Another Sofirn SP32A review by ZozzV6 (Pic heavy)

Hello Everybody!
This is a review about Sofirn SP32A. I got it kindly from Sofirn at a fair amount of discounted price. They sent me the light and I make a honest review for it.
You can buy this light from their Aliexpress shop
Now(2018.02.25.) you can buy it at a great price for 16,57$ for 3 days.



The flashlight uses Cree XP-L2 led on a copper DTP MCPCB and the factory data claimed 1550 lumens with highly recommended high drain 18650 li-Ion battery.
It also accepts button top and flat top batteries. It came with two spare O-rings and a lanyard and a user manual in a cardboard box. The flashlight is well machined and nice. The user manual is very clearly written in english and german.



-Size: 122,7 mm length and 23,6mm thickest diameter on head.
-Weight without battery: 70.8g
It has AR coated toughened glass lens and smooth reflector.
It has a very firm pocket clip.
It can tailstand very well.
The host was made from 6061 aluminum and coated with HAIII anodizing.

It has only a side e-switch. It has phisycal lockout with tailcap and electronic lockout with 4 fast clicks from OFF. Same to unlock. It show locking with 2 blinks.

It has 2 mode groups. One has 4 modes and a hidden turbo which is accessible with a fast doubble click. and strobe with fast triple click. The other group is not a group but a ramping mode. The idea was good but it has some problem. The ramping is too slow. It takes 7 seconds to reach high from moon or reverse. There is a point where it stops a little in ramping. Thet is pretty annoying. And ramping down and up from-to moon is not the same speed every time. I don’t know that this is a bug of my light or every other behave the same.
The ramping max is equal to the other mode group high mode so to reach turbo you also need to doubble click.
To change between the mode group and ramping you need to hold down the button for 3 seconds in the mode set group. Or in ramping 3 seconds after reached moon or ramping max.
It show the moon or ramp max with two blinks. Or when the light is OFF you press and hold the switch for 3 seconds to change from mode set group to ramping and 8 seconds to change from ramping to mode set group. Mode group switch also shown by 2 blinks.
It has mode memory if stayed in a level for 2 seconds. It doesn’t do anything with long press from off.

I measured it only with LG HG2 18650 unprotected Li-Ion battery.
It has over discharge protection so it blinks 3 times at 3 volts and if reach 2.8volts it blinks every second for a minute and then shuts off the light. It also has reverse polarity protection.
The driver has factory bypassed spring.

Here are my measurement numbers:
-Turbo: 8-9,1A and 1600-1848 lumens (really depends on battery)
-High: 4,8A and 1008 lumens
-Mid: 146 lumens and 0,33A
-Low: 38 lumens and 0,1A
-Moon: 2,7 lumen and 0,01A

In ramping you can sweep from moon level to high level without steps

-Intensity in turbo: 11200 cd
-Throw: 211,7m

It has timed turbo stepdown. And because High mode is pretty high :slight_smile: it even has stepdown from high to mid.
The user manual said 2 min turbo stepdown timer and 3 min high stepdown timer.
You can see my measurements on the graph below. The times a little different. I measured about 80 seconds in turbo and 3 min 35 sec in high. It can reach even 66°C if left in turbo.
Cold start in turbo. Room temperature is 23°C and the flashlight in tailstand position.

Cold start in high. Room temperature is 23°C and the flashlight in tailstand position.

Disassembled into 3 pieces:

-Tailcap

The tailcap has a lanyard hole so you can put in lanyard and the light still can tailstand because the bottom is really wide and flat.

-Tube
It uses rectangle anodized threads on both sides so you can phisycally lockout on both ends.
The knurling is nice and not slippery. The tube has O-rings on both sides so the waterproofness guaranteed. And the threads came well lubed.


-Head
Look at the business end.


Next to the MCPCB I found o piece of wire silicone but it is not causing any problems

The head has a 5 side design part which for anti rolling.

The driver held in by a retaining ring. The retaining ring uses separate thread from the tube so it will not loosening up.

