Tag: Lumintop FW4A

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Meote FM1 Review (Dazzler or Dud?)

Meote is a new flashlight brand on the market a collaboration between Banggood and one of it’s affiliate marketers. It’s first light is the FM1 and it features quad LED, available in multiple tints, multi color auxiliary LED, an attractive exposed copper and black body and running an 18650 battery. Thanks to Banggood for sending me this light for review. Let’s see if their first light is a dazzler or a dud. 

 

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Packaging and Accessories

The packaging here is pretty nice. It’s a black retail hanging box that looks pretty sharp with a picture of the light on the fron. Inside the light is shipped with foam surrounding the light. Accessories that come with the light a nylon holster that’s branded with Meote’s logo, It clips on to your belt with a clip, and doesn’t have a d-ring. Other accessories include 2 o’rings and a simple manual. The print is very small and I would suggest just going to ToyKeepers website to get a larger copy of the Anduril manual. 

 

 

Construction & Build

There are 2 versions of this light. First is the version I have here with the LH351D LED (Other LED’s are available), coated copper head and Andruil firmware. There is then the aluminum alloy version with anodized accents (Blue and Green), with NarsilM firmware.  The version I have here is available with the black anodizing, blue or sand. 

 

This light is built a little differently than other lights, it takes design elements from the FW3A but puts it’s own larger spin on them. Starting at the tail the mechanical switch has a metal button with the Meote logo etched in. It’s a loud button, probably the loudest I have. Inside it features a dual spring but they are rather weak which causes the light to shut off if bumped moderately when on. Inside the body section there is an inner tube that’s not secured one either end. Threads are square cut, raw and a bit rough. 

Body section has some basic grooves cut into it. The body section doesn’t split where you think it should when lining up with the head, instead it’s just behind the copper part of the light. The head itself has a large outer copper sleeve with fins milled in. They are coated to prevent oxidation. On mine it seems to be missing an oring but there is a place milled for it. Inside there is an anodized aluminum large retaining ring holding the pill in. The bezel is aluminum and crenulated holding in the quad optic. 

 

It’s worth noting here that at least with my flat top, unprotected high drain VT6 battery, it’s very easy to bump the light and have it turn off. A stronger/longer tail sprint would fix this.

 

Size & Weight

I measured the length at 110mm, minimum diameter on the body at 21.4mm, and maximum diameter on the head at 30mm. I measured the weight with a Sony VTC6 battery at 185.5g. It’s not a light light.

Retention

The light does feature a reasonably deep pocket clip with large cap screws with a 3/32 hex head. Not typical of other flashlights. My clip was originally bent out from the body of the light and didn’t make contact. I was able to bend it back fairly easily as it’s soft steel. It also comes with a nylon case that’s decent. It has a clip on the rear instead of D-Ring.

 

LED & Beamshots

The FM1 is available with a number of LED’s, the one I have here is running Samsung LH351D at 5000k. I think it’s a bit warmer then that in my eyes and when compared with other lights. SST20 at 4000k and XPL-Hi at 6500k are also available. Meote claims the light produces 4980 lumens and that number is probably with the XPL-Hi LED’s but testing on BLF has said otherwise. I don’t have a current method I trust to accurately make a lumen claim myself.

Beam pattern has a decent amount of artifacts that you notice on the edges of the spill. I think it’s the crenulations that are causing most of this. Out of my D4 and FW4A it’s what I would consider the most undesirable beam shape. It’s mostly a floodly light and at a distance you don’t really notice a hot spot. 

There have been several reports of the driver on this light flickering during high output uses. My example doesn’t have that problem at least when I am running a Sony VTC6 battery. It’s worth noting here that at least with my flat top, unprotected high drain VT6 battery, it’s very easy to bump the front or back of the light and have it turn off. A stronger/longer tail sprint would fix this.

 

Heat and Runtime

No big surprises here in the heat and runtime category. It’s a quad LED light without a ton of thermal mass so Turbo output starts stepping down almost immediately and at 30 seconds it’s 3.5 times less light then when it started turbo. It does have active thermal regulation so we saw it step up and down slowly during the total 2 hour and 40 minute run time. Most of this was spent between 25%-40% relative output. FL1 was at 2 hrs and 32 minutes. Maximum heat I saw was 47C at the 12 minute mark. LVP came in at 3.02V.

