Hi all, I received an SP10S from Sofirn for review. This is a side-clicky light which operates on a single AA alkaline or NiMH or 14500 Li-ion battery.
Here are some relevant specifications:
Samsung LH351D 90 CRI LED (~5000K according to my eyes)
37.6 g without battery (my measurement)
88.2 mm long, max diameter of 21.3 mm at side switch (my measurement)
Output and runtime (Sofirn specifications)
NiMH:
Eco 0.5 lumen 284h; Low 13 lumen 5h35min; Medium 55 lumen 8h45min; High 120 lumen 2h12min; Turbo 255 lumen 51min Strobe 200 lumen 51min
14500:
Eco 0.5 lumen 227h; Low 13 lumen 46h21min; Medium 80 lumen 9h 36min; High 310 lumen 2h11min; Turbo 800 lumen 37min Strobe 800 lumen
I have no way to quantify the output, but the numbers look reasonable to me. Eco is a nice moonlight and the light is very bright in turbo with either battery chemistry. See beamshots later on in this review.
How is the user interface?
Good. Short click once to turn on, and continue clicking to cycle through the modes. Long click to turn off (>0.5 s). Two clicks from off or when on will access turbo, then click once to return to last used mode. Three clicks from off or on to access strobe and then one click to return to last used mode. Note that if you access turbo or strobe from off, the light will switch back off with one short click. With NiMH battery, the light always starts in low. It would be more correct to describe the user interface as L—>M—>H—>ML with no memory.
What if I want mode memory?
If you use a Li-ion battery, the light remembers the last mode used but operates the same otherwise. Strobe and turbo are not memorized.
How is the tint and beam?
I like it a lot. The beam is good for all around use with what I would call a medium-sized hot spot and the spill is wide enough. There aren’t any odd artifacts in the beam. The tint looks to be fairly close to the black body locus and is relatively uniform across the beam. CRI seems very good.
Will the switch activate in my pocket?
It did in my pocket, but the light can be locked out with four fast clicks (emphasis on fast). I couldn’t move my thumb fast enough to reliably lock out the light. I found it far easier to lock out by slightly unscrewing the tail cap.
What if I install the battery backwards?
I didn’t see any documentation of reverse polarity protection, but I found no continuity between the positive contact on the driver and the metal ring around it, and confirmed with Sofirn that it is for mechanical reverse polarity protection. The higher height of the ring prevents the negative end of a battery from making contact with the positive contact of the driver, but allows a button top to fit. I’m not sure if a flat top cell would work because I have none. The 14500 battery I used was a protected Fenix brand cell.
Is it well-made?
Very much so. The machining is good, anodizing seems good, and the switch feels high-quality. Nothing rattles or feels like the tolerances should have been tighter. The threads are square and feel good. The battery tube can be reversed, which is necessary to do if you want to reverse the orientation of the pocket clip.
Beamshots:
Left: SP10S in Eco mode, Center: HDS 219B 4000K R9050 @ 0.5 lumens, Right: Thrunite Ti3 V2 in firefly mode (XP-G2 NW)
The following two photos were taken with the same exposure and 5200K white balance.
SP10S in turbo with fully charged 14500 (protected Fenix cell).
Final thoughts:
This is a very well made light, with nice tint and CRI, good output on NiMH or Li-ion, and good user interface.