Fireclaw18
Flashlight Enthusiast
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2011
- Messages
- 2,408
I just received my order of two FW3As. Here's a picture of an FW3A (right) next to my modded Emisar D4 (left):
The FW3A is a compact single 18650 EDC light. This was a project made by Lumintop with assistance from members of BLF and TLF. It uses a standard 20mm Carclo triple-TIR optic and 20mm triple star. It has an e-switch driver with Toykeeper's Anduril firmware and a tailcap electronic switch.
Compared to other small triples on the market, the most unusual feature is the tailcap e-switch with metal switch button. The contact for the eswitch is a narrow tube that sits inside the battery compartment. This is the same method of e-switch contact as used by Liteflux in their classic LF2XT, except that the insulation for the inner tube is anodizing instead of the LF2XT's separate plastic tube.
The FW3A uses a 3-channel linear driver Fet+8+1 driver. This is simiilar to but a bit more efficient than the Emisar D4's 2-channel Fet+1 driver. I have not way to measure the peak output, but since my version has a FET and 3x XPL HI 3D, I expect around 3000 lumens max is about right.
The exterior of the light is clean with no heatsink fins. Because of this, I expect runtime at max turbo to be quite short.
My initial impressions:
* Looks beautiful and feels great in the hand. Though as expected it does not feel as secure in the hand as my white D4. This is because the D4 has slightly gritty grippier anodizing and a side switch.
* Very clean looking design with no logos. The bare switch looks great.
* Length: 92 mm. Same length as my white aluminum Emisar D4, but slightly thinner at the head and body tube. Tailcap is about the same thickness as a D4 tailcap. The short length puts this in the "ultracompact" category of 18650 light.
* Weight including battery is 98g compared to 112g for my white Emisar D4 (NOTE: my D4 is modded to include a metal switchboot and a Lexel lighted bezel board so might be slightly different from stock weight).
* Tailcap e-switch has a nice positive click.
* No glue. Tailcap and front bezel can both be unscrewed by hand. No tools needed. I haven't completely removed it yet, but it looks like changing the emitter does not require removal of a pill or driver. Instead you just unscrew the top portion of the bezel, remove the optic and have direct access to the star.
* Tint appears to indeed be 5000K. I'll likely fix that tonight on one of them via an emitter swap.
* Dark Grey anodizing looks well done. Looks like the anodizing on a grey Emisar D4. I don't expect that the anodizing is as durable or as thick as that on a Zebralight, but on the other hand this light cost less than half the cost of a comparable sized Zebralight.
* I have not tried to remove the clip. Previously I used to always remove clips, but now I sometimes keep them on to serve as antiroll devices. Given that the tailcap is not glued I expect clip remove would be easy.
* The clip is not deep carry, but it has adequate spring tension and the body tube is nicely contoured around it. It is fairly easy to insert this clip into the pocket of a pair of pants.
* The clip touches the body tube just before the head. The head does NOT grind against the clip when changing the battery.
* Since this light uses a standard Carclo triple TIR optic, I suspect Lexel could make a nice aux bezel board for it. However, TK mentioned that there isn't an available pin to control it so it might have to be wired in the "always on" configuration.
Kudos to the development team. Nice to see this project come together.
The FW3A is a compact single 18650 EDC light. This was a project made by Lumintop with assistance from members of BLF and TLF. It uses a standard 20mm Carclo triple-TIR optic and 20mm triple star. It has an e-switch driver with Toykeeper's Anduril firmware and a tailcap electronic switch.
Compared to other small triples on the market, the most unusual feature is the tailcap e-switch with metal switch button. The contact for the eswitch is a narrow tube that sits inside the battery compartment. This is the same method of e-switch contact as used by Liteflux in their classic LF2XT, except that the insulation for the inner tube is anodizing instead of the LF2XT's separate plastic tube.
The FW3A uses a 3-channel linear driver Fet+8+1 driver. This is simiilar to but a bit more efficient than the Emisar D4's 2-channel Fet+1 driver. I have not way to measure the peak output, but since my version has a FET and 3x XPL HI 3D, I expect around 3000 lumens max is about right.
The exterior of the light is clean with no heatsink fins. Because of this, I expect runtime at max turbo to be quite short.
My initial impressions:
* Looks beautiful and feels great in the hand. Though as expected it does not feel as secure in the hand as my white D4. This is because the D4 has slightly gritty grippier anodizing and a side switch.
* Very clean looking design with no logos. The bare switch looks great.
* Length: 92 mm. Same length as my white aluminum Emisar D4, but slightly thinner at the head and body tube. Tailcap is about the same thickness as a D4 tailcap. The short length puts this in the "ultracompact" category of 18650 light.
* Weight including battery is 98g compared to 112g for my white Emisar D4 (NOTE: my D4 is modded to include a metal switchboot and a Lexel lighted bezel board so might be slightly different from stock weight).
* Tailcap e-switch has a nice positive click.
* No glue. Tailcap and front bezel can both be unscrewed by hand. No tools needed. I haven't completely removed it yet, but it looks like changing the emitter does not require removal of a pill or driver. Instead you just unscrew the top portion of the bezel, remove the optic and have direct access to the star.
* Tint appears to indeed be 5000K. I'll likely fix that tonight on one of them via an emitter swap.
* Dark Grey anodizing looks well done. Looks like the anodizing on a grey Emisar D4. I don't expect that the anodizing is as durable or as thick as that on a Zebralight, but on the other hand this light cost less than half the cost of a comparable sized Zebralight.
* I have not tried to remove the clip. Previously I used to always remove clips, but now I sometimes keep them on to serve as antiroll devices. Given that the tailcap is not glued I expect clip remove would be easy.
* The clip is not deep carry, but it has adequate spring tension and the body tube is nicely contoured around it. It is fairly easy to insert this clip into the pocket of a pair of pants.
* The clip touches the body tube just before the head. The head does NOT grind against the clip when changing the battery.
* Since this light uses a standard Carclo triple TIR optic, I suspect Lexel could make a nice aux bezel board for it. However, TK mentioned that there isn't an available pin to control it so it might have to be wired in the "always on" configuration.
Kudos to the development team. Nice to see this project come together.
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