UI

The Meote FM1 is using the Andril firmware we have gone over before with several other lights I have reviewed like the Lumintop FW3a, FW4a, FireFlies E07 and others so I will be brief. It provides the ability to run in a nice ramping mode, stepped mode, and has tons of extra features. Do seriously check out the diagram and practice with it so you use the light to the full potential if you decide to get one. I would also recommend doing a thermal config if you plan to use the light seriously. 

 

One thing some of the other lights I have reviewed have not had are the RGB auxiliary LED’s that this one does. You can adjust the brightness to low, high, or in a blinking color mode by 7 quick clicks when the main led are off. You can also adjust the color of the LED, with 7 click then hold from off. It can do static colors R, Y, G, C, B, V, W, rainbow which I have it in here, and volts mode which gives you a quick flash of the previous color then fades to the next. 

 

Pro’s

  • Use of the Samsung LH351D LED’s is nice
  • Exposed copper even though it’s coated
  • Auxiliary LED’s

 

Con’s

  • Internal Build quality 
  • Beam Pattern
  • Easy to bump and have the light turn off
  • Clip is easily bent

 

Conclusion

On paper I wanted to like ths light, It’s a little bigger than I typically want to EDC in the summer but I just liked the look of the exposed copper, it had a pretty good deep carry clip, high CRI LH351D led’s that are warmer, and aux LED’s are always fun too. So this had the potential to be a good light, but when I got my hands on it turned out to be a light I just didn’t enjoy very much. 

 

I have a hard time recommending this light. There are better options like the Lumintop FWXA series and Emmisar D4V2 for lights that do similar things. These don’t have the issues like this FM1 has, like a bump shuts the light off, the interior build quality, a flickering power issue some people on BLF have reported, a clip that’s not touching the body, and an undesirable beam shape. 

 

To me it feels more like a prototype than a finished product. A lot of these issues should have been caught during the development process and worked out before bringing it to market. Instead we are left with a light that just isn’t as good as it should have been.

 

Banggood is offering 20% off the Meote FM1 using https://ban.ggood.vip/Ugny and coupon code BGCP1PC

See Banggood’s other July Flashlight sales https://bit.ly/3jGzsSl

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Lumintop FW4A Review (3600 Lumens, Quad LED, Anduril UI)

Today I have yet another version of the Lumintop FW3A, this time with the FW4A with 4 LED’s in the head instead of 3. Output increases from 2800 lumens to 3600 lumens depending on the LED thats chosen. 

 

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Packaging

Packaging here is the same box as the FW3 came in but only with FW4A on it. LED tint is still a sticker on the side of the box. Inside the light is protected with foam. Accessories is the same too with the FW4A including a silicon GITD  diffuser that fits over the head of the light. 

 

Construction

The Lumintop FW4A is basically an FW3A with a slightly larger head. The tail, clip, and body tube are identical to the FW3A. I have no issues with the machining or build quality*. There does seem to be less options at least from Lumintop direct in colors or materials for the FW4A, but since it’s reusing so many parts you can mix and match anything from the body or tail cap with other variants to make your own look. In it’s stock form it’s made of aluminium and anodized in a gray slightly blue color. One difference I have noticed is the serial number is laser engraved on the tail, and the clip color is now silver on the FW4A, where it was more of a dark gray on the FW3A I have.

*The FW3A had a lot of reliability issues early on, It’s far from a perfect design in that regard. That said retaining rings have been added to the tail cap to keep it’s contents in place better, and hopefully improve the button issues. The head also has things same retaining ring. The inner body tube is still subject to some movement so it’s still best practice to only open the light from the front. If you run into trouble the Budget light forums are still the best place to go for “how to fix your light”. Most issues are fixable from what I have seen if you want to trouble shoot. My light had no issues and continues to be reliable. 

