idleprocess
Flashaholic
I've had the FW3A in my hands for about a week and it's become my favorite flashlight. Thought I'd share my impressions along with a few photos I took at my desk.
The TL;DR
The BLF/TLF FW3A is a well-crafted utilitarian flashlight that delivers performance and where it counts and polish on the inside – the UI that you’ll interact with. The similarities between the FW3A and the Emisar D4 are sufficiently strong that they are difficult to avoid.
The Unboxing Experience
In keeping with its nature, the FW3A is packaged plainly. A minimal brown sleeve over the box has an isometric line drawing of the light itself.
The box simply has the Lumintop logo on the exterior. Upon opening you will see the contents – the FW3A itself, the comprehensive instruction manual, 2 spare O-rings, and a supplementary instruction card stressing that one should only remove the head to change the cell.
Initial Impressions
The FW3A is an object crafted almost exclusively for its physical form as a “triple” 18650 flashlight with a tail switch. The housing is minimally machined to this end. 7 major pieces of metal form it – the bezel, the head, the outer and inner tubes, the clip, the tailcap, and the switch. Without the clip the exterior features of the light would have perfect radial symmetry – no flats, no axial grooves, no screenprinting. Relieved of tension from the tailcap, the clip can be oriented however one likes, although the temptation is likely to align it with the LEDs. The two spots of knurling are located where needed – on the head and the tailcap for assistance loosening and tightening the light during cell changes. The closest to adornment that the entire thing features is a radial groove at the top two-thirds position on the tailcap and a slight angle on the tailcap terminating at the base.
The Lumintop branded versions of the FW3A that are surely coming in the future will likely make cosmetic alterations to the design – the bunny logo will likely make an appearance on the tailcap at the very least.
One almost immediately learns the two intuitive ways to hold the light. The cigar hold will be more familiar to most with the body of the light between index and middle finger with the thumb against the tail. The tactical hold will also be intuitive – light held with all fingers curled around it, tailswitch against the thumb for easy on/off. The cigar hold will allow for more natural pointing but the tactical hold is more secure. It is of course possible to use the more conventional flashlight hold – essentially the opposite of the tactical hold – but manipulating the switch is an exercise left to the pinky finger.
The tailswitch has a pleasing audible and tactile click to it. There is a slightly different feel whenever one clicks off center, but I find that my thumb either naturally gravitates towards the center or the perceptible edge encourages application of force towards the center. You will quickly appreciate the feel of the switch since the UI depends on counting clicks quickly and accurately.
The clip has appreciable grip in my experience. It’s more like a pocket knife clip than most flashlight clips I’ve encountered – suitable for casual one-handed insertion into the likes of jeans pockets but too much grip for a T-shirt pocket. The contact point is just shy of the inflection point between body and head, thus the clip doesn’t interfere with head removal.
The beam pattern is a function of the optic – in this case a commodity Carclo 10511 which produces a relatively narrow spot with a relatively uniform hotspot and some falloff into what would be referred to as spill with a conventional reflector.
The UI
Like the Emisar lights, the UI on the FW3A is a variant of Narsil/Ramping OS – Anduril . Included with the light is a handy graphical flowchart and detailed instructions. It might be intimidating at first, but know that most of the complexity lies in one-time or occasional setup options that you’ll not be using routinely.
The UI : Daily Use
At its simplest, click once to turn on the light. Click and hold to adjust brightness up; click and hold again within ~1 second to adjust brightness down. Click once to turn the light off. Or if you prefer discrete light levels, turn the light on, click three times in succession then enjoy 7 levels of discrete output; triple-click again to revert to smooth ramping. Of course, both smooth ramping and stepped ramping are configurable for floor output level, peak output level, and (for stepped ramping) number of steps. Smooth ramping will have a just-perceptible blink in the middle of the range indicating a switch between regulated mode I to direct drive (high output / FET); this is completely normal and not at all indicative of malfunction.
Users of turbo modes will almost immediately notice that, like the Emisar D4, the FW3A gets hot and starts to ramp down output within seconds. Users should be aware that peak sustained output for the FW3A is apt to be in the region of 300 lumens due to its diminutive size – a limitation that the FW3A shares with all other lights in its general class – there’s only so much thermal mass to conduct the heat from the LEDs/driver and only so much surface area to convect the heat away.
A critical function for the FW3A – and really any high-output LED or Li-Ion powered light – is the lockout. Unlike Emisars, a simple physical lockout isn’t practical since the ground doesn’t break contact with a fractional turn of the body. From off, four quick clicks will enable lockout. If you at all put the FW3A it a pocket, bag, or anywhere else that it’s likely to be jostled or accidentally activated you will want to use the lockout lest you run down the battery, melt something – or worse start a fire – because the light activated and helpfully ramped to peak output dissipating >50W of heat somewhere you wanted no heat.
