Lumintop was looking for testers in the TLF. Sure, as a reviewer you cannot say no to that, so I volunteered and Lumintop chose me – many thanks at this point. I already own the big brother of this flashlight, a FW1A Pro, and I like it a lot after swapping in a LHP531. The FWAA promises to deliver good light quality even without an LED-swap, in a small format. A combination I tend to like!
All my reviews can be found on my website.
Disclaimer: Lumintop provided this light to me free of charge. This had no influence on the review.
All measurements were done using hobby-grade equipment, inaccuracies and deviations are therefore possible.
The flashlight is available in aluminum in gray and green and in copper – and according to the packaging also in titanium. You can buy it at Lumintop.eu.
The flashlight arrives in an inconspicuous, small, brown cardboard box. Apart from the color no further data is printed on it. Included are a lanyard, two spare-O-rings, a manual and a quality certificate. Unfortunately no battery is included.
The FWAA is a small flashlight in the 14500-format. The body is rotationally symmetric cylindrical and has a very ergonomic wasp waist, which is also suitable for the cigar grip.
A switch is recessed in the tail, tailstand is nevertheless easily possible. The switch provides good feedback, I had no accidental inputs. For an Anduril-flashlight this is important, because you want to hit the click sequences of the operating system reliably. Compared to the popular Wurkkos TS10 the switch has a bit more travel and requires a bit less force.
There is no charging option in the flashlight – with my batteries with a USB-C-port the flashlight made short work in turbo and mercilessly overloaded them. A 8-10A 14500 cell is therefore advisable. You can insert the battery by unscrewing the head, as well as the tailcap.
In the front sit, behind a small TIR, 3 Nichia 519A. The TIR is not covered by glass.
Reverse polarity of the battery could not harm the flashlight, low voltage protection is present. The latter however can be tricked. If you repeatedly activate the turbo with an empty battery, the flashlight pulls the battery even below 2,5V. So you should avoid that. Both in the front and in the tail the battery is spring loaded. Unfortunately there are no flashing pads in the flashlight to update the firmware
How small the flashlight really is only truly comes into its own in the hand. I find such small flashlights very fascinating, especially when they deliver as much output as the FWAA.
Trustfire L2 pro, Wurkkos TS10SG, Lumintop FWAA, Wurkkos TS10 TiCu, Acebeam TacAA
Without a battery, the light puts 34g on the scale. Since no battery is included, I can of course not specify it – keep that in mind if necessary when comparing with my other reviews, as I normally state the weight incl. battery.
The light is 75,5mm long and incl. clip maximum 24mm thick. Without clip it is 20,4mm diameter at the head.
Lanyard: The included lanyard is sturdy enough for the flashlight, but of simple make. It can only be attached to the clip – and there the hole for it is towards the tail end. Not my preferred mounting position for a lanyard.
Clip: The two way clip is not deep carry, the tailcap sticks out completely. It has good tension in both directions and also accommodates thicker trouser hems without problems.
Magnet: There is no magnet included.
(Jacket)pocket: Whether in the trouser pocket, the jacket pocket or a handbag, the flashlight is extremely inconspicuous due to its small size and minimal weight.
The light uses Anduril 2, albeit a somewhat older version. Normally I always try to summarize the UI in my own words, but that is difficult with Anduril. Therefore I refer to the diagram above.
The light arrives in Simple UI, if you want the full set of features you have to switch it to Advanced UI with 10H.
All measurements were done in my 30cm integrating sphere. The temperature was between 20 and 24°C. Additionally, an Opple Light Master III and a TASi TA636B lux meter were used. Please note that this is hobby equipment, so inaccuracies and deviations are possible!
The flashlight has an even beam profile, without a spot, but definitely directional. That fits very well for me with the small flashlight. There are no artifacts and as expected with the 519A the light quality is good.
