Thanks for the review Lightbringer. Good to know you like the light. I’ve been eyeing this headlamp and the like because its quite cheap and seems to be built well. Is it easy to access the emitters? How’s the runtime/efficiency?
No idea about the runtime as I don’t have it on me (let someone borrow it for a while), but the front bezel is held in with those 4 screws, and the 2 LEDs are on a custom MCPCB that apparently can be pried off and replaced (rubbery Fujik-like stuff, not epoxy).
I was in fact going to do that, if 20mm stars would fit, solder the 2 together with one set of pads, use the other set to the existing wires coming out from the body. Then let the stars “float” on AS5 (regular thermal goop) held in-place by the reflectors or better yet TIRs if they fit (ordered, not received yet).
Thanks for the info 
. Just the answer I was hoping for. I think I might just buy one of these to play with.
LB, it looks like we pretty well agree on this one. Nice for a cheap, bang-around headlamp. But not something I’d trust my life with.
Getting to the emitters, as LB said, is easy. Doing something with them… maybe not so much. If you want to replace the custom PCB, you might be able to fit 2x 16mm in there, but I don’t think 20mm would fit (I forgot to measure that). Easiest thing would be to reflow other XM-L2s in the original MCPCB.
As far as runtime goes, I measured 200 minutes to empty using a Samsung 35E:
D10&D25 uses same primitive driver with zero stabilization and low efficiency
Yes, the driver in these is quite primitive… reflective of it’s low price. You’d be hard-pressed to find one of those nicer headlamps for the $10-20 that a D10/25 can be had for.
With how square the runtime of those other headlamps are, I’d say they must be using buck drivers which area definitely nicer but considerably more expensive.
It all depends on how much $ you want to spend.
Yes, indeed, i paid 8$ for it and think i can pay more 5$ for dedicated driver with attiny and few AMC7135 on board. Where i can buy it??
Yeah… yeah… I think I might go ahead and design one just for fun. I need to take to original out and take some measurements. I’m thinking maybe 2x CN5710 for 2 amps (instead of 7135s) + a Attiny412 loaded with RampingIOS? That’ll get us proper linear regulation, a great UI, and temp regulation. I could see if there’s room for 4x or 5x 7135 (for 1.4A-1.75A) and an Attiny85 - that’s more familiar territory for a lot of folks. We’ll see.
Waiting impatiently
I am thinking/hoping that this might be a precursor to a Sofirn-branded headlamp similar in design. I think it’s smart to release this under a different brand so as not to tarnish the Sofirn name, get some feedback, feel out the interest level. Hopefully come out with a nice headlamp in the near future.
A true Sofirn headlamp does sound enticing! Maybe someone should bend Barry’s ear
There have been signs that Sofirn’s working on some kind of headlamp, namely: Andúril 2 coming to Sofirn - The general Sofirn development thread - #349 by Sofirn
No information other than that sole post, though.
Thanks for that, I had stopped watching that thread and missed it
I have used it a couple of times to cut in with a paint brush . Used on Med. most of a work day and charged it when I got home. It was down to I think about 15% left . So at Med it will last about I’d guess 6hrs ? It would easily last all day with a larger capacity battery.
I got an email giving an Amazon discount on this light in twin SST-40 configuration. It was a little weak in stock trim, 2.55A or so at the neg end of the cell. I tweaked it and now get 1940 lumens at start on a full Molicel P26A at 6.34A.
Some neat features on this one, but still it’s missing some finer points… like that they should have made the cover plate from Al instead of plastic. I like it, have used it, and for the price it really is difficult to complain much here.
Hats off to Sofirn for some decent quality at an affordable price point. 
I’m with ya… for the price point this thing is punching at, it’s a good deal. But just a couple small things could make it so much better (aluminum cover, taller threads).
The thing that worries me about jacking up the output is the lack of thermal mass and fins to shed the extra heat.
Sooooooo… one of these dealies
like the 35,000lm headlamp mentioned elsewhere?
No, no… That’s the new Convoy H1 in stock form. Without any juicing, it hit and maintained 84°C. Not exactly what I want strapped to my forehead.
Now that I swapped MCU’s and it has RampingIOS with thermal throttling, it’s much safer. I no longer feel like I have a stick of dynamite strapped to my head.
Well, you know, there are no prerequisite’s for actually using the highest level…
At only around 20 watts it shouldn’t be too bad, Lord knows I have much hotter lights.
Still, I wouldn’t want Ol’ Sparky strapped to my head, either.