Knowing the cell voltage can also be handy. Three clicks from off will enter the “blinkies” mode – the first of which is a readout of the voltage. The light will blink a number of times, pause, blink another number of times, pause longer, then repeat. The first series of blinks is the first digit of the voltage, the second series is tenths of a volt; an extremely short pulse indicates a zero. 4 blinks followed by two blinks indicates a fully-charged li-ion cell at 4.2 volts, 3 blinks followed by 6 blinks indicates a cell at ~50% capacity of 3.6V, and 3 blinks followed by a pulse indicates a nearly-empty cell at 3.0V.
The UI : Configuration / non-daily use
The FW3A has numerous configuration options, however there is only one critical option to set – temperature calibration, something you will need to do when the light is at approximately ambient temperature. The temperature sensor on the microcontroller ships with a random calibration and is not calibrated by Lumintop prior to shipment, thus the firmware defaults to an extremely conservative setting to prevent any lights that badly under-sense the temperature from cooking themselves. To enter thermal config, click 3 times from off to enter blinky mode, then double click 3 times to scroll past voltage check, sunset, and beacon modes to thermal check. In temp check the light will blink out the temperature reading in degrees centigrade. Click the switch 4 times to enter thermal config; the light will begin strobing rapidly. Click N times for N degrees centigrade and wait for the light to blink twice. The light will again begin strobing – set the threshold temperature for N + 30 degrees centigrade by clicking N times (i.e. click 15 times for a 45C limit). Once the strobing ends the light will return to the temperature check blinky. Note that the UI is quite happy to let you set the temperature limit to a value capable of damaging the light, the driver, the li-ion cell, and even yourself; the factory default of 45C seems sensible.
The “Muggle mode” is helpful if you need to loan the flashlight to someone not familiar with the user interface and/or not experienced with compact high-output flashlights. Six clicks from off will enable this mode which restrict the output to approximately 300 lumens and limit the operation to on/of with ramping brightness control. Six rapid clicks with “Muggle mode” enabled will return to normal operation.
As for the other options - read the manual. In particular pay close attention to the use of subtraction for setting the ceiling on ramp configuration.
Care and Feeding
Like Emisar lights, The FW3A requires an unprotected high-current Li-ion cell since turbo mode essentially shorts the cell to the LED and only lets up once the thermal protection kicks in. The tight design parameters leave little room for button top-cells. Better peak current means higher peak brightness in turbo, but like all pocket rockets the FW3A can’t sustain turbo for long, thus higher-capacity cells with lower peak current ratings are likely a better choice. The Samsung 30Q is often mentioned – at 3Ah and 15A rated peak current it offers the benefit of long runtime over lesser-capacity cells with greater rated currents, however for the kind of short bursts of turbo the FW3A can manage, its far greater real peak current rating closer to 25A is advantageous.
It is worth noting that the FW3A’s electronic tailswitch can be finicky and the supplementary instruction card advising against disassembly should be heeded. There are two common issues with the first batch of lights that are easily remedied by the user. The first is the driver retaining ring is not consistently tightened – use of a jeweler’s screwdriver or any other instrument that can engage the notches in the retaining ring can be used to snug it down. The second is insufficient contact for the switch connection, typically solved by loosening the head, tightening the tailcap firmly, then tightening the head – something that is likely to need to be done regularly since the switch contact at both ends of the free-floating tube does not benefit from springs like the battery nor threaded surfaces accepting of a wide range of positions.
The optic can be swapped in seconds if so desired – for a few dollars each with shipping. Relative to the stock Carclo 10511, 10507 should offer best throw, 10508 more flood, 10509 even more flood, and the 10510 an elliptical spot.
If you must remove the tailcap for curiosity’s sake or if you just can’t live with the clip (which will introduce some possible issues with a visible gap and additional stress on the switch PCB), it is possible to disassemble the tailcap with some care. Note that by its nature the clip exerts some force against the tailcap and will deflect some ~5 degrees in the process of disassembly. Note that there is no retaining ring for the switch, thus it will fall out of the tailcap with slight provocation. Within the tailcap is the metal switch cover, a rubber boot with inset friction-fit “nib”, and the switch PCB. Do not lose the “nib” – the switch will not work without it! Within the body the inner tube should slide out relatively freely – note that it is directional with a flange at the switch end and a small white O-ring that resides within a groove at the base of the flange. The clip has a similar O-ring that sits between its ring and the tailcap, and helpfully wedges itself into position due to spring tension against its retaining ring.
