1

so i got my $10 ‘drop’ AAA light, the copper one

it is nice
works well
it did arrive quickly
==—— but the UI is weird

basically if you press quickly it is L/OFF/M/OFF/HIGH/OFF
it goes to the next mode unless you leave it ‘OFF’ more than about 5 sec
then it starts on “LOW”

i was expecting more of a lumintop style L/M/H/L/M/H
was i wrong?

isn;t it supposed to be a lumintop AAA tool??

wle

2

You can always use as a twisty once you click it on, makes for fast mode changes and no noise.
Tiny turn and you have lockout as well.

3

twisty - no way

i was just asking - i thought this was a lumintop tool but it apparently isn;t

wle

4

If it doesn’t say “Lumintop” on it, i can’t be a Lumintop AAA Tool. It’s just a lookalike made by some other company. So when it comes to function and quality, all bets are off.

5

Made by lumintop specially for drop.com

6

it works
i just don;t know why they would reinvent the wheel worse

wle

7

The same reason “They” had to screw with/effup/redo Willy Wonka, Flintstones. Batman, Dukes Of Hazzard, Shining, take your pic and add your own example.

However this electric tail thing has been around for quite a few years on the Bling lights, you just weren’t there for that or weren’t ready for it :slight_smile:
Anyway, for $10 you still got a cool light.
Peace Out

Keith

8

My Tool AAA (Titanium version) behaves how you describe your Drop light except the medium and low are switched and it defaults to medium. Do other Tool AAA work different than this?

9

I was surprised that wasn’t mentioned in the original thread. I wasn’t a huge fan of it and gave the light away. Once you are use to it you can get through the modes pretty quick, you just have to remind yourself it double clicks to cycle through the modes. I also found Mid and High to be too similar in brightness. Don’t know if the latest ones have the same mode spacing or not. Maratac’s copper AAA seems to share that same problem. I can live with the Maratac though as it’s a twisty and I like AAA twisty’s. Well as far as AAA lights go anyway.

My favorite key chain light for a while was the Astrolux A01, little AAA twisty, hope I got that model number right. Anyway, that little light was proper mental. You never knew what mode it was coming on in nor when you may get to see the strobe mode or not. Completely unpredictable, so much so that I was addicted to fiddling with it all the time, just to see if I could get to operate the same way twice in a row. Eventually I just got use to never being quite sure what it was going to do next. I had to keep it. I had too much time invested in trying to understand it.

Keep the little AAA Lumintop with the goofy UI. You might end up hating to love it and never part with it.

10

I’ve had the titanium version from massdrop for a couple years almost. It has the electric tail cap, and I prefer it to my regular tool, because it never comes on in my pocket, no lockout needed, as well as being a little smoother around the edges. I also prefer LMH, and rarely ever use anything other than low. The Lumintop titanium tool does have the same tailcap, which is what makes them behave this way, requiring it to be switched off and on to change modes. The driver sees the interruption of power the same way as half clicking a reverse clicky switch. They put a nice nichia in their lights, and they are made by Lumintop. Probably should order myself one in copper…

11

good point
I guess that was the elephant in the living room
that everyone forgot to mention

I did, but it was easy to miss

SKV89 wrote: Does anyone know how the UI works? How do you turn on and off, how do you change modes? I hope it is not click and hold to turn on/off.

jon_slider wrote:
click on, click off
to change modes there is NO half press on the eSwitch models, you just turn off and back on to change modes

.
…

In a way, I think the eSwitch acts a lot like a twisty switch. (no half presses)

to advance modes you click twice (off then on again)
the fist click is like untwisting (off)
the scond click is like twisting the head tight again (on)

I agree its definitely different than the clicky tool that has half presses available to advance modes, although it will also advance with double click (off/on)…

anyway… the eSwitch grew on me, and now my maratac head is on my eSwitch tool body
because I like MLH

yes
drop tools are LMH
lumintop builds theirs MLH
a skilled modder can reverse the order by moving two little things on this board:
pic is a link to more info

the reylight head is LMH, the Maratac is MLH, the bodies are switched, the reylight was the first copper tool, it was a clicky LMH… the eSwitch first came out on the Ti Tools, both LMH and MLH versions exist…

