Sofirn SP36, impressions of a sample

Yep, that appears to be the stuff! MG Chemicals is high qual. I've used their stuff before. Interesting Sofirn did things by the book here, or even beyond with extra care. That big part I'm pretty sure is used for the charging circuit, so from my experiences in blowing up (ahh, attempting repairs) chargers, I'd say this type of thing is commonly used in charging circuits, and there is a bit of juice going through these parts. The description of the red varnish is more for electrical use (arc prevention) rather than heat - dunno how that applies to that part.

The big part seems a coil to me, I guess it is needed to change the USB voltage to the battery voltage.

any group buy preparing? Or special codes?

I used this code back on Dec 31st at BG: M**** great price (best), but forgot where I got the code or if it's still good -- think from Martin? Problem is BG is saying backorder til Jan 28th

Please don’t post codes online.

Some unscrupulous people will take the code, and post it somewhere else.

Just pm'ed kajman with the code and price -- best price and the code is still working!!

Just not in stock til end of Jan....

That sounds like a nice upgrade from the cool white version. XP-L2 and XP-G3 both have a pretty strong rainbow effect though, where different parts of the beam are very different colors. People typically prefer something with a more consistent beam color, like XP-L HI or LH351D.

[quote=ToyKeeper]

+++1 !!!

XPL HI V2 5D and LH351D 4000K 90+ CRI. I think the XPL HI 5D is the best tint and beam there is right now, but that's me.

+1 for the XPL HI 5D

Please Sir, no more soup, but can some kind soul pm me the promo code and special price?

(Who needs food when you can have lumen overload! ) :stuck_out_tongue:

Sign up at m4dm4x.com Martin has a code for the SP36.

Done Ohhh, that is Martin's (M4DM4X) code...

Always check his deals first even if you think you got a good deal, I always do now (am I allowed to say that? ).

The YouTubers offer discounts but Martin's are pretty much always better.

Thanks guys…. :+1:

I’d sacrifice the wife in your honor but then, I won’t know where to find my underwear…. :person_facepalming:

Hans anyone noticed if low battery is indicated in red on the switch LED's? Wondering, didn't try yet but noticed the circuitry driving the switch LED's is pretty sophisticated. Trying to reverse engineer..

No, it doesn’t do that. It seems the red LED is only used while charging and not full.

K, thanks! I see a few 3 lead parts plus resistors feeding both wires going to the switch PCB (AUX LED's). Maybe the input from the MCU is going thru resistor(s) and acting as a pass-thru in the other components to one of those wires, not sure. My EE friend I guess is not fond of reverse engineering because if I ask him bout this stuff, he always asks me where's the schematic :FACEPALM:

What would be a good deal price for SP36? I want to buy one, but since I don’t really need it and I already have the Q8, I can wait for a discount to come along, just need to know what price to aim for.
Right now the lowest I can find is $52 on Aliexpress, and I can’t justify this price (Q8 is going for $46 on Banggood right now).

I think a deal of around 45 dollar should come along at some point. But when we discussed a possible group buy pricing some time ago (a group buy did not happen btw), Barry assured me that the SP36 is a more expensive flashlight than the Q8, so do not expect extremely low deals for it.

Curious, do you know what makes it more expensive? Is it just because of the USB charging circuitry? Or the new LEDs are more expensive?

It is mainly the USB charging feature I think. Looking at the circuit board (with my limited electronics knowledge) it is implemented in a proper way.

Another reason can be that the development costs have been higher than the Q8. All expertise that went into the Q8 came from BLF, while for adding USB-charging to the SP36 both hardware and software had to be newly developed by Sofirn.