Size comparison:
From left to right:
Convoy L2, Convvoy S8, Sofirn SP32A, Convoy M1, Eagle Eye X6, Convoy C8, Emisar D4

First beamshot is dim because that is the setting how I shooted my all flashlights for my big flashlight measurement and beamshot collection.
Please open my google tables and you can compare data and beamshots with a lot of other flashlights.
So in person it is brighter.



Pros:
-high current (8-9A)depends on battery but with a good high drain 18650 you can get greater numbers then factory claim.
-high output (1700-1848 lumens)
-good machining
-nice UI
-electric lockout
-big tailcap
-strong pocket clip
-stepdown allowing run hot
-reverse polarity and over discharge protection
-high quality finish
-spare O-rings and lanyard
-copper DTP MCPCB

Cons:
-Slow ramping and stops at half power
-No battery info
-bug:from turbo with long click OFF and then 2x press to ON
-No magnet in tailcap

Summary:
It is a very bright flashlight for its size and It throws very good. And it has overall good quality and machining and anodization.
It only need a little polishing on the firmware to make ramping mode more usable. So If it can go flawlessly and without any stop from end to end under 2-3 seconds it will be good.
And If possible it deserves a battery level blinking short cut.
Also instead of mode group change with long click and hold from off it will be better to start in lowest level with long click from off.
And a little extra thing if it has the firmware mods I written and a magnet in tailcap it will be a perfect EDC. I don’t really like internal charging so the missing charging function is not a negative for me but everybody can decide.
With the slow ramping it is more usable in mode group but for this price it is a no brainer with this output level. and quality. Sofirn is on a good way that they use information and suggestions from BLF and flashlight enthusiasts. I hope they will update the firmware of this very nice light.

Thank you for reading through!

That really “hot” tube light and that got my attention ,ordered one.

How is the color temperature? The SP32A that I have is too cool white. The SP32 is much nicer.

Mine is warmer than a 6500K SST40 so it is about 5000-5500K

I got the Astrolux S1 in 1A (cool-white) and 3D (neutral-white). Comparing my SP32A, the tint is in-between the 1A and 3D, but somewhat closer to the 3D.
(for reference: the BLF Q8 is the same 3D tint as the Astrolux S1 3D)

I have Q8 and can make a compare pic of the SP32A and the Q8

I also have the SP32A thanks to Sofirn being kind enough to send me one from Amazon. My guess is that the LED is a 3D. I would add a little to the OP’s comments on the ramping. Mine does not stop half way while ramping, rather a very slight pause. My guess is that half of the ramping is on a 7135, then it switches to a FET, it is mildly annoying but not a deal killer. I also noticed that the moon on ramping is lower than the programmed moon mode in the other mode group. I wish the programmed moon level was as low as you can ramp to - I like a nice low moon level.
In comparing it to the BLF A6, it is visibly brighter in both hot spot and overall Lumens when doing a ceiling bounce. The A6 is perhaps a 1/4 inch shorter than the SP32A.

Looks great! I have Sofirn’s SP31 and C8T, and both lights are really well built. I love the anodized finish.

Sofirn has a newer version of the SP32A,
the Sofirn SP32A v2.0

They improved ramping, it is now smooth with no jumps. It’s under 5 seconds from Moon to Turbo.
And they reduced Turbo to 1300lm.
The Modes are now 5lm, 50lm, 160lm, 500lm, 1300lm.
Also no more bypassed springs.

The button has a red and a green LED under it to show the battery voltage.

I don’t mind the lower output, it should keep the lamp a bit cooler.
And I really like the user interface.

I have a new version also. Will review that too. I really miss the 4 click lockout from the new. Ramping is better but still not close to narsil or andúril perfection.

I would say it is nearly the same. It has a blink on the floor and top and it is smooth.
You can reverse the ramp and if you wait one second between two holds you keep the direction of the ramp.
Only thing it takes 5 sec instead of 2.4 sec.

It’s the lamp I recommend to normal guys (who are not used to set their pants on fire with a flashlight).

I just put an XML2 3000k 90CRI on 16mm mcpcb in the SP32A and was extremely easy to do. No glue anywhere.

The only thing I didn’t like about it is the drastic programmed step down. I think the v2.0 is temperature controlled so step down should be gradual instead of abrupt.

Got mine yesterday, it ramps smoothly.