Nice review Dale. Thanks for the answer.
I’ll say it again, I’m really impressed with Sofirn. I got the first C8F to review and it had XP-G3 emitters on aluminum, a protected cell came with it and there were issues with the emitters wanting more than the cell could provide. When I put a high drain cell in, fried an emitter! So I recommended they go to a DTP copper MCPCB with XP-L emitters and I rebuilt my sample in this way to show them what it would do… they listened! And promptly came out with a side switch with multiple groups and the required copper and emitter combination. It’s a real beauty, doesn’t need modification but lends itself well to a few tweaks. 
For what it’s worth, my first sample the reflector fitted beautifully over an 32mm Noctigon, made for an easy upgrade. 
Now, y’all know the XP-L2 is out, right? Imagine this triple C8 loaded with XP-L2’s……
Not kidding, I’ve seen the XP-L2 break 2300 lumens in a single emitter single cell application. So what would 3 of them do here? Interesting, very interesting….
Nice review, Dale. I’ve reviewed the Sofirn SF36 and have a C8 host in transit. I swear, I’m more and more impressed with Sofirn each day.
And you can’t even build this stuff for the prices they’re charging. Assuming you could get the triple reflector… C8 host: $10. 32mm MCPCB with 3 high-binned XP-L emitters: $25. Driver: $12. Battery: $5. Charger: $5. Total: $57. Pre-bypassed wires even. They’re going to put lesser modders out of business!
Thanks, I know there are some folks that really work wonders with charting and graphing and CRI rendering scopes and X-Ray machines and maybe some Martian help with the beam or something, so I don’t try to go all Einstein on anybody. Other’s are better at it, so I just like to show how it’s made, what makes it good (or bad) and how it can be made better. Sometimes, lately, a mfgr just get’s it so right I don’t even mod it! 
I know, I said it. 
sad times at modder’s high. 
BTW, I have the 36 and like it a lot. It compares very favorably to the Lumintop SD26, albeit maybe not as sleek. Lights like those, drop in an SST-40 and you’re good to go!
whats the stock throw on the light?
im curious how it would stack against astrolux c8…
Remember that this is a triple reflector light, like the Q8 is a quad reflector or like the BTU Shocker is a triple, only much smaller than that here in the C8 format. So, it’s better than building a C8 with a Ledil CUTE-3 Optic but of course less, much less, than a built C8 with throw in mind….
28.5Kcd Lux
337.64M throw
Hi everyone else :-D and Dale, saw your last comments in my C8T review thread a while ago. Ya know, don't be jealous about what others do in their reviews, jealousy virtue is not. Everyone shares his/her two cents and so do you. :THUMBS-UP:
I am also going to receive one of these C8F torches hopefully in a few days. This seems like a nice bundle, even if the chosen cell wrap seems funnily misleading. 
In the meantime, my kitchen lamp's central 5730 led array got ruined and is now undergoing a prolonged downtime while I receive a new 100 pack of Osram Duris E5 CRI85 5700K 5730 emitters and bases. In about two weeks everything should be at home but damn, Christmas is just around the corner… 
Cheers :-)
Not to de-rail your C8F thread, but what advantage would you say you gained over the stock XP-L2?
I’ve seen around 40-50% increase in a light running at about 3A, so say a light has 900 lumens max… swap in an SST-40 and it’ll be in the 1400 lumens range. A bit on the blue-white side, but not bad and certainly acceptable if that increase is needed. (most of the time)
The idea of a triple with a reflector in the C8 format is enticing. I just might have to get me one. Do you know what the driver diameter is? Looks like 17mm in your photo. I will be replacing it with one of my own.
Went outside and took a little video with my smallest camera, probably talked too much but I guess y’all are used to that by now. It’s uploading to YouTube, will post it directly. (now, this is unedited so don’t expect too much)
Not sure about the C8F, I’ll leave that for Dale. But I do know they sell C8 hosts in both 17 and 20mm.
Driver in this one is 17mm.
Great review!
And looks like a great light. Sofirn is putting out a lot of quality offerings. :sunglasses:
Another great review, Dale. Thank you!
Ordered one to add to my small collection
So, a dozen lights is a good start, right?
All the best and Merry Christmas
Mike
<drooling uncontrollably>
Merry Christmas Mike.
And the rest a y’as too!
Hey Dale, gave you taken a look at the switch pcb yet? I’m curious if it has pads for leds.
This looks like a good candidate for one of Lexels TA drivers.
A rear switch might be nice to avoid parasitic drain. Have you tested the drain yet? I guess the anodized rear threads mean you can give it a quarter turn to lock it out.
Concerning the stock driver, what do you think of the UI? Is it one click to turn on, press and hold to turn off? How does the memory work, do you have to press and hold 0.5 second to get it to come on in the last mode? Does a normal click on always start in low?
I hope it will be offered in CW color as well.
A 26650 version of this light would be really sweet.