Mateminco FW3

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Mateminco FW3 specifications

Brand/model	Mateminco FW3
Flashlight category	LEP / long-range / searchlight / hybrid flashlight
LED+LEP	Red LED + LEP
Max. output	1,550 Lumens
Max. beam distance	1356 meters
Max. beam intensity	460,000 cd
Battery config.	1*21700
Onboard charging	N/A
Modes	7
Blinkies	Strobe
Waterproof	IPX6
Review date	December 2022

Oh boy… the features make me want to finish this review ASAP. This could be a winner.

The Mateminco FW3 is a hybrid flashlight with 2 types of light sources. It has an LEP module for a throwy beam and 9* LEDs (CREE XBD) for a flood beam. (LEP stands for Laser Excited Phosphor, and is using a laser as its light source). With the help of a phosphor layer and some lenses, turns the beam into a yellow/white beam, just like you would expect from an LED. Except, it’s more intense.

The CREE XBD LEDs on mine are red.. but the default color is white (6500K or 5000K), and it’s also available with orange LEDs.

So, you get to choose what you like. And just looking at the specifications, and the price, this might be a very interesting flashlight! So, let’s quickly move on, to see if it is indeed as good as it looks.

Package quality.

This is what I got:

• The flashlight: Mateminco FW3
• Pocket clip
• Lanyard
• O-rings
• Manual

The Mateminco FW3 looks like a regular LED flashlight, with a bigger head, and a relatively large tailcap. Just before the tailcap sits a tactical-grip ring (or cigar ring) that helps enormously with the grip.

There’s a single switch in the tailcap, that is lit from within with a blue light. I actually think it might be UV. The reason I think it is that the tritium slots have holes bored in them, so the light shines through the holes into the slot. These holes are filled with transparent glue, so water shouldn’t be able to drip in. But it does add an extra layer of possible water problems.. just saying.

Anyway, so I assume it’s UV, so it can charge the glow tubes that would fit in those slots. UV charges glow-in-the-dark stuff very quickly! And since tritium vials aren’t very widespread, I assume it’s mainly made for glowtubes anyhow.

In terms of carrying, the light can be used in an underhand position, as well as in an overhand position. The latter will be helpful in tactical situations, where you have your thumb near the switch. But I don’t recommend using this flashlight for tactical purposes. It’s not built for that.

I don’t particularly know whether this light was built with a certain use-case scenario, but at least it’s not for tactical purposes. Mine, with the red LEDs could be used for hunting etc. The red LEDs are pretty powerful. But if you choose the white LED version, you could use it for many instances. I just don’t think the UI is very well thought through.

The body has vertical reeding, which also helps with grip. Mateminco also included a pocket clip, that can be attached just below the tactical ring. And by the way, that tactical ring can spin around, and help with laying it on an inclined surface without the flashlight rolling off.

You can also make it tailstand, albeit a bit unstable.

I can’t really complain anything about the build quality. The anodization looks very decent with a very nice matte finish. I don’t see any blemishes or anything. The threads are a little sharp, anodized, and are protected with 2 o-rings. So there’s nothing wrong with this.

Except for the holes inside the slots in the head and tailcap. I already mentioned them earlier. And I assume they are used to ‘charge’ the glowtubes when they are installed. When you turn the light on, they will be lit from the inside.

The head has 8 short slots all around the head, with 4 sets of 2 slots. The tailcap has 6 long slots.

The included pocket clip is relatively easy to attach and removed. The lanyard can be attached pretty easily as well. Plus, you can choose to attach it to the tailcap or to the tactical grip ring.

Mateminco didn’t include a holster.

Warranty:

Mateminco doesn’t have a website, nor does the manual say anything about warranty. But the manual includes the address of the company, including a phone number, and 2 QR codes for Facebook and their AliXpress store. So there are a couple of ways to get in touch with them, but it’s unclear what kind of warranty they give.

I would normally test the LEDs and see what kind of color temperature they have. And it would also show the CRI values, as well as the DUV.

But since this doesn’t have your regular white LEDs it doesn’t mean too much to measure this.

Mateminco gives you 4 options to choose from in terms of LEDs.

There are 2 white options (6500K and 5000K), an orange, and a red option. The one I am reviewing has the red LEDs. This is a bit unusual, so I am not too sure how well the FW3 would work with normal white LEDs..

And since I don’t really use red light, I don’t know whether it works very well, or not.

When you look at the front end, you’ll notice a ring of LEDs and a clear center. The center is used for the LEP module, and the outer ring is for the 9 LEDs. And since the LEDs have no reflector, the beam is very, very wide. But I have to admit that the red light is still plenty bright!

