I still think what could be a real winner would be a tubelight that takes standard 20mm TIR lenses. This way they can be swapped easily (well, as long as nothing’s glued ) to go from a tight beam to a wide flood, clear or pebbled, and even oblong (for using as a bike-light).
Sofirn wouldn’t have to source all the TIRs, but it might be nice. But anyone then could swap in the TIR of choice.
Eg, the SP32A would be a good candidate for something like that. Any XP/3535 chip would be a good candidate for TIRs.
Or… if you still like reflectors, a shallow reflector that would be the same height as a TIR lens could satisfy anyone who “needs” a reflector, yet still be able to use a TIR after the fact. Shallow reflectors won’t be good for throw, but (nudge nudge wink wink) would be “made” for substituting a TIR lens.
I'd avoid all the silly colors and stay with solid rich deeper colors like dark chocolate brown dark greyish army greens or dark blue and sand but even then a darker sand like convoy c8 has ..I'd never make pastel girly colored lights no matter how many people asked for orange yellow or pink .never never never .
I'd also almost always make a naked no ano version since it costs nothing extra . High cri lights are always appreciated and Sofirn has gotten a bunch of credit for just those slightly warmer tints(5700?5300k?) vs cool white garbage everyone else uses .
I'd make an interesting Headlamp ...and applaud you for working on a blf lantern project
Gearbest did quit. Don’t know why this project cancelled and don’t know how many people still want this light. But Sofirn do wanna make a new light of >10K lumens.
Correct me if I am wrong but did not Sofirn plan to build a Q8 with 4x XHP50.2 some months ago, did they? That should be feasible without too many changes except for the driver and the extension carriers (2s2p instead of 4p IIRC).
A driver for 4 xhp50.2 might be tricky since I don’t think you can use a FET design. The xhp50.2 are known to be quite sensitive to current consumption and are easily burned up by 2 x 18350 cells. Maybe there is a way to use a FET and still limit the max current? I think Texas_Ace was able to do this with 4S 18650 and 3 x xhp35. Careful selection of MOSFET and springs in the carrier were able to keep the LEDs in the safe zone.
I’m not sure about a Buck or Boost driver designs. Producing 10,000 lumen might require a very expensive driver design. Lexel probably knows for sure since he designed a 30,000 lumen buck driver for 10 x 18650 cells (21v IIRC). His lower powered bucks are still quite pricey.
SP32 V3 maybe with hi cri led, deep pocket carry black clip(silver clip looks cheap), shortcut to moonlight. shorten the length of the light and lastly ability to indicate batt voltage.
I would like to wish the driver is built on the principles of drivers Sofirn SP33 (XHP50) - with stabilization modes, thermal control, only without stepdown by timer.
Turbo mode 6000-8000Lm would be enough.
Light of >10K lumens is certainly interesting, but less massively it seems to me and may require more emitters XHP50, which will increase the price. I think such a special monster should go second in turn.
Thank you for communicating with consumers!
I even pointed out that, re the SC31. It’s a really strong clip, no complaints, but the same typische silver clip just has a cheap look to it.
The 1buk DC clip from FT fits perfectly on lights with a narrow groove (eg, the Nitefox UT20), but on lights with a wider groove, it’ll go (more) lopsided when clipped onto anything, and probably eventually wear out the ano in that location.
change Q8 to 4*XHP50.2 10K lumens version need to change the driver as well as the reflector due to the voltage and size difference. All those tests again…
So what I am think is why not try a new design? But you guys know Sofirn team is not good at good looking design.
At this time some say hope Sofirn can take over the Utorch UT03 groupbuy.
I noticed this project was started one year and a half ago, that’s why I’m asking how many people still want it.
Do you want to count those who want to buy Utorch UT03 in this thread or create a new one? Or other survey methods?
I’m definitely interested! I am in!
21700 lights with protected cell fitment for those who will not allow unprotected cells anywhere near what they value.
Differentiation is the key to success in this already crowded category of budget lights.
For me, the UT03 is not that interesting anymore. Since there’s a bunch of high powered soda can sized flashlights already. The MT03, M43, and ROT66 is already adequate. However, I would be interested if it had USB-C recharge and functional cooling fins to allow it to sustain high output in order to be practical. I wish there was USB recharge with the ROT66 because I hate taking out the batteries to recharge so often. It’s a big hassle.
Speaking of sustaining high output. Maybe Sofirn can come up with a new flashlight/host with excellent heat dissipation capabilities to sustain 3,500 lumen output from a XHP70.2 or 4x or 7x emitters from 21700 cell. This would make it a very practical and unique light that does not yet exist. Here are some examples of functional designs that maximize surface area for heat convection and radiation.
) to go from a tight beam to a wide flood, clear or pebbled, and even oblong (for using as a bike-light).