Like many small flashlights the FWAA is more of a dragster, a small hotrod. In the truest sense of the word, because the small, lightweight flashlight gets hot quickly. The initial output is (also depending on the battery) incredible, the sustained output is okay depending on the temperature setting, but there you clearly notice the format of the flashlight. Without mass and with a smooth body it is difficult to sustain more output, therefore this should not be understood as a reproach to the flashlight, because physics also applies to Lumintop.
Yes, correct, over 2500lm! Sure, with a 10A-battery, sure, the flashlight gets extremely hot quickly. But just the fact that this is possible, I find extremely impressive! Zoomed in to the first 10 minutes:
In comparison you can see quite well that the flashlight is clearly brighter than the comparison lights in maximum output. Even a Wurkkos TS10 max with 18650 draws the short straw in terms of maximum possible output. In sustained output the flashlight takes nothing away from the Wurkkos TS10, the TS10SG is slightly higher – that is not surprising, the emitter of the SG is cold white and low CRI, thus significantly more efficient.
Please note that the output of the FWAA is mainly limited by the battery. The investment in a battery with 8-10A discharge rate is therefore worth it here, if you want to get the maximum out of it. I tested the flashlight with a USB-C-14500, which is rated at 4A, this one shuts off immediately. The batteries of the Wurkkos-flashlights work, but become noticeably warm and are almost certainly at the limit – the flashlight itself heats up slower with them and you sacrifice output.
The lowest level has an Anduril-untypical high default setting. It is at 20 out of 150 and is significantly brighter than e.g. that of the TS10. This can be set lower though. You do not quite reach the extremely low level of the TS10, but it should be more than enough to not blind yourself.
FWAA standard, TS10 - FFWAA 1/150, TS10
At one meter I measured 4290lx and thus a throw of 131m.
The 4000K-LEDs are worth mentioning. High CRI, neutral to minimally rosy, no large CCT-shift from low to high – others could take a leaf out of their book!
| Low | Turbo | |
|---|---|---|
| CCT | 3735 | 3857 |
| CRI | 97 | 98 |
| DUV | 0,000 | -0,003 |
More details regarding the measurements can be found here.
Flicker is in the green zone across the entire brightness range.
In the lowest step PWM is clearly visible with the camera, but with the naked eye I could not perceive it. As soon as you increase the brightness a bit, the distinct PWM disappears quite quickly. I suspect that the comparatively high minimum for an Anduril-flashlight is also due to this – if you went even lower, the PWM would also be perceptible to the eye.
For the beamshots I included all lights from the comparison pic. All are 14500-lights, but the Acebeam and the Trustfire are only comparable to a limited extent. Both are significantly larger and both are significantly more spot heavy than the three small lights. In addition, I have also included a Wurkkos TS10 max in the comparison. The FWAA indeed plays in this league, even though the TS10 max is powered by an 18650.
This time there are two series of beamshots. First my basementr, so that you can get an idea of the beam and the brightness. Capturing all lights really well is always difficult with such a mix of floody and throwy lights, but I did my best. As always, all settings are the same between the pictures.
So that you can also assess the close range and the color rendering, there is the second series. Taken from 1m distance, here too of course with the same settings and shot in direct succession.
If you like small hotrods, you are exactly right with this flashlight. Bright, hot, that was my first impression. After quite some time of testing I have to say however, that the flashlight often finds its way back into my trouser pocket. Sure, the size, especially the small diameter are an advantage there, but the clip also plays a role. It is, even if a piece of the flashlight sticks out and it is a two way clip which is actually unpopular with me, pretty good.
The sustained performance is easily enough for small everyday tasks, for a short time the flashlight can also get really bright! If you combine this with the great switch, you get a fancy small flashlight, which is an inconspicuous but useful companion from suit to cargo pants.
Only for Anduril-purists the flashlight is rather nothing – there are no flashing pads to upgrade the firmware on the driver and the used version is not the very newest one. That does not bother me, all functions important to me are included, but it is a bit of a pity.
It is nice that Lumintop has revived the flashlight. Since the TS10 is no longer available, there is now again a small, hot pocket flooder.