FW3A Titanium Flashlight
Been looking for a new flashlight lately. The Prometheus Beta QV2 in Copper has served me well over the last couple of years, but I figured it’s probably time for me to try something new, and perhaps, with a slightly stronger output.
Just so happened that a new community designed flashlight, the FW3A has been released for a month or so, and many, many people were posting about them on reddit and the flashlight forums. The form factor and output of the light intrigues me.
A single 18650 battery light with up to 2800 lumen output, at 92 mm long and 26mm diameter at the head was something I would never imagine to be possible 5 years ago, but here it is, readily available to everyone at a very reasonable price.
After doing some research, I decided to get them from jku2017 on reddit, who offered to install aux lights and check for defects on the FW3A for a modest fee. About 10 days after the initial order, the flight arrived in my mailbox. (thanks for the fast shipping btw, jku2017 )
Built and Feature
I opted for a mix of Ice blue and pink aux led, which turned out looking great at night.
The light itself is tumbled Titanium finish, not the greatest material for a flashlight material in terms of weight and heat conductivity, but I like the look and feel of titanium in general.
I have the clip removed and tied some lanyard knots on it to keep the flashlight from rolling around and provide some extra grip.
The build of the flashlight is solid, with no rough or sharp edges when it’s held in the hand at any angle.
The threading on tail cap is a bit rough, while the threading on head units are much smoother. For something milled from titanium, it’s honestly not too bad, coming from prior experience dealing with worse threading on some other titanium purchases.
Both threading improved with some knife pivot lube,
The fit and finish on the knife is great while not being perfect. I can feel that the main head unit and the body is just slightly off centered and the transition between the body to knurling isn’t as smooth as it can get, but hey, for a titanium light that cost less than $100, $40 if you buy the aluminium version, the fitting is really good for its price point.
Here’s a beauty shot of the aux lighting.
it’s hard to so see the aux light in daylight, but they are fairly visible indoor and especially at night.
The aux lighting can be cycled between on, blink, and off.
unlock mode by clicking the switch 7 times while the light is unlock
locked mode by clicking the switch 3 times while the light is locked.
each mode has separate memory for aux light, I keep the Aux light on when the light is unlocked, and having the aux light blink when the light is locked.
The light is relatively floody with the default optic and SST-20 emitter
The lighting at 4000k is a bit on the warm side, but the color reproduction when I shine it on things at night is pretty good.
Below is a quick shot beam shot of the light .As you can see, the light is pretty evenly distributed, picture is taken at 8’ away, the diameter of the light pattern is about 2.5~3’ wide.
I can’t really show the actual color temperature of the light, since the phone has auto white balance, and everyone’s monitor is a bit different as well. but there are many other review out there that focused its lighting performance with actual equipment, so I’ll just leave it to the expert to do that.
Usage
The most common complain about this light I seem online is the Anduril UI.
I can’t speak of the older lights people received, but for the light I received at the beginning of October 2019, I find the UI while a bit complicated, but not difficult to learn and adapt once I have them in my hand.
from unlocked position,
one click to recall previous light level is easy to use.
two click from off for high output
Turbo mode is easy to get access to, (two click from on) with no chance of accidentally triggering it.
I don’t use the most of the lightning, candle, bike , party strobes, etc. but the chip has memory of your last strobe setting. I keep it at tactical strobe all the time in case I ever need it.
The turbo mode, like owner and reviewer stated, get REALLY, or rather, DANGEROUSLY hot in just a short time. DO NOT give this light to kids or people new to enthusiast flashlights without putting the light to muggle mode first.
Small Issues
How ever, the light isn’t perfect, but nor did I ever expect it to.
When I first got it, sometimes the button will refuse to work for no reason. Later on I found out it it’s due to loose tail cap. Loosen the tail cap and head, then tightening the tail cap really tight, then tighten the head will solve the issue with buttons not working.
The switch/button on the back may feel a bit rough if you didn’t press it from from and center of the switch. This is solve by adding a tiny amount of lubrication oil between the switch and its the flashlight buddy. Now it operates smoothly with no issue.
The older version has issue with the button assembly coming apart when the tailcap is unscrewed, but fortunately with the new version, a retention ring has been added to ensure that won’t happen during normal operations.
Final Thought
Overall, I really like this light. If you are not looking for exotic material or special built, ~$40 for the aluminium version of this light is really good given its size and output.
However, due to its usage of unprotected 18650 battery, a bit complicated UI, and tendency to heat up, I would not give this light to others as a gift or as recommendation to newbies.
Here’s hoping that some custom light makers will pick up this compact format and produce something similar in size and uses a 18650 battery.
