Behold! Sofirn SP36 2700K with (retail) Diffuser

tl;dr bought an SP36, loved it, bought two and a half more, then found a diffuser that fit

The first flashlight I bought after discovering this community was a Sofirn SP36 BLF Anduril 5000K (with Samsung LH351D emitters, of course). Now just look at that ā€œtechnobabbleā€! Figuring out what each one of those key words meant was an adventure - and Iā€™ve learned a lot in just a few months.

As soon as the SP36 5000K arrived (from Amazon) the primary use became being a nightstand lamp before bed, ceiling bounced. The infinite variability of brightness and no concerns about thermal stepdown, at least not in a dark room where only a bit of light was needed, was wonderful. Previously I had flipped the light switch across the room and stumbled to the bed in the dark. No longer! And my wife approved of this new arrangement, as well.

Then Sofirn goes and releases the other color temperature options. And on top of that I found out that my SP36 had an old version of Anduril with less efficient thermal management and no factory reset. By this time I had also learned that warmer color temperatures are more pleasing at night, so I naturally wanted to try out the 2700K version for my primary use case. But, wait, why stop at one when you can have two for just twice the price! So I also ordered another 5000K to get it with the newer Anduril revision. And then I figured Anduril 2 isnā€™t far off, so I added an SP36 host and driver to the order, as well, so I could try my hand at programming in the future.

OK, OK. So what about the diffuser? Since I want to use this as a nightstand light, I was curious what it would look like with a diffuser. I donā€™t believe that Sofirn is all that interested in making one for the SP36 (like they have for the Q8) because it might cut into LT1 sales. I donā€™t think it actually would cut into those sales, but that is just the reasoning I came up with of why they donā€™t offer one. So I set out to find a flashlight with the same head diameter that does have a diffuser available. Parametrek ā€™s website made this a lot more enjoyable research project than I had expected. And what do you know, Magliteā€™s ML50/100/150 have the same head diameter as an SP36 (listed as 50mm). Lucky me, I found a coupon AND they offered free shipping, so the price came out to be about $7 and arrived in a week directly from Maglite.

But does it actually fit the SP36? Sort of. Itā€™s a very loose slip fit. So as long as the light sits on the nightstand, no problems. But if youā€™d pick it up and tip the light the diffuser would fall off. Perhaps I could secure it better with some kind of thick tape to fill the gap. But right now Iā€™m not all that concerned. And my wife is happy. :sunglasses:

Oh and props / praise to Lan Lee at Sofirn customer service who guaranteed that the two SP36s and driver board I was ordering (this time directly from Sofirn website) would indeed have the March 2020 Anduril version.

looks like a regular SP36 :stuck_out_tongue: set the white balance on you camera and take some comparison beam shots! :D:D:D

Since Sofirn didnā€™t release a diffuser for the SP36, I pulled out my calipers and 3D printed one.