The bezel is slightly crenelated so when its put face down, you can still see whether the light is activated or not.

Dimensions: 

Mateminco FW3 dimensions:	Millimeters	Inches
Length	147 mm	5.8 in
Head diameter	41 mm	1.6 in
Body diameter	25 mm	1 in

Dimensions are rounded to the nearest millimeter, and to the nearest tenth of an Inch.

Weight: with pocket clip

Mateminco FW3 weight:	Weight in grams	Weight in oz.
Without battery:	141 g	4.98 oz
With battery	208 g	7.35 oz

Weight is rounded to the nearest gram, and to the nearest tenth of an Oz.

Mateminco FW3 flashlight comparison

Size compared to other LEP flashlights

Group 1, from left to right: Lumintop Thor 2 v2, Amutorch BT35, Lumintop Thor 4, Mateminco FW2, Acebeam W10 gen2, Mateminco FW3.

Group 2, from left to right: Tank007 PTL01, Weltool W3 PRO, Jetbeam M2S WP-RX, Olight Odin Turbo, Jetbeam RRT M2S Raptor, Fenix TK30, Acebeam W10 Gen2, Mateminco FW3.

The driver is a little strange. The general menu has 4 normal modes (LED) 2 LEP modes, and a combination LED+LEP. But, personally, I would have liked to see a different UI, where the LEP wasn’t in the same

Available main modes:

• Low, Medium, High, Turbo, LEP low, LEP high, LEP+LED

Available special modes (blinkies):

• Strobe with LED + LEP combined

From OFF:

• Half-press: momentary on
• Half presses: move between modes, from Low to Turbo, and then to LEP low, LEP high, and LEP+LED.
• 2 quick taps: High LEP
• 3 quick taps: Strobe (LEP+LED together)
• Single-click: activates light

From ON:

• Single-click: turns off

Shortcuts:

• To Low: always starts in low
• To Strobe: 3 quick taps from off
• To High LEP: 2quick taps from off

Mode memory:

• No, it will always startin Low.. but you can go to LEP with 2 quick taps.

Blinky modes menu:

• Only accessible from OFF with 3 quick taps

Low battery warning:

• Not that I could see

Lock-out mode:

• No, just use the mechanical rear switch

PWM:

• Not visible

Firmware / UI Conclusion:

I totally understand that it’s difficult to have 2 light sources work with only 1 switch. Especiall if it’s a forward clicky switch. I’m not 100% convinced this is the right approach though. Still, you can get quick access to the LEP in High mode with a quick double tap, so that’s an okay way to get to the other light source. An electronic side switch might have been a better option, or 2 switches.

I personally also think it’s strange to have 4 normal modes, and then 2 LEP modes, and Turbo mode with LED+LEP in 1 mode group. I would prefer to separate them altogether.

Also, I don’t think 3 clicks for a strobe is necessary for this light. You could have used the 3 clicks to switch between the LEP and LED. So, you could choose which light source to use, and not have the other light source in the same menu.

Having LED and LEP in 1 mode group sounds like the UIs we saw 10 years ago, where you had 3 normal output modes, followed by strobe and SOS. This is just not very well laid out. Nice idea, but the execution could have been better.

The FW3 takes 21700 type batteries. These are rechargeable lithium-ion batteries with a length of 70mm by 21mm. I did all the tests with a Samsung 21700 50G, unprotected, flat top battery. However, this battery has quite a bit of play and is relatively short.

I also tried fitting a long, protected battery with button top, and it fit just fine. I then also tried a button top, protected battery, and USB-port (these tend to be the longest cells) and it also fits just fine.

This means, you can use any kind of battery you have laying around.

Just 1 word of warning. If you bump the light, loaded with a short, unprotected cell, you might see a change in output, as the battery loses connection shortly, that may be registered as a tap. It will go to the next mode in line.

There is no onboard charging on the FW3!

Lumen measurements:

The output measurements in this review are based on my homemade integrating spheres, each equipped with an Extech SDL400 Lux Meter. For consistency and accuracy, a calibration light (Convoy S2+ with 249lm and a Convoy S2+ with 261lm) is measured prior to each set of lumen measurements.
For high-output lights, one of the lux meters uses an ND camera filter to prevent the lux meter to max out. This is either the Kenko PRO1D ND16 up till about 80,000 lumens or Gobe ND32 for anything above.

All of my readings were taken from a fully-charged Samsung 21700 50G. This is a high capacity battery with a decently high discharge rate. A great in-between battery.