 

Size & Weight

I measured the length at 92.8mm, Minimum diameter on the body at 21.5mm, and maximum diameter on the head at 28.5mm. This is only a 3mm increase in the diameter of the head over the FW3A. I measured the weight with the battery and clip at 110.8g. That’s only 12.7g heavier then the aluminum FW3A I have. It’s 

Retention

Retention is decent but I wish the clip was deeper carry from the factory myself. The increase in size with the FW4A is negligible from the FW3A, and it’s less than many of the “custom” triple emitter lights I carry on a regular basis.

LED & Beamshots

The FW4A is available with many different emitter options, like much of the FWXX series of lights. My light here is running the Cree XP-L HI LED in cool white at 6500k, and while 6500k isn’t my favorite tint, the XP-L HI LED’s are not bad for a non high CRI option. With the XPL-HI Lumintop says you can get 3600 Lumens vs the FW3A 2600. Other LED tints that are available are the Luminus SST20 4000k  90 CRI producing about 2100 lumens. Nichia 219C at 4000k, and a Cree XP-L HI in a neutral 5000k tint. All LED options are mounted on a copper PCB to help with heat dissipation.

The beam with the FW4A is floody with a more soft focused hotter center. Mine here has the clear optic, but frosted is also available. The center is fairly round and has a small amount of tint shift in the middle. The outer spill is rather square in shape, almost star-like. I don’t notice it outside but notice it instead more close up when really looking. 

 

Beam with the diffuser

 

Heat & Runtime

I received a comment on my HL3A review that I really should calibrate my FWXX series lights before I do a heat and runtime test. While I still firmly believe that if this is necessary it’s something the factory should do (Or be burned into the firmware) I decided I would do my heat and runtime tests both uncalibrated and then calibrated just to see what the difference was. 

 

So my first test with with the light uncalibrated and a Sony VTC6 and started in Turbo. Pretty much instantly the light starts decreasing in output, at the 30 second mark where the FL1 Standard is taken the light had declined about 400% from where it started. This sounds like a lot and it is but it’s still quite bright and to be expected. The light reaches equilibrium of about 60% relative output where irt runs for 2 hours and 35min, and eventually gets down to 10% output at 3 hours and 32 minutes of runtime. Maximum temperature I saw was 38.7C (101F) at the 13 minute mark, the bulk of the output was around the 36C mark. 

The calibrated runtime was a different story, what calibration does is sets the room temp of the light and then you can raise the ceiling. I raised it an extra 25 degrees if my memory is correct. I used the same battery and after and with everything cooled off I ran it again. What I saw here was an initial drop from turbo but much smaller and a bit of a step at the 20 second mark before decreasing again. At the 30 second market the calibrated light was putting out a bit more output, and was 2.8 C warmer. The next 11 minutes though output increased again slowly as temps were allowed to increase slightly. Total runtime was only 1 hour and 42 seconds but you ended up being able to run a big brighter without stepping down as far. Maximum temperature I saw was 57.2C (134F) at the 24 minute mark. While this is quite hot it was much later than the uncalibrated mark and it’s adjustable too if you don’t want to go as hot.  I would agree with the commenter, calibrate your lights, it’s worth a few minutes of your time.

 

UI

The UI here is standard Andruil, and it works well. I will link to my FW3A review in case this is your first time seeing Andruil and include the diagram below. It looks a little complicated but once you get a hang of it, it works pretty well. It doesn’t bother me that the flashing and special modes are a little hard to locate as I personally rarely use them. As mentioned before I did “calibrate” the temp sensor on this light and I ended up using a video I found on Youtube to do it rather than use the diagram. For me it just worked a little better. 

 

Conclusion

My conclusion is the FW4A is yet another nice light in the series. It’s a lot of output in a  very small package and quite a minimal increase in size. That said with an increase in output it’s a step up in heat too. The FW4A at least right now has less modding potential then the FW3, but if it catches on and becomes more popular you may see different optics, and tuboglow being offered too. 

 

A light like this is more aimed at the enthusiast market with the Andriul UI and somewhat dangerous nature of so much power in a small size and finicky nature that the FWXX series lights can be, that said it’s still alot of fun and pretty affordable too. 

Pickup the Lumintop FW4A at http://suo.im/6fm8lc and get a 20% discount by using code LMT204A