REVIEW: Sofirn SD05 Scuba Diving Flashlight

Wow, I thought there was only one kind of skunk, too. Black, white stripes, speak with French accents, etc. Had no idea there were so many, especially in Texas.

But this is NYC we’re talking about, and I never ever expected to see skunks here, yet multiple kinds. Trash-pandas, sure, as they live in cemeteries where they’re relatively undisturbed, and forage for food at night. Was surprised at my possums, especially when I got to pet one which was wedged in a trash bag licking out cans of catfood. Yep, played dead when I pried him out, must’ve come to when I was showing him to a neighbor who was coming home late, and the critter saw his chance and made a waddle for it, taking off down the alley, so I let him go. (They glow red under UV, too.)

What’s really crazy about NYC is that you have coyotes . Surprised I haven’t heard of black bears there or are they?

Haven’t heard of coyotes here, but foxes were running around a few years ago.

Bears are generally more upstate than here. Joisey, too.

They can adapt to anywhere.

Oh yeah. Nature Will Win.

After the Zombie Apocalypse and all of hyu-mons are wiped out, Nature Will Win.

If they can make it in NYC, they can make it anywhere. :smiley: I wonder what a NYC coyote accent sounds like?

Hmm, so much for time-index…

Skip to 0:41.

I guess it would depend on which borough they live in.

Did order 4 of these and we are using them daily for diving down to 10m (been testing for several weeks now)

So i will just add my feedback about the product

The magnetic switch will get “stuck” and hard to twist using it one handed i guess due to small tolerances and salt buildup (does not happen to our SD01)

The “snap hook” for the lanyard will break quickly wish the hole was bigger so u can just insert the lanyard right away.

The turbo mode does not work with some batteries it will automaticlly handle the light as “low battery mode” and turbo mode will be as bright as second mode.

The spring and back cover will oxidise quickly so u need to remove the spring and whipe under it. You will notice this by the light blink as low battery when its not for hours and being in “low battery” brightness and sometimes randomly shutdown.

Basiclly alot of improvement to be done to this light (SD01 works much better using it for years daily never any issues, if someone is looking for a stable diving light)

With that said the light is amazing when its brand new and with some tweaks it works just fine. I did rope the lanyard and found a battery brand that works. Then did put a bit of soder at the bottom of the cap and spring for increased surface connection and on the tip of the spring.

Looks like a pretty good deal right now on Aliexpress Sofirn store. SD05

Noticed that the SD01 costs @ twice as much. Thanks for the oxidation notes, there is a product called Deoxit Shield that I will try and preemptively use and see how that goes. Planning on using it as a salt water kayak light where it will see sand and salt, but only a bit.

I thought “standard procedure” when diving in saltwater is to take your goodies, let them soak for a while in fresh water, then give ’em one last rinse.

That should get rid of any built-up salt deposits, no? Also keep things from rusting.

It would be nice also to know how is disassembled; I arrived only to disassemble the front ring and control the glass (3 mm thick); I would get to also remove the ring of functions, so you know how to clean it and keep it healthy

That is standard procedure, but may not be quite enough.
Some of the springs and parts in these can be pretty low carbon steel. Figure an hour saltwater soak, then 1-3+ hours transportation back home, which may allow drying depending on the temps, then freshwater rinse. To get into tight spaces with poor circulation (threads, switches) the soak would have to be a (very) long time (hours), longer than most people likely soak for. Much of the time it’s pretty much a short dunk and let dry. Even then those same items stay wet after the soak for hours to days, maybe never completely drying out due to poor air circulation in those closed spaces.
The chrome plating on regulators, brass, and even some grades of stainless steel show rusting and corrosion over a year of constant diving even with good care. The harder the area to rinse easily, the worse the problem. Saltwater is a pretty harsh environment for metal.

Example:
My camera tray setup (the holder everything is attached to), is made of well anodized AL, and assembled with high grade SS bolts and nuts. Those are greased with silicone on assembly, both for corrosion protection and dissimilar metal electrolysis. Immediately after a dive they get a quick soak in warm water. It’s easier to rinse the salt away when still wet. Back at home they get a longer soak in warm water. Even so I need to take them apart every 6-12 months, clean all the parts, and grease before re-assembling. If not, they can get very bad.

Nickerian and flydiver, Thanks for sharing your experience!

I've noticed with this light that even soon after lubing the o-rings, it has a tight cap.

I'll take the light to the lake for some adventures as soon as the weather gets better.

Good morning from Ionian Sea, West Greece…

We have use SD05 for free diving until 30 meters deep, while spearfishing. It’s the better small diving light for free diving. So simple…

Powerful, very easy to use with the rotating ring, with bright hot spot and a very useful spill, in a palm size light.

We use five of them for three and half months in salt water without problems at all. Samsung 40T on them…

In free diving there is no possibility to activate the time step down, or the thermal step down, so this light seems to be the perfect small size free diving light…

It would be better ofcourse if the emitter was the new 3 V XHP50.2, because we wouldn’t have the low efficiency boost driver, but maybe in the future Sofirn will do it…

That is very interesting. I wonder if you were able to get a different batch without the timed step down.

Barry, Did Sofirn make a revision on the driver?

I did a quick test last weekend:

- battery: LG INR21700 M50 5000mAh

- depth 37m max

  • 100minutes divetime

Flashlight attached to my dpv.

Everything looks ok… :slight_smile:

When free diving you are back on surface long before timer kicks in :slight_smile:

I think this is a nice light for recreational diving, i.e., when you fly somewhere warm couple of times a year for few days of diving.

- is very small, easy to fit in luggage

- medium is good enough for night dive, high is nice for lighting dark holes during a day (you don’t need it constantly on then so timer should not be an issue)

- orange peel reflector is ok, you don’t see anything beyond 30-50m even in very clear water anyway, for signaling you not supposed to be farther than 10-20m from your buddy/group on such dives

  • it WILL corrode, so is not good for daily diving, this is a problem with all lights that have a current path thru the metal body, salt water acts as electrolyte and metal will corrode and this is happening while you use your light underwater so no amount of rinsing after will help, this will only get worse as light gets banged up and anodizing comes off in some spots. SD01 has battery holder and I think current does not go thru the body.

Hi, can i use my Nitecore NL2150 on that Sofirn SD05