The measurements were taken manually at turn on and 30 seconds. The 10-minute numbers are taken from the runtime graph. Keep in mind that the specified numbers are likely for the white LEDs.. Mine were quite a bit off. Also, I’m not sure how accurately my Extech SDL400 can measure red light.

Mode	Specified	at turn on	30 sec	10 minutes
Low	5 lm	2 lm	2 lm	–
Med	75 lm	36 lm	36 lm	–
High	620 lm	546 lm	508 lm	390 lm
Turbo	1300 lm	1083 lm	667 lm	28 lm
LEP low	180 lm	129 lm	133 lm	133 lm
LEP high	255 lm	269 lm	221 lm	156 lm
Turbo LED+LEP	1550 lm	1186 lm	803 lm	307 lm

I try to use rounded lumen numbers, except for maybe Low or Moonlight/Firefly modes.

I just copied the numbers from the manual. And this is another reason why I think they didn’t properly test it, because there is just 1 group of numbers. There is no mention of the different outputs with the red or orange LEDs.

Parasitic drain:

• I couldn’t measure it, but the backlit tailcap is likely draw a few mA. So, it’s better to unscrew the tailcap to protect your battery from discharging too deeply.

Mateminco FW3 battery life and runtime graphs

The runtime tests were done in the 50cm home made integrating sphere, combined with the Extech SDL400 data logging Lux Meter.

Please keep in mind that I haven’t tested Low and Medium mode, since they were supposed to run for 100h and 50h respectively.

Mode	Specified runtime	Measured runtime (ANSI FL1)	Time till shut off
Low	100h	–	–
Med	50h	–	–
High	4h 10min	1h 01min	1h 01min
Turbo	3h 30min	9min 20 sec	12h
LEP low	2h 30min	3h 13min	3h 13min
LEP high	3h	2h 45min	2h 45min
Turbo LEP+LED	1h 30min	1h 08min	1h 08min

It’s a little strange to see LEP high having a longer specified runtime. Here’s the LEP runtimes. 1 with lumens, and the next with candelas.

But yeah, this light seems to be pushed out without any proper testing, and fine-tuning. That’s a pity.

ANSI FL1 standards: The runtime is measured until the light drops to 10% of its initial output (30 seconds after turning it on). This does not mean that the flashlight is not usable anymore. The last column shows how long the light actually works till it shuts off. If there is a + symbol, it means that the test was stopped at that particular point, but the light was actually still running. This happens on certain occasions, with certain drivers, firmware, or batteries.

Mateminco FW3 compared to other medium LEP flashlights:

With the medium sized LEPs (black line) it’s not doing too well. Compared to the small LEPs, it’s not a bad performer. But those lights have smaller heads, with smaller lenses, so not a 1-1 comparison.

Mateminco FW3 peak beam intensity and beam distance measurements

Measurements were taken outdoors with a Hagner E4-X Lux Meter at 20 meters. I used the Samsung 50G again for this test, and also tested High with a Samsung INR21700 40T

Mode	Specified	Candela	Meters	Yards	Miles
High (Samsung 40T)	460,000	284,000 cd	1066 m	1166 yd	0.66
High (Samsung 50G)	460,000	280,000 cd	1058 m	1157 yd	0.66
Low (Samsung 50G)	–	176,400 cd	840 m	919 yd	0.52

You can see that 460,000 is very exaggerated. It’s almost half of the claimed intensity.

Extra info: Peak beam distance according to ANSI FL1 standards: The calculated value of distance in meters at which the flashlight produces a light intensity of 0.25 lux. (0.25 lux is about the brightness of a full moon shining on an object).

For the following tower beamshots, I used a Canon EOS 5D mk2 with a 100mm lens. Manual settings: ISO1600, 0.5sec, F4, 5000K

The tower is 450 meters away. In one of the beamshots you can see that the beam is very bright. That is because of the distance to the camera. I normally walk a few meters away, so you can better see the amount of light hitting the tower, and don’t get distracted by the beam itself! That’s what you normally see in videos on YouTube… but in reality it may not throw very far!

For the shed and reflective fence beamshots, I used a Canon EOS 5D Mk2 with a 50mm lens. Manual settings: ISO1600, 1/4sec, F4, 5000K. The shed is about 65 meters / 71 yards away, and the reflective fence is about 200 meters.

Compared to the following flashlights:

• Mateminco FW3
• Mateminco FW2
• Lumintop Thor 2 v2
• Lumintop Thor 2
• Lumintop Thor 1
• Tank007 PTL01
• Amutorch BT35

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