The TL;DR
The BLF/TLF FW3A is a well-crafted utilitarian flashlight that delivers performance and where it counts and polish on the inside – the UI that you’ll interact with. The similarities between the FW3A and the Emisar D4 are sufficiently strong that they are difficult to avoid.
The Unboxing Experience
In keeping with its nature, the FW3A is packaged plainly. A minimal brown sleeve over the box has an isometric line drawing of the light itself.
The box simply has the Lumintop logo on the exterior. Upon opening you will see the contents – the FW3A itself, the comprehensive instruction manual, 2 spare O-rings, and a supplementary instruction card stressing that one should only remove the head to change the cell.
Initial Impressions
The FW3A is an object crafted almost exclusively for its physical form as a “triple” 18650 flashlight with a tail switch. The housing is minimally machined to this end. 7 major pieces of metal form it – the bezel, the head, the outer and inner tubes, the clip, the tailcap, and the switch. Without the clip the exterior features of the light would have perfect radial symmetry – no flats, no axial grooves, no screenprinting. Relieved of tension from the tailcap, the clip can be oriented however one likes, although the temptation is likely to align it with the LEDs. The two spots of knurling are located where needed – on the head and the tailcap for assistance loosening and tightening the light during cell changes. The closest to adornment that the entire thing features is a radial groove at the top two-thirds position on the tailcap and a slight angle on the tailcap terminating at the base.
The Lumintop branded versions of the FW3A that are surely coming in the future will likely make cosmetic alterations to the design – the bunny logo will likely make an appearance on the tailcap at the very least.
One almost immediately learns the two intuitive ways to hold the light. The cigar hold will be more familiar to most with the body of the light between index and middle finger with the thumb against the tail. The tactical hold will also be intuitive – light held with all fingers curled around it, tailswitch against the thumb for easy on/off. The cigar hold will allow for more natural pointing but the tactical hold is more secure. It is of course possible to use the more conventional flashlight hold – essentially the opposite of the tactical hold – but manipulating the switch is an exercise left to the pinky finger.
The tailswitch has a pleasing audible and tactile click to it. There is a slightly different feel whenever one clicks off center, but I find that my thumb either naturally gravitates towards the center or the perceptible edge encourages application of force towards the center. You will quickly appreciate the feel of the switch since the UI depends on counting clicks quickly and accurately.
The clip has appreciable grip in my experience. It’s more like a pocket knife clip than most flashlight clips I’ve encountered – suitable for casual one-handed insertion into the likes of jeans pockets but too much grip for a T-shirt pocket. The contact point is just shy of the inflection point between body and head, thus the clip doesn’t interfere with head removal.
The beam pattern is a function of the optic – in this case a commodity Carclo 10511 which produces a relatively narrow spot with a relatively uniform hotspot and some falloff into what would be referred to as spill with a conventional reflector.
The UI
Like the Emisar lights, the UI on the FW3A is a variant of Narsil/Ramping OS – Anduril . Included with the light is a handy graphical flowchart and detailed instructions. It might be intimidating at first, but know that most of the complexity lies in one-time or occasional setup options that you’ll not be using routinely.
The UI : Daily Use
At its simplest, click once to turn on the light. Click and hold to adjust brightness up; click and hold again within ~1 second to adjust brightness down. Click once to turn the light off. Or if you prefer discrete light levels, turn the light on, click three times in succession then enjoy 7 levels of discrete output; triple-click again to revert to smooth ramping. Of course, both smooth ramping and stepped ramping are configurable for floor output level, peak output level, and (for stepped ramping) number of steps. Smooth ramping will have a just-perceptible blink in the middle of the range indicating a switch between regulated mode I to direct drive (high output / FET); this is completely normal and not at all indicative of malfunction.
Users of turbo modes will almost immediately notice that, like the Emisar D4, the FW3A gets hot and starts to ramp down output within seconds. Users should be aware that peak sustained output for the FW3A is apt to be in the region of 300 lumens due to its diminutive size – a limitation that the FW3A shares with all other lights in its general class – there’s only so much thermal mass to conduct the heat from the LEDs/driver and only so much surface area to convect the heat away.
A critical function for the FW3A – and really any high-output LED or Li-Ion powered light – is the lockout. Unlike Emisars, a simple physical lockout isn’t practical since the ground doesn’t break contact with a fractional turn of the body. From off, four quick clicks will enable lockout. If you at all put the FW3A it a pocket, bag, or anywhere else that it’s likely to be jostled or accidentally activated you will want to use the lockout lest you run down the battery, melt something – or worse start a fire – because the light activated and helpfully ramped to peak output dissipating >50W of heat somewhere you wanted no heat.
