[Postponed] Sofirn SP10R - deep red AA/14500 EDC

Pretty much. Like I said, I got my WK30s and Artemis if I need red light, even my HS-801s if inclined to dig ’em out.

Rewinding a bit, when lights were easy to mod, it wouldn’t be much to just throw in a different driver to get what I wanted. Now, with lights having pretty much custom drivers, sideswitches (wired, satellite-board, whatever), modding is a no-go, at least for me. So unless I get it off-the-shelf pretty much the way I want it, I’m either going to be stuck with a UI that pisses me off (even only occasionally), or I just pass on it entirely and save myself the ag.

In this case, yeah, a red light is a pretty specific niche item, so unless I know it’s not going to piss me off, I’d just give it a pass. Personally, I don’t see what’s wrong with low-high and nomem, but adding firefly would be something extra, and, well, that’s it. I wouldn’t want anything beyond that, because a red light isn’t going to be anyone’s EDC, so the light shouldn’t try to be that.

Again, that’s just my opinion. Anyone wants candle-mode or whatever, hey, have at it…

Interested!

Interested

Interested in two.

Especially the firefly and low light modes should be reprogrammable. If they got too low / too bright, they would not be usable for close range usage. Mode Memory should be choosable (or no at all and then allways started with lowest mode). Preserving night vision would be the main feature for me. Thank You.

Yours Frederik

Interested in 2.

Why not ramping UI?

Interested!

Interested in one.

Interesting. 2A is fine and matches the manufacturer's absolute maximum rating. If the heat path in the flashlight is good maybe you could drive it a little bit harder without issue, although maybe the meat of the matter is in the boost driver when operating with Ni-MH and alkalines. :???:

I remember having built a custom dedomed red XP-E2 SK98 (with decently shelved pill) driven at a hair above 2A, and it seemed to handle the heat well (and it certainly is a lot more impressive than the same host with stock driver and a blue XP-G3, could re-check this just a while ago).

Valid question. Ramping was never part of the smaller AA/AAA Sofirn lights and it would mean a considerable break in consistency. However, there is a project ongoing to developing an SP10S Andúril version, providing the full potential of flexibility. I don't think Sofirn wants to put too much development work into SP10R since they have some more cool things about AA and AAA lights in mind, coming in the future. So, looking at things from a cost-wise side, keeping the UI more or less as is and simple, should result in both fast market launch and reasonable pricing.

By the way, talking about keeping things simple and (not) consistent :-P .... Barry and I have talked a lot back and forth about using strobe modes in SP10R. We discussed the (obsolete) SOS mode, the beacon mode and of course the bike strobe mode. However, in the end we came to the conclusion that it's best for a deep red EDC like SP10R to not use any strobe modes at all. Bottom line so far: SP10R will come without any strobe modes.

Woohoo! Interest rekindled. :laughing:

Glad to have you back on board, Lightbringer. :sunglasses: :+1:

I am interested in this light.

I think this is a wise decision :+1:

OK :+1:

Very interested. I love the xp-e2 photo red version and can only think the SST-20DR will be better. Even if it’s similar, I used mine today and they’re great lights. Thanks for making this happen.
Is there any point in the photo red xp-g3 and a reflector for a tiny flooder?

I’m interested. Thanks!

Interested

Actually, Barry and I were thinking already what other Sofirn flashlight could maybe benefit from SST20-DR. I suppose IF25A could be a nice host for a quad array with around 1.000lm deep red light but it takes a different (constant current) driver, ideally aiming 8A of regulated maximum current.

I’m interested.