Sofirn SP10B - Impact resistance issues?

The led on my first one came off. Sofirn sent me a new one no questions asked. Didnā€™t want the old one back. Gave me a good opportunity to learn how to reflow an emitter. Now I have 2 . :smiley: They are nice little lights with nice neutral even beam patterns.

Iā€™ve been EDCing mine in my pocket for quite a while already, and no problems so far, thank Bā€™harni (pbuh!).

But you did not drop it, neh? :slight_smile:

Thankfully, no. I try not to.

Frankly, unless I do it up myself, pot the driver, seal everything up tight, I donā€™t count on any claims of drop-resistance, water-tightness, etc. Some bozo at the factory could run short of O-rings and keep assembling lights without them anyway, yā€™know? So even if everyone elseā€™s is perfectly water-tight, you might be one of the lucky 0.1% whose light is missing a critical O-ring. And unless you take it apart first, or give it an unfortunate dunk, youā€™ll never even know.

How did that happen? :open_mouth:

Just happened. One day it stopped working. Unscrewed the head to find the emitter off.

Take more than one lightā€¦. or get a Zebralight and drop it as much as you like

Iā€™m impressed with Sofirnā€™s attention to this thread. :sunglasses:

It sounds like their light has a problem, but they are taking direct action to address it. Hopefully, theyā€™ll figure out what is causing the problem and fix it for future manufacturing runs.

I bought an SP10A and a SP10B. They both arrived today. The SP10A failed with the same symptoms as reported in the OP. The difference is I didnā€™t drop it. I just swapped the AA NiMH for a 14500 and the flashlight flickered and quit. It tried to start a few times but is now inert.
Iā€™m thinking bad switch or flaky driver. This one will be going back to Amazon for replacement.

ahh, you guys are gonna make me regret my decision to order blue sp10b :person_facepalming: i am thinking maybe better choice was to get another sf10, it is cheaper and looks more reliableā€¦

Check to see if the emitter is attached. The head has to be removed because the spacer will hold it in place with reflector in it. Mine flickered before it died. Iā€™m guessing cold solders.

I have a blue and a red SP10B on order, when they arive I will do some throwarounds on the oak floor and see how they fare after that.

I took my chance and I ordered 1 red and 1 blue.
The waiting process begun. :slight_smile:

I havenā€™t seen many complaints.

Both SP10Bā€™s have arrived and how nice they are! :slight_smile:

But I promised a drop test, I want to know too if my units are prone to failure. With the kind assistence of my 7-year old son, here it is. Iā€™m happy to say that although the drops did cause mode changes and switching off, both lights kept working fine.

Thanks for the test. Hardwood or laminate?

How do you like the UI Djozz?
Looks like they handled the drop test just fine. :+1:

Wow djozz. Theres got to be a few mums worried about their daughters in your area. Glad I live over here. :wink:

I LOVE IT!!!

Now THAT is the way to perform a drop test. :beer:

And, tomorrow, let us know (after 10 more drop tests) if they both survive the night :wink:

A couple days ago, only a day or two after I received it, I accidentally knocked my new Sofirn SF14 off the counter onto a bath mat. It stopped working. I ended up taking it apart and noticed that the LED was no longer attached to the MCPCB. I did a sloppy half-assed ā€œreflowā€ so I could confirm that the disconnected emitter was the root cause, and not something like an inductor breaking loose. I confirmed the diagnosis, and in the process did an accidental dedome mod. I wrote sofirn via aliexpress. I havenā€™t heard back from them yet.

Sometime in the interim, I dropped the red SP10b Iā€™ve had since ~December onto a harder surface. It still works fine.