FireWolfUSA FM10 Review

I was sent this FireWolfUSA FM10 from FireWolf to do a review.





Uses Type III Hard Anodizing black. Excellent matching of anodizing in the various parts.

The machining on the FM10 is excellent. The battery tube has a slight sprial knurling. I have never seen this type of knurling and I like it. The knurling is "aggresive" so it grips very good.

The threads are very smooth. The front of the battery tube has 2 o-rings the tail has one.

The FireWolfUSA FM10 uses a Cree Q5.

The FM10 uses a SMO reflector so you should expect the typical Cree rings. The tint on this light is white. I would say this a medium thrower light.





The lens bezel can be unscrewed.





The reflector screws onto the Cree module.









2 o-rings located on the front of the battery tube.



1 o-ring located on the back of the battery tube.



This is where the +ve battery makes contact. Uses 2CR123's or 1 18650 sized batttery.



The rear switch is a reverse clickie. Very easy to push. Uses variable brightness. PWM is detected at the lowest setting.

Once you click the FM10 on hold down the rear switch until the desired level is selected. Release the rear clickie and the light will stay on that level. In this mode you can press the rear switch and hold and the light FM10 will either drop to low then back to high. The light always goes from high to low then back to high. If you shut off the FM10 and turn back on it reverts back to high.

Turning on high and releasing your finger off the rear clickie the FM10 will lock into high. You cannot get into the variable mode. The FM10 will stay on high.

Double click the rear clickie gets you into strobe.

The FireWolfUSA FM10 does not remember it's last mode when selected off.

The UI (user's interface) is almost similar to the FireWolfUSA FMA26 except the FMA26 was a forward clickie.



Inside view of the reverse rear clickie.



The FireWolfUSA FM10 can tailstand.



Excellent printing on the FM10.





The FireWolfUSA FM10 feels well balanced in my hand.






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These are the batteries I used in the lux readings.

Left, AW's 2200mAh rechargeable Li-ion. Right, Rayovac Lithium Photo 123A 3.0V




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FireWolfUSA FM10 2 Rayovac Lithium Photo 123A 3.0V - 6600 lux @ 1 meter

FireWolfUSA FM10 1 AW's 2200mAh rechargeable Li-ion - 4700 lux @ 1 meter


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FireWolfUSA FM10 1 AW's 2200mAh rechargeable Li-ion @ 96"



FireWolfUSA FM10 2 Rayovac Lithium Photo 123A 3.0V @ 32'



FireWolfUSA FM10 1 AW's 2200mAh rechargeable Li-ion @ 32'



FireWolfUSA FM10 2 Rayovac Lithium Photo 123A 3.0V @ 32' Stepped down exposure



FireWolfUSA FM10 1 AW's 2200mAh rechargeable Li-ion @ 32' Stepped down exposure




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This is a very nice light from FireWolfUSA. It's a lot more "refined" from the CPF evaluation model I purchased from Amazon. The other model was the FireWolfUSA FMA26. The FMA26 used a "dedicated" 18650. The FM10 can use any 18650 sized battery or 2 CR123 batteries.

Left, FireWolfUSA FM10. Right, FireWolfUSA FMA26



Left, FireWolfUSA FM10. Right, FireWolfUSA FMA26



The FireWolfUSA FM10 has a better feeling switch when you press it.

The knurling is much more better. Aggresive.

It's brighter and has a better tint.



I don't know if extra o-rings, rear switch cover, lanyard or holster will be offered.

I don't think the FireWolfUSA FM10 can use 2RCR 123's but I guess FireWolfUSA will let us know.

I don't know the run times. I don't have enough time to check the run times.


Pros

Excellent build quality

Knurling

Variable brightness

Tint of beam

Feel well balanced

Overall design +


Cons

Does not remember it's last level of light when selected off

PWM detected at the lowest setting

This is a comparsion of the FireWolfUSA FM10 SMO vs Olight M20 Warrior SMO.

Left, FireWolfUSA FM10 SMO. Right, Olight M20 Warrior R2 WH SMO



Left, FireWolfUSA FM10 SMO. Right, Olight M20 Warrior R2 WH SMO




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Both lights are using freshly charged AW's 2200mAh rechargeable Li-ion.


FireWolfUSA FM10 SMO, 1 AW's 2200mAh rechargeable Li-ion 4700 lux @ 1 meter

Olight M20 Warrior R2 WH SMO, 1 AW's 2200mAh rechargeable Li-ion - 8380 lux @ 1 meter


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Left, FireWolfUSA FM10 SMO. Right, Olight M20 Warrior R2 WH SMO @ 96"



Left, FireWolfUSA FM10 SMO. Right, Olight M20 Warrior R2 WH SMO @ 96" Stepped down exposure



FireWolfUSA FM10 SMO @ 32'



Olight M20 Warrior R2 WH SMO @ 32'



FireWolfUSA FM10 SMO @ 32' Stepped down exposure



Olight M20 Warrior R2 WH SMO @ 32' Stepped down exposure

Good Review, Ernie.

I also received a sample for review, but have limited time and daylight to take photos and do runtime for another week and a half.

