Mateminco FW2

1lumen selects and reviews products personally. We may earn affiliate commissions through our links, which help support our testing.

Mateminco FW2 specifications

Brand/model	Mateminco FW2
LEP	(shine through)
Max. Lumens	350 lm
Max. Beam intensity	483,000 cd
Battery config.	1*18650/18350
Onboard charging	N/A
Modes	2
Blinkies	Strobe
Reflector	N/A
Waterproof	N/A
Review date	March 2022

If you stumbled upon this review without knowing what an LEP flashlight is… I’ll do a quick introduction. LEP stands for Laser Excited Phosphor, and it’s using a laser as the lighting source, instead of an LED. The laser shines onto (with the older LEP modules) or through (like this one) phosphor, to change the color and width of the beam. So they don’t look like laser pointers but like regular flashlights. The body and shape of an LEP flashlight don’t look any different from an LED flashlight, but the source of light is.

We’ve reviewed a few dozen LEP flashlights so far, so we’re quite familiar with them. If you want to have the best and farthest-reaching LEP flashlight, check that list.

I’m the first here to admit that this is our first Mateminco branded flashlight we review, but we’ve reviewed many built by the same company, but sold with a different name.

Package quality.

I don’t think the box that I received represents the actual packaging you will receive when buying this. So this is not very important for you, because the actual box and accessories will differ from mine.

• The flashlight: Mateminco FW2
• Battery adapter for 18350 batteries

When you buy one, you’ll probably receive a manual, and other stuff. And even the UI is likely to change, unfortunately. So all of our tests are based on the unit we receive, and may not be the same as the actual flashlight you get your hands on. We’ll update the review when we hear about changes.

Nonshrouded. That was my first reaction to it.

That may not sound too familiar to some, but it basically means that the tail switch sticks out and there’s no aluminum ridge surrounding it. With most flashlights, you can put the flashlight on its tail end, and the switch doesn’t touch the surface. This one sticks out very proudly.

The switch is reverse-clicky. You have to hear a click to turn it on. Tapping will change modes.

Because of the anodization and lack of knurling, it feels pretty slippery.

In the flashlight communities, we know that Mateminco = Astrolux, so it’s not a surprise that they look identical. At the time of reviewing this light, there hasn’t been an Astrolux equivalent announced yet.

The anodizing isn’t your typical black HAIII but it has a slight charcoal/satin finish and feels slippery. It also doesn’t have the typical knurling, which makes it even more slippery. So keep that in mind. But I do like the shape and design of the flashlight. It looks classic, and futuristic at the same time with the glow tubes installed.

These glow tubes are presumably copied from Lumintop, who has quite a few of those. The main difference between (for example) the Lumintop Thor 2 and this, is that the glow tubes on the Thor are actually illuminated from the inside of the flashlight. So Lumintop’s glow tubes are ‘charged’ whenever the flashlight is used. That’s an interesting design because that means you don’t need an external light source to ‘charge’ these turbo glow tubes. Unfortunately, that’s not the case with this Mateminco, so you still need an external light source to charge them.

Besides that, there is no way to attach a lanyard because it doesn’t have any attachment points. There’s also no pocket clip included with my package.

Warranty? I do not know, since it didn’t include a manual, nor does Mateminco have a website.

Well, the good thing about the FW2 is that you can either use a 18350 or 18650. There is one dedicated tube for each battery, and no extension tubes are needed, unlike some other brands. I personally don’t like using extension tubes, so it’s great to have 2 dedicated battery tubes instead.

18350: you can only use short 18350 batteries, like unprotected, without a USB port. I tried a Weltool UB18-12P and it won’t work. Short batteries like unprotected Keeppower 1200mAh IMR18350 fit perfectly.

18650: Don’t try to use protected 18650’s!

Mine broke because of trying to use a protected battery! I tightened it, and it didn’t turn on, tightened a bit more, still nothing. Then reverted back to the unprotected cell, and that didn’t work anymore either. Tried the short tube with 18350, also didn’t work anymore. So learn from my mistake, don’t use protected cells, and try to tighten the tailcap.

Disclaimer: This flashlight was sent to me for review at no cost by Nealsgadgets. I have not been paid to review, nor have I been holding back on problems or defects.