DOUBLE 1 AND ½ "REVIEW": Sofirn SP10A and Sofirn SF14 *[added night / distance shots]

Thanks for the great review! :+1:

Whoa… what’s with those big angry-looking holes in the pill?

I’d be worried they’d cut through the insulation on the wires to the LED.

Ie:

Thanks :wink: :+1:

Eheh, the pill was dirty with conductive paste :wink: I took it out and took a photo just to show how that looked from factory!
The pill had no imperfections on the holes, not chance of cutting wires :wink:
I cleaned it up then and resoldered the wires to the plate and got no problem! :nerd_face:

Aha, gotcha. Stray thermal goop just made the holes look irregularly-shaped.

Whew. Thought maybe they were just center-punched through. :smiley:

Yup, it was that! The thermal paste was a bit thin so it slided to the holes creating that shape!
But you have a point, I should have taken a photo of the pill after being cleaned to show that it doesn’t have imperfections!

BTW, the pill is aluminium, not as thin as the one from the Amutorch S3. The bottom is not plain as other pills, but I think other drivers can be put into this light if one wants to mod it! Either it is needed to file the driver to fit the pill, or to file those tips to fit the driver :wink:

The SP10A has been in my pocket this month and working good (I don’t mind the UI).

Just the clip broke itself on the ground when the light fell off my pocket. So maybe not that sturdy for a clip :laughing:

Sorry to know that :frowning:
I called it “sturdy”, because it seems to be strong! I’ve forced mine a bit and it goes back again to the initial shape, no cracks!
I didn’t test “let the clip hit the floor” way , of course, but so far it seems well built!
Not as the one from Manker E11, that is the strongest I have, but still it seems “sturdy”! BTW, the Manker clip (17,5mm inner diameter) fits the SP10A!
Maybe there was also a 1st and second batch of these?

If you use it that daily, I guess you can find a replacement with some of these:

Or ask Sofirn to send you one in a next buy! I will ask for a battery tube, as I want to be able to use AA Ni-MH cells. And if the tube is not good, they need to replace it! :expressionless:

It’s no big deal really, the light still works that’s what’s important :slight_smile:

Ahah, true :smiley: Unlike mine… :expressionless: :person_facepalming:

But I enjoyed the few moments I had it working :smiley:

Yes, I have noticed this behaviour in my SP10A (Eneloops inside), light wouldn’t switch on so I though the battery was empty, yet the batteries would be ~1.2V still.

Be sure to carry a spare battery with this light in case of doubt!

Nice review MascaratumB, Thanks! :smiley:

Hum, are those issues more likely to happen on the Ni-MH cells or it is probable that they can also happen on 14500 cells? I’ll predominatly use it with 14500 cells (when I get it to work again)!
But I’ll have a spare battery for sure :smiley:

Thanks firedome :wink:

Tonight or tomorrow I’ll do some “night shots” and compare the SF14 with 14500 and AA alkaline outside, and also with some other flashlights :wink: I’ll post it later!

I’ll try with a 14500 (if the ones I have do fit in it)

Thanks for testing it :wink:
BTW, did you have problems fitting the AA (Ni-MH) on the SP10A? I had on the SF14 (as mentioned above). Not the alkalines or the 14500 unprotected Sanyo, but all the 3 types of Ni-MH didn’t fit :expressionless:

No problem with Eneloops, they fit well in mine.

As for my 14500’s, just testing right now :

  • Olight ORB-145P07 (protected, 53mm long) : do not work (very tight fit, no power on)
  • KeepPower P1450C ver.2017 (unprotected my bad, they are protected, 52mm long) : tight fit, working

So I’ll see how it does with the keeppower battery (cutoff at 2.8V according to Sofirn specs)

Thanks AgentSteel :slight_smile: We’ll be looking forward to those performances :+1:

So, tonight I had the chance to make some “night shots” with the Sofirn SF14 to see how it works outside.

