Today I got Sofirns SP33V3.0 in the mail, ordered yesterday at Sofirns shop on Amazon.de :+1:
What’s in the box:
Beside light and battery, there’s a lanyard, an adapter for 21700 cells, the manual, an USB-A to USB-C cable.
Look & feel:
It’s not made for the catwalk, but probably for everything else. That said, machining is without visible marks, anodization is perfect, tailcap and head threads have seen enough grease. The bezel thread might have got locktide. I know Sofirn uses red locktide on the C01S head assemblies since the sandblasted raw aluminum edition. Can be removed with some force. (just removed the bezel, no glue) There are no surprises here, the SP33V3.0 is a quality budget light. Especially the charging port cover is excellent. It is quite thick and firmly covers the port. And it gives you a hint where to find the switch (opposite side). Unfortunately, the switch, while feeling is nice, sits flush with the heads surface. I’d say it’s neigh on impossible to find it in the dark without trying all sides.
There’s no clip, but a lanyard that can be attached to the tailcap without compromising tail-stand ability.
Battery and internal charging:
The light comes with a Sofirn 5500 mAh 26650 battery (I measured 3,8 V out of the box) inserted, contact covered by an insulating plate, that has to be removed. I charged the battery via internal charging electronics. Final voltage was 4,202 V.
Parasitic drain is in the range of 36 to 37 µA.
LED and optics:
In focus of an orange peel reflector is a cold white XHP50.2. This LED is known for its colorful beam. A white center sourround with rings from yellow to blue. It doesn’t matter really when used outside.
I own two lights with XHP50.2 and one with a XHP50. Among the former there’s a Convoy C8 equipped with BLF A6 driver and OPR, so all lights are quite copmpareable with the Olight R50 the light with the widest spill and the C8 the light with the most narrow spill.
To measure lumens, the lights are directed towards the walls in my white bathroom while measuring reflections from the ceiling. I think this is a precise enough method to at least compare different flashlights. I take it the Olight R50 realistically emits 2500 lm and so is used as a standard. Range was measured via direct measurment of brightness at 4m distance.
lumen | range | |
Sofirn SP33V3.0 | 3578 lm | 339 m |
Olight R50 | 2500 lm | 306 m |
Convoy C8 | 2730 lm | 418 m |
While it seems the Olight R50 is aging, it is still a light with an extraordinary wide spill. Excellent seeker light. But this is not really useful for general purpose application and especially it easily blinds oncoming people even when targeted to the floor. That’s where the Sofirn play its cards. It is bright, has a useful spill larger than a C8, but limited enough to not lose control about not blinding other people. Nice for walking the dog as well as for scanning your property. It’s a general purpose light.
Thermal regulation:
The light reaches 50 °C when the regulation kicks in. It then keeps the temperature at 46 °C while maintaining at least 510 lm. That’s really nice.
The A6 driver of the C8 stepped down after 35s. The body reached 31 °C. Of course, the driver is not made for C8 type lights that have a significant thermal mass. The good thing with timed stepdowns: You can straight go back to turbo.
The Olight R50 stepped down to about 70% brightness after 65s. The body reached 40 °C. This is far away from the specs, but this is a real world test with an older battery @3,9V. I wasn’t waiting for the official two minutes to 800 lm.
UI:
Stepped and Ramping. I will only describe the stepped mode.
If you know the Olight R50 operation, you’ll know the Sofirn except there’s moonlight which is, like turbo, not in the regular mode set. Access it by a long press. Press and hold to cycle through three modes, double click gets it into turbo, click and hold gets it back from where it came. A single click to switch it off. It can be so easy.
Final thoughts
I’m a huge fan of the 26650 format. The diameter is very pleasing for typical uses of a flashlight. Not to small, not too big. This flashlight delivers a serious amount of light, is stable at above 500 lumens, has quite some spill but still a bright spot for a good range. A true allrounder. Alas, I’m not a fan of cold white LEDs, especially this one has color abberations. Not Sofirns fault, my C8 does it, too. It’s ok outside if you can live with CW. Sooner or later I will replace the LED by something warmer in the 5050 format, maybe something domeless or dedomed.
The UI is perfect. I’m sure I’d never miss a mode that’s not in the modeset, moon or turbo. Being limited to three useful modes lets you forget about ramping. It’s far easier to cycle through them to get where you want to be.
Considering the price and the complete package with battery and chargin port, this is a steal. And it has a real broad audience.