[Review] Sofirn SF36 with an XP-L2

While being quite experienced with flashlights, this is my first light review on BLF :slight_smile:
The product was provided by the manufacturer in exchange for a honest review.

Starting with the body of the light, one can easily see that the dimensions are quite compact.
I would categorize its size somewhere between a Convoy S2 and a C8.
The body is made out of aluminum and is type 3 anodized while the finish is quite glossy.

The light ships with a crenelated bezel and a smooth reflector.
The bezel can be easily removed to gain access to the light’s emitter.
As seen in the pictures, my emitter arrived pretty well centered.

Both the head and the tail can be easily disassembled.
The retaining ring on the driver side is reverse threaded, while the one on the switch is a normal one.
The XP-L2 is seated in a copper MCB that is secured in place using a screw.

Here are a couple of close up shots of the light’s reverse clicky switch.
The switch is quite tactile which provides great feedback.

The light has 4 regular modes (Moonlight -> Low -> Mid -> High) while it jumps to a variable
frequency strobe after two quick taps on the switch.
If the light is left on high for more than 20 minutes, it will jump back to Mid as thermal protection
kicks in.
The thermal capacity of the light is more than enough for a constant usage.
During constant usage on the High mode it gets warm but its nothing to worry about.
After draining a 18650 cell on high mode LVP cutoff power at around 2.79V.

As with my most flashlights, I am unable to leave a fresh torch untouched.
So I went ahead and did the regular spring bypass mod using copper braided wire.
Without the mod, the light would pull 3.0A at high, while the mod allowed it to pull a maximum of 3.7A

Here are some current draw figures I captured using a Samsung INR18650-25R
Mode Current (A)
Moonlight 0.03
Low 0.17
Mid 0.99
High 3.7

The flashlight arrived along with a manual, a couple of spare o-rings, a battery charger as well as
a Sofirn 2800mAh 18650 battery.
Right now I am doing a couple of charge/discharge cycles on the battery so that I can determine
its actual capacity. I will update the OP once I have determined the capacity of my cell.

Lastly, here are some beamshots of the 4 modes of the light.
A locked exposure of 1/125 sec and 100 ISO was used throughout the shots.



Do you also have that terrible tint?

I don’t think so. My tint is warm white.
I have seen some people reporting an ugly tint but I do believe that Sofirn reported that the issue would be fixed on the following batches.
What’s your tint like?

The SP32 I have has a good tint, NW for sure. I hadn’t noticed any green shift in the corona of the beam either… will look again tonight.

This light looks a lot like a Convoy M1/M2.

Interesting that you got a 700mA increase with a spring bypass; I wonder who is making the Sofirn 18650 cells, they seem pretty good compared to the usual “included” cells from Chinese mfgrs.

Update
After doing a couple of full charge/discharge cycles, the battery’s capacity is measured at 2722mAh.
The cutoff voltage while on discharge was 3.2V
Even though I didn’t expect it, the quality of the battery seems pretty good.

My tint is a lovely neural white, compared to a cool white Nitecore MH10 it looks yellow when side by side, a nice natural sort of tint in real world use.

All the tints you can think of are there, including puke green and catpiss yellow. Guess the average is a nice neutral tint :smiley:

So it really is an emitter lottery.
I happened to get a nicely tinted one.It is highly possible that the manufacturer has dealt with the problem in the last batches.