Mostly, I compared the SF14 a Sanyo UR14500P Li-Ion battery, SF14 on AA Alkaline (1.5V Aerocell, from Lidl supermarket), and the Lumintop Tool AA also on a Sanyo UR14500P Li-Ion battery.

My conclusions from this comparison:

  • LT Tool AA : has a brighter Low mode; the output on High is less brighter than one of the SF14; the beam is more floody, despite it has SMO reflector (but the XPL LED is bigger that the XPG2 S4 from the Sofirn SF14); the beam is also more “squarish” than the SF14; the throw is less than the SF14.
    A personal note: if the LT Tool had a warmer or neutral tint as the SF14, it would be much better for inside use. So…bring on the NICHIAS

- Sofirn SF14: has lower Low mode, but is not a Moonlight mode; on AA, the all outputs are lower than on a Li-Ion battery, but they are very good for that type of battery; the beam is more throwy, reaching the 70 meters, on the 14500 battery; the beam is round and well defined, despite using a OP reflector.

The rest, you can see on the beamshosts below :wink:

PWM
EDIT: SF14 does not have PWM. The lines on the photos, from what I’ve recently learned, are marks of the Constant Current driver, and can only be seen on Medium and High.

(Low > Medium > High)

PWM (LT Tool AA – has it on Low and Medium)
(Low > Medium > High)

Sofirn SF14 (AA Alkaline) > Sofirn SF14 (14500 Li-Ion) > Lumintop Tool AA
(Low > Medium > High)

TINT (Sofirn SF14 > Lumintop Tool AA)

FLOOD (Sofirn SF14 > Lumintop Tool AA)

Sofirn SF14 (AA Alkaline) > Sofirn SF14 (14500 Li-Ion) > Lumintop Tool AA

Indoor

From 3 to 5 meters

From 3 to 60 meters
(Low > Medium > High)

10 meters

13 meters

15 meters

30 meters

50 meters

Sofirn SF14 > Lumintop Tool AA

5 meters

Best regards :sunglasses: :+1:

Nice shots (lots of work you have done here!) :+1:

So a few minutes ago I tried to light up my SP10A (14500 inside). The light went on with difficulty, then went off after one second or two… then I could not turn it on again. Everything was tight, no mechanical lock-out.

Checked the battery on the multimeter, all good (4.0V).

Reinstalled a NiMH : light turns on without problem. Swapped the 14500 again : light turns on OK again.

Don’t know what to think. Maybe the electronic switch?

Definitely not the most reliable light (at least this earlier batch). I have another in the box (certainly from the same batch). Will have to test her as well.

Thanks AgentSteel :wink: I had fun on this, I confess :smiley:

Sorry to hear that about your light :frowning: But I guess that the frailties I mentioned above (driver’s constitution) seem to be more than just on my case!

Let me ask you: did you felt any “strange” smell from inside the flashlight after it stopped working with the 14500? It may be some damaged component.

Also, was it protected or unprotected 14500 cell?

My SP10A, after I “damaged” it, it only turns ON in 1 mode (don’t know which), and only with AA or Ni-MH cells. I click and hold the side switch and it turns ON.
With a 14500 cell, while I’m still screwing the tailcap, the light is already ON and can’t be turned OFF. :expressionless:

I assumed this was an issue derived from the damage it took, but seeing your report, it may be more than that, may be a faulty component on this batch.

Have you said anything to Sofirn? That situation is really weird…

Ooops sorry late reply :open_mouth:

No bad smell. My Keeppower 14500 cell is protected.

But today I finally unboxed my second SP10A (from the same order). She’s doing some tailstanding “burn-in” in high mode (NiMH cell) right now. Can get real hot to the touch after a few minutes on a fresh cell. Maybe hotter than my first SP10A (I really need to disassemble this one) :slight_smile:

EDIT : the light has way better heat regulation when using 14500.