Knowing the cell voltage can also be handy. Three clicks from off will enter the “blinkies” mode – the first of which is a readout of the voltage. The light will blink a number of times, pause, blink another number of times, pause longer, then repeat. The first series of blinks is the first digit of the voltage, the second series is tenths of a volt; an extremely short pulse indicates a zero. 4 blinks followed by two blinks indicates a fully-charged li-ion cell at 4.2 volts, 3 blinks followed by 6 blinks indicates a cell at ~50% capacity of 3.6V, and 3 blinks followed by a pulse indicates a nearly-empty cell at 3.0V.
The UI : Configuration / non-daily use
The FW3A has numerous configuration options, however there is only one critical option to set – temperature calibration, something you will need to do when the light is at approximately ambient temperature. The temperature sensor on the microcontroller ships with a random calibration and is not calibrated by Lumintop prior to shipment, thus the firmware defaults to an extremely conservative setting to prevent any lights that badly under-sense the temperature from cooking themselves. To enter thermal config, click 3 times from off to enter blinky mode, then double click 3 times to scroll past voltage check, sunset, and beacon modes to thermal check. In temp check the light will blink out the temperature reading in degrees centigrade. Click the switch 4 times to enter thermal config; the light will begin strobing rapidly. Click N times for N degrees centigrade and wait for the light to blink twice. The light will again begin strobing – set the threshold temperature for N + 30 degrees centigrade by clicking N times (i.e. click 15 times for a 45C limit). Once the strobing ends the light will return to the temperature check blinky. Note that the UI is quite happy to let you set the temperature limit to a value capable of damaging the light, the driver, the li-ion cell, and even yourself; the factory default of 45C seems sensible.
The “Muggle mode” is helpful if you need to loan the flashlight to someone not familiar with the user interface and/or not experienced with compact high-output flashlights. Six clicks from off will enable this mode which restrict the output to approximately 300 lumens and limit the operation to on/of with ramping brightness control. Six rapid clicks with “Muggle mode” enabled will return to normal operation.
As for the other options - read the manual. In particular pay close attention to the use of subtraction for setting the ceiling on ramp configuration.
Care and Feeding
Like Emisar lights, The FW3A requires an unprotected high-current Li-ion cell since turbo mode essentially shorts the cell to the LED and only lets up once the thermal protection kicks in. The tight design parameters leave little room for button top-cells. Better peak current means higher peak brightness in turbo, but like all pocket rockets the FW3A can’t sustain turbo for long, thus higher-capacity cells with lower peak current ratings are likely a better choice. The Samsung 30Q is often mentioned – at 3Ah and 15A rated peak current it offers the benefit of long runtime over lesser-capacity cells with greater rated currents, however for the kind of short bursts of turbo the FW3A can manage, its far greater real peak current rating closer to 25A is advantageous.
It is worth noting that the FW3A’s electronic tailswitch can be finicky and the supplementary instruction card advising against disassembly should be heeded. There are two common issues with the first batch of lights that are easily remedied by the user. The first is the driver retaining ring is not consistently tightened – use of a jeweler’s screwdriver or any other instrument that can engage the notches in the retaining ring can be used to snug it down. The second is insufficient contact for the switch connection, typically solved by loosening the head, tightening the tailcap firmly, then tightening the head – something that is likely to need to be done regularly since the switch contact at both ends of the free-floating tube does not benefit from springs like the battery nor threaded surfaces accepting of a wide range of positions.
The optic can be swapped in seconds if so desired – for a few dollars each with shipping. Relative to the stock Carclo 10511, 10507 should offer best throw, 10508 more flood, 10509 even more flood, and the 10510 an elliptical spot.
If you must remove the tailcap for curiosity’s sake or if you just can’t live with the clip (which will introduce some possible issues with a visible gap and additional stress on the switch PCB), it is possible to disassemble the tailcap with some care. Note that by its nature the clip exerts some force against the tailcap and will deflect some ~5 degrees in the process of disassembly. Note that there is no retaining ring for the switch, thus it will fall out of the tailcap with slight provocation. Within the tailcap is the metal switch cover, a rubber boot with inset friction-fit “nib”, and the switch PCB. Do not lose the “nib” – the switch will not work without it! Within the body the inner tube should slide out relatively freely – note that it is directional with a flange at the switch end and a small white O-ring that resides within a groove at the base of the flange. The clip has a similar O-ring that sits between its ring and the tailcap, and helpfully wedges itself into position due to spring tension against its retaining ring.
