Short Review of Sofirn SP33 v2 with XHP50.2

will dedoming the led give a tighter hotspot? even with the orange peel reflector? I asked sofirn to include a smooth reflector in my order. the old one was SMO so i hope i can just switch it out. Does anyone have the old and the new model?

Are you refering to the 18650 version C8F?

My 21700 version goes straight to moonlight.

Well, you can go from moonlight to turbo if you want.

Yes. A bit tighter hotspot for longer throw, but also a bit less brightness.

The OP texture is really light. I doubt you would see much difference going to SMO. I imagine the SMO will measure a bit higher lux, though.

DB Custom will have both v1 and v2 pretty soon. Comparing pics, the reflector hole at the bottom of the SMO looks similar to the OP so you may not need to drill it bigger. You never know, it might require some massaging to get it to fit over the xhp50.2

Yep, the 18650 version. It turns on as soon as the button is pressed and goes to the remembered mode, and only goes to ML after the button has been held down long enough to distinguish that it’s a hold. It drives me crazy. They should have just skipped the ML altogether on that light.

I guess you can cover the end of the light real quick whenever you need moonlight. A bit inconvenient.

The newer UI on the 21700 is definitely an improvement. I didn’t even bother buying the 18650 version because of it’s UI. I think it was one click on, press/hold for off. That really annoys me.

When you go to turbo from off yes a single click turns the light off but when you go into turbo from any other mode the first click returns to the previous mode and only then does the subsequent click power off. I agree that’s quite a bit annoying!

I actually like this feature. I’ll be walking along on Med for instance and might need to look further than normal so I activate Turbo, look around, then go back to Med to continue my walk. I wish NarsilM did that. Instead, it goes off and you have to click the light back on. So you go completely dark for a second.

Oh well, you can’t have it both ways. Lol

i agree, i like it too.
Similar to other lights i have, like DQG 26650.
The momentary turbo of the Concept 1 is great too.

So, i’m trying to find a good TIR optic for the Nichia 144A…
The 3 candidates that would fit in the SP33 don’t make me happy…
The 144A is one difficult LED to work with…
Maybe i should slice the dome off…
But i ordered some TIRs i hadn’t seen before.
Waiting… maybe 1 month, maybe even 2…

+1… I like that feature a lot. :+1: … To each his own though. :wink:

For those wanting to change the LED tint, but can only find 20mm mcpcb, here are some pics I did of a 50.2 on a 20mm board.

So it looks like it will fit. Just solder your wires to the outer part of the pad and keep the solder somewhat flat. You can even add some tape to the reflector as extra protection against a short.

Nice work Jason. Yeah, mine should be here Monday, they’re saying.

When a reflector sits that close to the pads on the MCPCB I always overlay the base of the reflector with Kapton tape. I have a roll of 2” width, usually cut a square piece and apply it over the hole then trim the hole out with a scalpel. Insurance , and a lot of the time I apply a second piece just in case.

In some cases, I will take the cut off tabs from large Omten switches and use them to move the contact outward, simply by soldering the tab onto the pad and then the wire lead onto the end of the tab outside of the MCPCB. Thermal adhesive helps to secure it at the connection and ensure nothing shorts out.

It’s just the things you learn to do after seeing a wide variety of lights and trying , well, a lot of things…

Mine arrived today 26 days from placement of order. My best time ever for AliExpress.

I am totally impressed with the the SP33 . Nice size light & the ‘Fit n’ Finish’ is “Sofirn Perfect”!! :+1:

Totally satisified with this light as with all my Sofirns. :slight_smile:

I just got my own SP33 in my mailbox when I got home today after work. Nice surprise since tracking said it was going to be done tomorrow!

I’m impressed with the stoutness of the light overall. Thick battery tube, firm springs, solid stainless steel bezel…Nice! No sharp edges. Good tailstandability (is that a word?). The switch isn’t terribly firm but it feels good. A bit more grease on the threads wouldn’t hurt but that’s easily remedied.

I was wondering if I’d be rushing to swap out a NW emitter with my next order from Mtn, but I’m not sure if I will. Yes, it’s cool, but not glaringly cold like some of my older lights.

From a quick shot off of the porch, it lights up the yard well. I like the larger hot spot compared to my Haikelite SC26 and the yellow halo of the 50.2 shouldn’t be an issue outside in real conditions.

Once again, I am enjoying the hand-filling size of the 26650 lights I’ve been using. Maybe it reminds me of carrying my old Maglites back in the day. I don’t know, but the capacity and power of my Shockli cells is greatly appreciated. Thanks Sofirn for reaming the battery tube large enough to use these nice cells!

I predict a good deal of these being sold. What a light for such a good price!

Got my SP33 today, while it’s essentially the same physical light as the one I already had the UI is much different and I find the beam profile just plain ugly. I had to go ahead and slice and dice it to get rid of the horrid aura. The focus is still showing a dark or discolored center to the hot spot. Not sure why Sofirn went with an orange peel reflector for this emitter. Out of the box mine was very cool white, the slice and dice cleared that up and it’s a lot nicer tint now.

For anyone that is going to mod theirs, be careful removing the centering ring… mine was tight enough to do damage to the dome when it came off. This impacted how good a job I could do slicing it as there were splits in the silicone from the torque of the centering ring removal.

The font is different and they added a serial number to this new one.

There is an o-ring that seats low, deep set around the reflector and the bezel bottoms out on it… this o-ring is too large and quite tricky to get back in. I advise leaving it in place if you can, much easier than stuffing the marshmallow back into the piggy bank if you remove it or have it pop out on you while modding… :wink:

Thanks Dale, can you give a quicky description of how you go about slicing and dicing for the uninitiated ? Would you say it is about 5000K now? Mine too is too cool.

Upon closer inspection, these are not the same physical flashlight at all. Still called the SP33, but virtually everything about it is different… it’s longer, wider, has OP reflector vs the original mirror finish, glued in driver vs the brass retaining ring of the original, a smaller spring stuck into an indention in the base of the tail cap vs a large diameter spring that is as wide as the entire inside diameter of the tail cap on the original. Different at every turn…

Wow, longer and wider. It really is different. I thought they only made a few small changes to the body.

The reflector is very slight OP. Practically SMO. I guess they did the light OP just to get rid of a few artifacts because the beam reminds me of a SMO.

I don’t notice any dark spot in the beam center of mine.

I don’t have a serial number either.

Hmmm, odd.

Where the triangle and HOT! Warning is, there is a very very small serial number. See if it’s on yours Jason. I almost missed it…

Slight OP on my defective model No dark spot in center beam No serial number.

Edit : man, that's the smallest serial numbering i ever saw..had to put on head loupe hi mag...SF18K191.

Eco mode is FUBAR on this sample. It can't be activated when the torch has sat and reached room temp. Otherwise all other functions are good.

I love the light. I was refunded entire purchase price. Will get another when they hit Amazon USA.