Sofirn SP36, impressions of a sample

How does this compare to Sofirn Q8?

The SP36 is a Q8 a bit shrunken, a bit more lightweight, a bit less thermal performance (lower runtime in turbo before stepdoen, but still minutes), but becasue it uses the lower voltage XP-L2 instead of XP-L, the output (stock) is the same as the Q8, with some yellow corona around the hotspot as is typical for XP-L2 (I do not find it disturbing). Also the same as the Q8 is the UI (Narsil 1.0), but (see above) there are plans for Anduril.

I think the most significant difference with the Q8 is that it has USB charging, and it is even the faster (2A) USB-C.

According to its manual the SP36 uses NarsilM 1.2 but I don't know (yet) where the difference is to version 1.0.

NarsilM v1.2 adds momentary/tactical (I think it’s from Off, do a 4 clicks or 5 clicks will go to momentary mode), this is not present on NarsilM v1.0.

Plus the strobes modes in v1.0 are a bit harder to access (non-cycleable), in NarsilM v1.2, the strobes modes can be cycled.

There’s a lot that I like about this light. I love my pair of Q8 lights but they’re kinda bulky for a coat pocket. I’m hoping that this one will be just that much smaller and easier to carry.

I’m waiting for a real-life sample to be posted and then I’d bet I pull the trigger and add an SP36 to my lights.

Any idea if it’ll eventually be sold on Amazon like the rest of the Sofirn line?

The most important difference is CC with around 5500K as stated in the lab report.
And hard to change LEDs or mod.
I don’t think I buy it, a D4S seems a better option to me. LED, optic and firmware changeable.

A pdf with the changes is in the Google dir
Should be all mentioned in the first post

40-45 dollar group buy.please

nice wishes … but I think you are too old to believe in xmas … :wink:

I have not heard anything of a group buy yet…

The price seemed to jump a few bucks from the first time it was released. If it can come down a bit and I can see a real-life sample, I’d be ready to order one.

I want one with XP-L HI !!!

The performance of the SP36 was definitely better than I expected. It’s like a BLF Q8, but smaller and with a pretty decent charger built in. I’m not sure how exactly it manages to throw as well as it does, since the optics are smaller and it’s not using a dedomed emitter.

I’m not sure how much I’ll actually use it, because multi-cell lights like this are a bit large for me to carry around, but I like it more than I thought I would.

Even Minor Deity’s enjoy having extra power in their wand. :wink:

Thanks for information Rozz. I might have to pick up one if on Amazon.

I own Sofirn Q8 x 2 so this will be nice addition.

I recently translated the manual of the SP36 and NarsilM 1.2 into German. Currently, I’m asking Sofirn if they agree to let me publish the part of the manual that is about NarsilM only, so no specific information about the SP36 would be disclosed before it is being sold on Amazon.

I assume this would actually help a lot of German/Austrian/Swiss people who bought the Q8, BLF GT and many other flashlights that come with NarsilM.

Do I need to ask anyone else for approval, e.g. Tom E who created NarsilM?

By the way, what if I plan to do a German translation of Andúril‘s UI? Selene („Toykeeper“), if you are reading this, maybe you could give me some advice if there’s anything to consider? Thank you!

Cheers, Thomas

Andúril doesn’t have much of a manual, so you would need to write most of it instead of merely translating something. The closest thing there is to a manual right now is the manual for RampingIOS V3 by phil_g. It uses a CC0 license so it is okay to make and publish derivative works. The basic ramping functions are the same, but the rest of the interface is different.

In any case, I would be happy to add a manual into the firmware repository if one is written.

Thank you for your quick feedback Toykeeper! :-)

If I get to find some time I will try to set up something similar to the NarsilM manual both in English and German. FWIW, the Andúril UI chart is very helpful and self-explanatory already.

I saw that this light is back down a few bucks on Black Friday and who am I to resist a flashlight sale? I’ve enjoyed my four other Sofirn lights (and gifted three to family members who also love them) so why not take a chance on this?

Well, I did it. Ordered one just now and a trio of 30Q cells from Mtnelectronics.com.

I’m planning some night snowshoeing hikes with my son and this will be fun to try out.