[Review] 10,000 Lumens!!! - Lumintop FW21 Pro
- Thread starter Chicken Drumstick
- Start date
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BigBen
Newly Enlightened
Thank you for posting this, it's very helpful (to me anyway). LOL....
idleprocess
Flashaholic
I've been on the fence about this light ever since I learned of its existence. Flood is a desirable trait for me - I live in the suburbs, work a desk job, and rarely need to light up more than 20 meters with the overwhelming majority of my usage being < 5 meters. My throwers are reserved for trips to my folks' house in the country - and even then the sightlines are limited to <200m
The 10k lumen output is indeed a party trick. The appeal for me would be the ability to sustain more output than the D4 and FW3A since I find their turbo modes useful, but they only last about ten seconds. I don't necessarily need the nominal ~4k / ~3k lumens that the D4 and FW3a peak at respectively, but it would be nice to sustain something akin to 1-2k lumens without the thermal throttling inherent to the modest heat-management capabilities of said platforms.
The Anduril UI is an appeal for me as well. I don't use ramping much and occasionally end up in a config menu on accident but otherwise do a 'set-and-forget' on the config and find the day-to-day UI easy to use.
My concern is that lovely/terrible tail switch. I have two FW3As - the first is reasonably reliable and requires minimal fiddling with the connections whenever the battery is swapped; the second (v2? it has the switch retaining ring unlike the other, 'first run' model) is less reliable and requires routine trial-and-error adjustment after battery swaps or sometimes for no reason at all. Has Lumentop managed to address this problem that seems to plague earlier iterations of the FW* platform?
The 10k lumen output is indeed a party trick. The appeal for me would be the ability to sustain more output than the D4 and FW3A since I find their turbo modes useful, but they only last about ten seconds. I don't necessarily need the nominal ~4k / ~3k lumens that the D4 and FW3a peak at respectively, but it would be nice to sustain something akin to 1-2k lumens without the thermal throttling inherent to the modest heat-management capabilities of said platforms.
The Anduril UI is an appeal for me as well. I don't use ramping much and occasionally end up in a config menu on accident but otherwise do a 'set-and-forget' on the config and find the day-to-day UI easy to use.
My concern is that lovely/terrible tail switch. I have two FW3As - the first is reasonably reliable and requires minimal fiddling with the connections whenever the battery is swapped; the second (v2? it has the switch retaining ring unlike the other, 'first run' model) is less reliable and requires routine trial-and-error adjustment after battery swaps or sometimes for no reason at all. Has Lumentop managed to address this problem that seems to plague earlier iterations of the FW* platform?
WalkIntoTheLight
Flashlight Enthusiast
The problem is that the FW* is just a bad design for a budget light. The manufacturing tolerances need to be much tighter than what they are, and that's not going to happen unless they increase the price. It's a very nice looking light, but very impractical, especially for EDC.
idleprocess
Flashaholic
I suspect there's a cheap-ish design tweak vis-à-vis a spring (i.e. a wave washer) which would remove the need to fit the inner tube to line tolerance. I imagine objections to that approach along the lines of "the present design is just good enough" and "a wave washer introduces a retention problem".
My interest in the FW21 isn't for EDC.
Chicken Drumstick
Flashlight Enthusiast
I've not had a single issue with the switch or flickering. You actually have to remove the head to swap batteries. So need to remember to put them in the right way round
The instructions say not to remove the tail cap. I have and you can't actually remove the battery from that end. The tube has a lip that prevents it. Btw despite the instructions saying not to remove the tail cap. There is an included lanyard ring to replace the pocket clip. Which you need to remove the tail cap to fit.
Chicken Drumstick
Flashlight Enthusiast
As said. I've personally not had a single issue with mine. It just works. It's just the beam profile that doesn't really suit me.
WalkIntoTheLight
Flashlight Enthusiast
I've had to fix a couple of potential issues with mine, but I haven't had it break or anything like that, either. But, that doesn't mean it's a reliable light. There's just too many complaints about it on various forums, most can be summed up by a poor design.
I don't regret buying it, but I wouldn't want to rely on it as my only light on a walk. Mine has mostly become a shelf queen.
Outdoorsman5
Flashlight Enthusiast
Great review Chicken. Thanks!
richbuff
Flashlight Enthusiast
I bought three FW21 Pro Vn and gave two of them to friends seven months ago; both of those and mine are all great, functioning flawlessly. Thank you for your review of this classy and classic light!
