[Review] Sofirn C8A Kit (1x18650, XP-L2) ~ Brightest Stock C8

The Sofirn C8A was kindly provided by a kind seller on AliExpress.
Here's the product's link: Sofirn C8A Kit


Starting with the packaging, the light was delivered inside a plain cardboard box.
The box has some foam padding in order to protect its contents.


Except from the flashlight, you get a lanyard, 2 spare o-rings, a li-ion charger, a microUSB cable,
a Sofirn branded 18650 cell and an instruction manual.

As indicated by its name, the flashlight has a C8 form factor.
Its surface is anodized with a smooth black coating. The finish of the light is excellent.


The flashlight has a minimal design.
The knurling-free body with the satin black finish gives it a low-key / tactical look.


The head of the light has a mildly crenelated bezel as well as some heatsinking fins.
The lens are AR coated.


The beefy threads are square cut and the tail-side ones are also anodized which allow the user
to lock out the light by slightly twisting the tailcap.

In order to decrease the system's overall resistance, the tailcap spring comes bypassed from the factory.
The bypass is done with an 22 AWG silicone wire.


Unscrewing the reverse-threaded retaining ring give yous access to the tail's components.
The switch is reverse-clickie and quite tactile.


Continuing the effort to lower resistance, the driver's LED+ spring contact is also bypassed.
The driver itself is consisted out of 2 FETs and can deliver a significant amount of power.

The C8A comes with an XP-L2 neutral white emitter.
The emitter is mounted on a copper DTP board which is crucial for the amount of power this thing draws.
As seen, two screws keep the MCPCB from rotating, while there is plenty thermal paste applied.

The emitter is nicely centered inside the smooth reflector.

The C8A is actually a bit shorter than the regular Convoy C8.
From left to right: Klarus Mi7 Ti, Convoy S2+, Sofirn C8A, Convoy C8


For the last part, I decided to remove the cell's wrap.
After unraveling it, I saw that its wrapper was pink, but no markings were imprinted onto it.
The cell has actually a similar performance with my Samsung 25R so we might have to do with a
rebranded Samsung 30Q in here (no guarantees about this).


User Interface

The flashlight’s driver’s has two different mode groups that can be altered by a triple half press of the switch.
Group 1: Low > Mid > High
Group 2: Moonlight > Low > Mid > High > SOS

In order to access the Strobe, you need to do two quick half presses of the switch from any mode.

The moonlight mode is actually the lowest that I have seen in a flashlight.
I would estimated that it produces around a lumen of light.
The high mode does have a turbo timer set at 3 minutes. Once the timemark is reached, the driver will switch to medium mode.


Performance

In order to get my measurements I used a clamp meter and a Samsung 25R cell.

Mode - Current (A) - Ceiling Bounc Lux
Moonlight - <0.01 - 1
Low - 0.16 - 13
Mid - 1.69 - 70
High - 6.96 - 230

Also, here's the ceiling bounce test results for comparison:



To sum everything, I think that the Sofirn C8A is probably the most powerful (in terms of output) stock C8 flashlight.
The XP-L2 combines a good amount of throw (should be able to do 50K+ lux) and a large spill, while the overall quality of the host is flawless.

I ordered one of these for myself as a Christmas present. It’s a great, bright, light. I only wish I had something better to do than light up the tops of the evergreens within line-of-sight from my front porch. That, and freak out the neighbors if I accidentally let the hot-spot land on their house.

Most of us buy lights not because we really need them but because we like having them.
Realistically speaking, most of people could fulfill their needs with just one 100 Lumen light.

Having said that, ain’t nobody going to stay with just a flashlight after joining the forum :slight_smile:

Yuh-huh, “accidentally”… :smiling_imp:

More like a purposely accident :slight_smile:
Just like how I treat my neighbors.
I mean you got to shine at somewhere, and provided that you live in a city, that somewhere has to be one of your neighbors.

We also have Sofirn C8F on Aliexpress:

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Sofirn-New-C8F-Powerful-LED-Flashlight-3-Cree-XPL-18650-Portable-Torch-light-Tactical-LED-Flashlight/3145031_32840548723.html?spm=2114.12010615.0.0.7abc77d0t5STV2

Can I get a coupon code for Sofin C8A
Thank you

Would you have an estimated throw distance for the Sofirn C8A vs the Sofirn C8T?
(the Sofirn website lists 250m and 500m respectively, but I’m not sure if those are correct, since some people have mentioned that the C8T can possibly out-throw the Astrolux C8, which is listed as 640m throw distance)

Regarding the Sofirn C8 series (C8A, C8T):

What is replacement part for tailswitch and rubber boot?
The boot looks a bit bigger than usual.

I assume the switch board is either a 16mm or 17mm switch but what about total length?

Cheapest source to get multiple switches?
Links please.

Thank you for your help.

Contact Sofirn HERE on BLF. I am sure they will get you all squared away.