Courtesy of Tracy at Sofirn, I got a belated b’day gift, the v2 issue of the venerable SP32A.
All I can say is “Holy Cats!”. This is a nice one!
Right out of the box, it’s just like its v1 brethren, except the side-switch now has an LED behind it, acting as a battery indicator. Green means plenty of juice, yellow not so much, red means you’re running on fumes and need to recharge it asap. I’ve gotten to really appreciate even basic “fuel gauge” indicators, from the Thorfire TK4A and Sofirn SF11, to the Nitefox UT20, and now the SP32A.v2 as well. No more guessing how much charge the cell has, within reason of course, green will generally mean you got a decent amount of juice unless you’re running it wide-open.
Working the light is simple, and if you have a Q8 or similar, you’ll be able to jump right in and work it like it’s an old friend. A quick click turns it on (vs a longpress), and a longpress turns it off. Once on, a click switches modes. Out of the tin, it comes set in stepped-modes, everything from moonlight through high, and a doubleclick gets you to turbo.
In fact, even from off, a doubleclick gets you to turbo (just like the SP10B), and a singleclick reverts back to its previous mode from whence it was called, whether some regular mode if on, else back to off. Wunderbar!
And then there’s ramping. Press’n’hold it when on, and it’ll blink a few times to let you know you’re now in ramping mode. Press’n’hold the button to start it ramping upward ’til it peaks and quick-blinks at you. If ramping upward, a quick release’n’press starts you downward, ’til it quick-blinks at minimum. If you want to go back to stepped modes, a similar press’n’hold after it blinks at max/min will do so, just hold the button ’til it again blinks a few times.
Ramping speed is faster than the TK18 and the v1. The TK18 was a rather painful 8sec or so, the v1 almost as slow and had the “pause” around the middle of the brightness range. The v2 is a bit quicker, that I counted “5 chimpanzee” when it went from one extreme to the other. So… 5sec or so, give or take?
Stepped modes are pretty evenly spaced, and the light just seems to get brighter and brighter with each press. Then doubleclick to turbo and it’s even brighter.
Personally, though I like ramping, I’m perfectly okay with stepped, and in fact prefer it. Ymmv.
The widest part of the light is the collar, where the switch is mounted. 5 flats, with the switch on one of them. The logo is perfectly centered below the switch, but on mine (for the OCD among us), the little triangle advertising hot bacon strips is just a liiiiiittle off-center. (Hey, I gotta find some fault with the light. )
The tail is nice and flat and tailstands great. Those who like magnetic bases can stoopit-gloo a Nd magnet to the base, as the center nub is a bit recessed from the rim, and you won’t even block the lanyard-hole.
Speaking of which, accoutrements include the usual lanyard, extra O-rings, pocket clip, etc. As I’ve bemoaned plenty of times before, I generally dislike the usual silver-colored clips that leave the head of whatever light sticking out waaay too far from a pants pocket, and really like the deep-carry clip Fasttech carries for the S2+. The notch is way wider than the thickness of the ‘C’ part of the clip, but it otherwise fits perfectly and can let the light ride low and stealthy, and minimise the chance of it squishing out of your pocket when you sit down. For about a buk, get 1 or 10. You’ll thank me later.
The beam itself is a bit fried-eggy if you go white-wall hunting, but perfectly usable in Real Life™. And it’s hella bright. Neutral hotspot, yellowish corona, bluish spill… I’d love to see what a narrow-angle TIR lens could do for this puppy! Beam perfection, I’d say.
I wanted to take some comparison shots of the v1 and v2, including beamshots, but I keep getting horrible colors in the final pix. Phones do what they think you want, it seems. So, I’ll hold off for now, and see if I can’t get some decent shots from a Real Camera™ instead.
So… a great light, hella bright, great UI, choice of ramping and stepped modes, battery indicator, wow! It just ticks all the boxes.
And of course, I got a coupla pale-gold ones on the way. Black is nice, but these will be killer! I’ll be envied by men and pursued by women!