18650 EDC recommendations?

[Mgizler]

My vote goes to the Fw3a

 

[Mgizler]

I have been using The Fw3a as my primary edc for the last 5-6 months. It's fantastic and a solid light. Maybe the first ones had some quirks and quality control issues but mine has been nothing short of fantastic.

I use the 4 click lockout so it doesn't turn on in my pocket. And it's just become routine to take it out of lockout and put it back in when exiting or entering my pocket. It has the perfect balance of a low low and a crazy high to light up the entire back yard to see what's way down there. The extra modes are nice to have but I rarely use them. The light has been dropped, kicked, stepped on, gone through the washer and dryer... and it's still going strong. For 49$ it's a win for me. And this is coming from a huge HDS Fan. And everyone that I have lent the light to has ended up getting one.

Try it out. I think it will work great for you

 

[Fireclaw18]

I modded the switches in all my FW3A series lights. Bought a bag of 100 o-rings for a few $ on Ebay. The mod is simple: open up the tailcap, remove the plastic nubbin from the button boot, add o-ring between boot and switch. Reassemble. Entire mod just takes a few minutes to do.

With an o-ring installed in the switch, it becomes much stiffer.

My stiffest FW3A switch requires over 5.5 lbs of pressure to activate. Put another way, you could rest an entire BLF-GT with batteries installed on the switch and it still wouldn't be enough weight to activate it. With this mod, a light that had an overly sensitive switch becomes one where accidental pocket activation is tremendously unlikely. Lockout is no longer needed.

 

[chillinn]

IMO, Anduril seems to be designed more as a toy than a tool.

Toy? I strongly disagree. I think Andúril is better described as cutting edge, and, further, simply the most advanced UI the flashlight industry has ever seen, one step beyond Zebralight and just as good or better than HDS. Press and hold to ramp up from lowest to highest levels, from on, click and hold again or double click and hold to ramp down. From off, click once to memory level, or from off, double click to highest level and double click again to turbo. At any time while on, click and hold smoothly ramps brightness level up, and double click and hold smoothly ramps brightness level down. That is the meat of it. Pretty simple in operation once you get the hang of it, like riding a bike. I think Andúril is a well conceived UI considering there is only one button with which to work. And the Andúril source code is publicly available if you'd like to make any changes and roll your own UI.

I won't let you take away my tail clicky one mode lights, but having variety is better than everything being the same.

 

[Mgizler]

^^^^this! I couldn't agree moreb

 

[WalkIntoTheLight]

"Lightning mode" makes it a toy, IMO. "Candle mode" isn't much less of a toy, either. But, come on! Who needs a flashlight to simulate lightning?!?

Yes, I know you don't have to use it if you don't want to. But, one very annoying thing about anduril is that it's way too easy to get into a mode you don't want to. And also very easy to reprogram something accidentally.

If there was a way to turn off all the toys, and make it very difficult to turn them back on, I'd like it a lot more. No, "muggle mode" doesn't cut it, since it's basically "cripple mode" and too easy to turn off again. Not to mention, I don't really trust it, since that was the mode that caused the D4 v2 to self-destruct all by itself when you weren't around. Literally, it caused lights to melt. Bug is fixed, but what other dangerous bugs are there?

 

[chillinn]

If there was a way to turn off all the toys,

The blinkies are buried, WalkIntoTheLight. Simply, to avoid, from off, do not click, click, click and hold. That isn't difficult to avoid, and rather difficult to do accidentally. Instead, just click once for on to memory, and while on, click and hold to increase the brightness. Click for off. If you can come up with a better interface that suits you, design it, implement it, or have someone else implement it for you (if your design is worthy maybe even ToyKeeper would accommodate you), and flash it into firmware. Let's not pretend it is the end of the world when it is just a matter of personal taste. But I really think if you gave it time and patience, your grievances would evaporate.

 

[Mgizler]

The blinkies are buried, WalkIntoTheLight. Simply, to avoid, from off, do not click, click, click and hold. That isn't difficult to avoid, and rather difficult to do accidentally. Instead, just click once for on to memory, and while on, click and hold to increase the brightness. Click for off. If you can come up with a better interface that suits you, design it, implement it, or have someone else implement it for you (if your design is worthy maybe even ToyMaker would accommodate you), and flash it into firmware. Let's not pretend it is the end of the world when it is just a matter of personal taste. But I really think if you gave it time and patience, your grievances would evaporate.

I have to agree. I put this light off for a long time because of the software. My cousin picked up a d4v2 and I thought the Andruil was too gimmicky or me. Then I picked up an fw3a and was hesitant for a few days but just stuck with it. And like chillin says....it's quite difficult to "accidentally" put into the flash modes. I never go into them so when I try to, I have to think about it for a while. And remember how to do it.

The light just works so well and has enough options for everyone. I think you need to give it a go for a few weeks and then see how you feel. I love mine

 

[WalkIntoTheLight]

The blinkies are buried, WalkIntoTheLight. Simply, to avoid, from off, do not click, click, click and hold. That isn't difficult to avoid, and rather difficult to do accidentally. Instead, just click once for on to memory, and while on, click and hold to increase the brightness. Click for off. If you can come up with a better interface that suits you, design it, implement it, or have someone else implement it for you (if your design is worthy maybe even ToyKeeper would accommodate you), and flash it into firmware. Let's not pretend it is the end of the world when it is just a matter of personal taste. But I really think if you gave it time and patience, your grievances would evaporate.

I have several anduril lights. I've given them plenty of time. The toys aren't buried enough for me. A simple triple-click gets you into them. Flashing a new firmware is out of the question, since you need to have special equipment and take the driver mostly out of the light. I'm not going to do that.

No, it's not the end of the world. Where did I ever say that? What I am saying, is that it's not a good choice for a typical user that just wants a flashlight to work like a flashlight. Even the ramping is annoying, since it's waaaaay too easy to change the brightness when you turn on the light. And if you lend the light to someone that doesn't know how the ramping works, they end up with it either too bright or too dim. Yeah, I know there's stepping mode and you can change the high and low range with about a hundred clicks to make it a single-mode light, but it's just not user-friendly. Too much effort designing toys in it, and not enough thought put in to make it easy to use.

 

[wayben]

Versatility vs. ease of use. One always comes at the expense of the other. Off/on is pretty easy, but not very versatile. Anduril has more versatility than most people will ever use, which adds to the complication. Lots of lights out there at either end of the scale, but finding one with only the specific amount of versatility that you want is the tough part.

 

[WalkIntoTheLight]

Versatility vs. ease of use. One always comes at the expense of the other. Off/on is pretty easy, but not very versatile. Anduril has more versatility than most people will ever use, which adds to the complication. Lots of lights out there at either end of the scale, but finding one with only the specific amount of versatility that you want is the tough part.

That's fair. And, if anduril is the main interface you use regularly, it's probably fairly intuitive, and you know what to do if you get into a state you don't expect. I just don't think it's a good interface for a casual user, or if it's not the main light you use. I like Zebralight's interface, but I'd never recommend it for someone that hardly ever uses it. At best, they'd end up with a single-mode light if they didn't understand it (single click for on/off). Better than anduril, but still confusing.

For a simple interface that anybody can use, I still prefer click for low -> medium -> high -> off. Or even low -> high -> off.