I also have the FMA26, and I agree the "feel" is more refined. Anyone who has a Photon Proton would be familiar with the relatively "shiny" anodozing. The tailcap goes on and off very smooth, and the o-ring fit is just right.

As for the tail switch, my FM10 does not have a physical clicky switch. Although I have not done any disassembly, it feels like there is a momentary switch in there, and it's programmed to work like a reverse switch. My FMA26 has a two-stage momentary switch, which allows it to work like a forward clicky. The FM10 has only a single stage.

Try this, turn on the light, unscrew the tailcap, then screw it back in. Does the light come back on? Mine doesn't. In fact, if I bump the tailcap using a 18650, the light goes off. So I believe the on/off is programmed and runs off a momentary switch. Unfortunately, this leads to bump-off. I would suggest they use a spring on the (+) terminal if this light is to eliminate this condition, otherwise gun or bicycle mount is not advised. On the plus side, the button is very easy to push and the light tailstands. This makes it a very good light for around the house and for people with physical limitations.

The front end with polished bezel is especially appealing. Very jewel-like, I tried to capture it in a photo but the photo does it no justice.

It doesn't have a clip, but has very effective anti-roll.

When mine goes into adjustable mode with an 18650, it actually goes brighter for the first half a second. Does yours? Kinda cool actually. Your knurling seems to be "twisted", mine is quite straight.

I hope to go into more detail about the light in about a week and a half. For now, hopefully my contribution is a helpful.

Paul,

I tried unsrewing the tailcap with the light on and then rescrewing the tailcap. My light turns off but when I screw the tailcap back on I get the momentary flash for a second. I forgot to mention this in my review. I have to reclick the rear switch to turn the FM10 on.

If I bump the tailcap using a 18650 my FM10 will stay on. Is your 18650 on the short side?

Thanks for mentioning the anti-roll. I forgot to mention that feature.

My FM10 does not go brighter for the first half second when I use the adjustable mode.

I have a feeling the run time be good because of the lower lux reading I am getting. Hopefully you can do a run time.

I have to agree with you on the bezel, very shiny jewel like. I tried to take pictures of the bezel but it's very hard because I can get only one small section of it in focus.

Wow, nice hotspot..

This is a comparsion of the FireWolfUSA FM10 SMO vs Olight M20 Warrior SMO.
FireWolfUSA FM10 SMO.

Both lights are using freshly charged AW's 2200mAh rechargeable Li-ion.





Olight M20 Warrior R2 WH SMO @ 60'



FireWolfUSA FM10 SMO @ 146'



Olight M20 Warrior R2 WH SMO @ 146'

It's a Q5 at 210 Lumen's

Single, standard 18650 Bat - not included - 3.5 + Hour R/T


Sale is up at CPFMP

Only 25 units at this time for now.

SN# M10-1001-00045

I received mine today, very quick shipping. The light arrived in a bubble pack mailer. As I opened the mailer, the light was on and flickering inside. Strange, the M-10 was not to ship with batteries. Inside the light I found a blue ICR 18650, 2200mAh. Nothing else was in the package. Cool, I'll take an 18650 over lube any day. The down side of the freebie, see below, is that the flashlight had been "played with".

I turned the light off and looked into the reflector. I spotted some loose aluminum wisps, the kind you usually see come from stripped threads. Also noted was some debris in the shape of a curly que stuck to the reflector in a small section that was vapor deposited over.

Time to explore the source of the Al shards. I felt the grinding with the first twist of the head. Either poor machining, assembly, or previous 'testing' had caused damage to the threads. I spent a bit of time cleaning and re-lubricating the head. As you all know, there is really no way to clean a reflector. The best that I could do was to give it an alcohol bath to remove the shards and residue from them. The reflector is clean now but has a haze over the entire surface.

I like the way that the reflector screws onto the pill. While open, I ran the light and found the reflector does assist with thermal management. Look at Ensenada's photo showing how the reflector screws onto the pill. NOTE the widest section of bare Al in that photo next to the double O-rings. That is the pill. The bezel is secured to the body of the light through the pill by those very meager 2.5 turn threads. I am afraid that if the light is dropped, the bezel would break off due to this Achilles heel. A re-design is needed here.

Output is as described in other posts. The beam, output, shape, and spill can be directly comparable to a Fenix TK-11.Ceiling bounce of both lights is 31. The color is excellent!!!!!!! Very white. I agree with previous posts regarding the good over all aesthetics of the light. The ramp speed does need to be slowed down. The driver has a difficult time at the lowest setting. The LED pulses and flickers. Comparing against the Ra, I'll say that low is near .25-.33 lumens. PWM is there but it is no where near as slow as the M30 Triton.

To flood out the beam I tried Wright Rite (textured film) and clear contact paper. I settled on a layer of contact paper on both the front and back of the lens. Beam profile was improved however output suffered. Bounce test output 24. I will re-think the film. A heavy or medium OP reflector is needed.

I hope that our impressions will assist the manufacture with the design.

MrMom

This light failed before I had the chance to put it to the real world test. The Ra and Surefire LX2 carried me through many dark evenings in the desert.

One is none!

Everything here is identical to the Solarforce Skyline II. Knurling, reflector, led assambly, driver.................only the body shape is a little different.

that heatsink is screaming for an NW T5 XM-L emitter