feel of the switch.

However, even with the o-ring mod, some of the FW3 switches are just stiffer than others. The stiffest of the bunch is installed in my FW3T… it requires something like 4.6 lbs of pressure to activate. I could stand a BLF GT on the switch and it would not trigger. Very nice.

That said, the flimsy feeling of the FW3A isn’t caused by the switch. Rather it’s due to the very thin aluminum. Anodized aluminum also has the constant worry that if I drop it, I will scuff it up or dent it. I never worry about that with titanium.

Generally I like FW3A and it variations(don’t see any big difference between all these 21A,1A and so on.) But it mostly lies on a shelf. It isn’t enough universal to be my EDC.

I like my FW3A a lot after I did the O-ring mod, but it just doesn’t pack enough throw for me to feel great about it outdoors.

By no means am I looking to carry a thrower… it’s just that my SC62w can toss a beam across the field at the park by my house and maintain it until the battery’s empty. For the FW3A to hit the far trees, I have to pop it into turbo, and I lose the trees after a minute or so of temperature-control ramping. Great hand-warmer in the colder months, though.

May I ask what drivers you are using for your FW3, FW4 and D4V2?

Apologies for the divergence.

Yep. The SC62 (and SC64) have reflectors. The FW3A having a triple TIR optic won’t throw nearly as much. More for close range illumination. When I go for a night walk, I bring my FW3A, but also carry a Nitecore EC4GT that’s a wonderful 2x18650 thrower.

It can be done, if you have the time and patience to do a work-around.

Here’s how I would do it:

1) Open your E-Mail programme and select Drafts (Entwürfe)

2) Open a new (blank) mail and enter your own address as recipient.

3) If you like, you can enter the title of the thread as the subject (Betreff).

4) Go back to the BLF and click on the OP’s user name to find some of his previous posts.

5) Copy/paste an entire post of his (not an original post) into the blank E-Mail.

6) Delete the entire post except the beginning and end quotation marks.

7) Go back to the original post which you were unable to quote.

8) Copy the entire original post and dump it into your E-Mail, between the beginning and end quotes (in this particular case, you can delete the video, as it doesn’t have to be shown again).

9) The end result should look like this:

10) Sit back and choose a good German beer, like a Schneider Weisse - you’ve earned it!

I think an easier way is to start with a quote of the post above. Erase the content, leaving just the quote tags. Doesn’t matter who it is. Then go to the first page in a separate tab (important) and highlight the content. Copy it. Return to previous tab and paste in your message after the “[ quote ]”. Replace the user referenced in the quote to the OP. DONE.

There’s more than one way to skin a cat!

I write out all my posts as drafts in my E-Mail programme, as it gives me the additional advantage of spelling-check and also saves them from suddenly flying off into outer space before I’ve finished writing. Very frustrating when you lose a post just before you’ve finished and you have to start all over again.

You can also copy and paste the text of the post, and put it between {quote=username} and {/quote}, except with the {} replaced by []

I like the LM10, just not very keen about the price. I’m hoping it drops sometime later this year.

I recently installed an 18350 tube on an FW3A. The size difference is amazing. Makes for a great task light that has a big punch of lumens when you need it, plus all the bells+whistles of Anduril UI.

haha :person_facepalming:

> My Favorite EDC of 2020

Nitecore Piston Drive EX11.2