Lumintop also makes the LMH Prometheus Beta, and the electronics for the Synergy Frelux. Each special order gives the bulk buyer an opportunity to request a mode sequence of their preference…

.
.
the copper tool w eSwitch is the culmination of several generations of Tools… it is a beautiful host, that benefits from an LED swap and whose lowest mode can also be made lower, by a skilled modder… as described in the link that the driver photo goes to

I also own several copper maratacs with different Nichias, and those heads work on the Tool body w eSwitch very nicely

I will confess that I sold the first TiTool I bought… I did not like the hot brass ring at the head, and I did not love the tiny eSwitch… but, it tailstands, and it has a nicer keyring attachment than the Tool w Mechanical clicky…

about pocket activation
ime the eSwitch turns on in pocket more easily than the mechanical switch
the Cu Tool can be locked out by untwisting the head (not the tail) half a turn
if you do that from On, and put the light away
then the next time you use the light a twist will turn the light On again, on its default mode (no memory on drop tools… the latest lumintop aaa tools, the ones with TIR, have memory)

12

yes
i have a 2 or so year old black one

it does M/H/L, starts on M, no memory, then long press for off
not L/OFF/M/OFF/HIGH/OFF

turns out i like it now
the advantage is it faster to turn off
and cycling through the modes is reasonable, just 2 really fast clicks
basically everything is a fast click, and turning off is super fast

wle

13

weird
I have never heard of a Tool with a long press for off… are you sure you did not make a mistake?

glad you are enjoying your eSwitch now. I agree it is easy to double click to advance modes, (also no long press for off)

14

i think you are right, the ‘real’ tool AAA has a click for off, a half click to advance modes

wle

15

I agree the Lumintop version of the Tool that uses a Mechanical clicky has the option to half press to advance modes. It also advances by double click from On (same as the eSwitch).

I personally prefer the eSwitch. I dont like half presses, I often get them wrong.
And fwiw, the New Tool w Tir has a terrible mechanical clicky, whose half press gives a flash of bright light before switching modes… Plus that light has memory, which I do not enjoy. I prefer the Drop Tool w eSwitch, by far.

16

I had a copper Massdrop one in hand briefly (had to do an exchange as they sent wrong LED) and was really impressed by how silent the ewitch was, especially compared to the regular Tool switch.

17

it;s really a great switch
well recessed but still ‘feelable’
nice chrome finish
very short travel, silent but still a definite click for feedback

wle

18

Just to update the resistor mod for changing low and med resistors. Changing them around on the Lumintop aaa tool, (not Drop aaa tool) does not work. You will end up with low,low, and high. This is for the Lumintop version that has med, low, high in that order. I think the reason is that in med the current runs just thru the med resistor (1 ohm) so changing it to a higher resistance (10 ohm or higher) gives you a low in the first mod. But when you click on off for the next mode which is original low mode, now the current switches to run thru original low resistor first which is in series with the med resistor to the led. Now the current is running thru both resistors and is low also. I havent probed around with the circuit actually running but in my lumen tube both modes (med and low) produce about the same lumens with the resistors switched around. I think this could probably be fixed by cutting the traces to the fet’s gate and rearranging them. I havent tested that yet but when the mode contoller or mcu (not sure which it is) says turn on med first instead it turns on low fet and when it cycles to next mode it says turn on low fet and it would turn on med fet. No resistors would have to be changed. Its just a matter of fouling the controller in which fet to turn on. If anyone happens to try this please post up your findings. This will probably not be easy to do since its so tiny, so try at your own risk.
.
Please note this is for the original Lumintop AAA tool not the Drop tool being discussed in this thread. They are the same except mode order. Changing the low resistor to a higher value still gives you a lower low in either version of the tool.
.
Oops, I posted this in the wrong thread but it does have info some might see useful so I’ll leave it here unless its unwanted.

19

thanks for that info

Im glad you made me aware that swapping the position of the resistors does not change the mode order… very helpful