Andúril 2 coming to Sofirn - The general Sofirn development thread

The Sofirn C01 is currently sold out and production is halted.
Buying one from a fellow BLF member is your best short term option.

However there are some relevant developments on the high-cri warm white 5mm LED flashlight front.

First, you might want to have a look a this thread: [1900k edition is in!] WTS: 1900k-5800k 5mm LED 95+ CRI
BLF member rngwn sells 5mm high-cri LEDs which seem to be at least as nice as the 3200K Yuji LED, although they are 3400K.
Djozz posted his measurements which look promising.
With these LED’s you can convert any 5mm LED flashlight relatively easily into a warm white high-cri one. This might be your best bet at this moment for a Do It Yourself project.

Second, there is also another thread where interest is collected for a Sofirn C01 host version without LED and potting, so people can add their own 5mm LED: Collecting interest for a Sofirn C01 host version
Currently interest seems stuck at around 100, which might not be enough to convince Sofirn to start a production run.

Finally, perhaps Sofirn could use the 5mm 3400K LEDs found by rngwn as a successor to the Yuji LEDs to make a new batch of the C01 flashlight?

You’ll have to take that up with the software programmer.

I just bought a Yuji 3200k from Geuzzz together with his custom S1 Mini with an sst-20 3000k in it. wasnt planning on buying any more flashlights this month (outside of the upcoming D1Sv2 i already set some money aside for when that comes out) but i got too good an offer to pass up on.

I noticed the “Sofirn IF25” tint-ramping flashlight being teased in the Sofirn FB page.

I recall last month (September 2019), it indicated that this tint ramping flashlight will be using 2x LH351D 2700k and 2x LH351D 6500k.

Now the post has been updated again (October 2019), and also they have a link in the Sofirn AliExpress store, but doesn’t seem for sale yet). Now the post indicates that this tint-ramping flashlight uses 2x SST20 2700k and 2x SST20 6500k.

I wonder what would have been better 2x LH351D each of 2700k/6500k or 2x SST20 2700k/6500k?

SST20 LEDs at low brightness level tends to be greenish, so that would be a negative thing for me…

But it looks like they’re still developing the flashlight, hope they can post some teaser videos of the tint-ramp (either with LH351D or with SST20), and maybe ask people for comments…

Tint mixed it won’t be greenish. Though it is a funny mix of CRI 70 and 95.

How so? You think they should use both 70 cri?

Looks like the new Sofirn SP33v3.0 is almost there, it just popped up at AliExpress.

3500lm output from a Cree XHP 50.2, type C USB rechargeable port, 2 groups , group 1: 6 modes from moonlight to turbo, group 2 ramping, stainless steel bezel.


*Screenshot from photo at AliExpress

Almost double the price of the original :confused: at least, for now.

Wonder what the 6 levels will be…

I think it would be best if both had the same CRI, regardless if that’s 70 or 95 because the way it is now both CRI and efficiency will be suboptimal.
But in the case of SST-20 CRI70 is only available in cool CCTs and CRI95 is only warm, so they didn’t really have a choice…

I have an Emisar D4v2 with custom-tint-mixed SST20 (1 each of 3000/4000/5000/6500k SST20 LED). It does look a bit less greenish than other SST20-5000/6500k lights but there's still some green.

Below, I did a tint comparison with a Nichia 219B SW45k R9080 (the right side is a Fireflies PL47 with Nichia 219B SW45K at fixed brightness level) while the D4v2 with mixed-tint SST20 is ramping in brightness.

(granted this is not 'tint-ramping' like the one that will be on the Sofirn IF25, but just a demo...)

If they didn’t have a choice, how could it be a funny mix? This is what confused me about your statement.

Surely Luminus offers a low CRI version in 4000K or warm white. They may be undesirable and cost less. :+1: But would it be worth it? Would people buy the light? It may put people off.

Very interesting, thanks for the input.
My thoughts:

  • 2700+6500 will be rosier than 3000+4000+5000+6500
  • IIRC there were complaints about Emisar AR coated lens making the beam more green
  • De-greening caused by tint mixing works only when there’s significant mixing going on - IF25 will likely be greenish when driven cool or warm but I wouldn’t expect greenness in neutral

I simply wouldn’t use SST-20 for such light. Or stay within a single CRI range, limiting the ramping range. Now…given the market limitations what they’ve done is not unreasonable. But I still find it funny.

I assumed they mix 95 with 70 solely on the assumption that 95 is warm-only and 70 is cool-only. You seem to know this to be untrue.
Other CCTs are not on Luminus website. Any more info about them?

I guess they didn’t go with 2700K + 5000K LH351Ds like in the LT1 because they would be floodier than many people want but that would have been a better route IMO. Better tint, and all high CRI.

A wider tint ramping range is neat, but really a novelty since 5000K is the coolest many would want anyway.

Dumb question, maybe, but whaddya gonna do with it?

Eg, I got a coupla Zanflare T1s but just leave mine on WW, never had much inclination to change its CT. So once you find a CT you like… then what?

For some tasks or if your eyes/brain are adjusted to cooler light I think more neutral/cool tint is better at identifying colors, and in certain environments different CCTs make different colors “pop”.

Really the same argument could be made about any of the “fun, but useless” features on many lights. I think losing high-CRI for cooler temps is a big loss for this light because that serves a very practical purpose though IMO.

They don’t, 90+ or nothing.

I’m making logical assumption based on manufacturing process. See below.

This is what’s interesting. Do they have it, but not offer it for sale or do they not have it at all? As most know they can’t accurately predict the tint, cri or efficacy of the leds rolling off the assembly line. Each one is checked and they are divided up into bins.

I wonder if they physically get some WW leds with low CRI or if it’s somehow impossible, maybe due to their phosphor mix and assembly techniques. Any units that are below the 90 CRI cutoff may be put in a reject bin and sold surplus to companies looking for the cheapest led possible. Maybe they are scrapped altogether.

I can’t remember off the top of my head, but don’t other manufacturers make WW with low CRI?
(I’ve never paid much attention to CRI because I find it an overrated spec)

Yes, they tend to wash out colors with a similar effect to a low-pressure sodium vapor lamp, but not quite to that extreme.

It just depends on your use case. For example, I’m a technician and I specifically choose high-CRI lights for work so I can tell different colored wires apart or read the bands on a resistor. I’ve had problems doing this with the cool white low-CRI lights they provide for us.

Yeah, I use my headlamp for auto/motorcycle work and also need to identify wire colors accurately. I tried a few leds and settled on a 80+ CRI Nichia 319AT in 5000K. It’s about the same as a 219c in 5000K.
I tried a 90+ CRI 4000K 219c, an 80+ CRI LG351D 5000K and the 90+ CRI LH351D 5000K daogf4rts but didn’t think the colors were as good. Just because the CRI was higher didn’t mean it was more accurate for my eyes.

In my normal walking around flashlights I’m not so picky. I just try to stay away from green.

Some people are high CRI snobs, but I guess it depends on the individual and therefore is not automatically better.

I have some NW and CW emitters which are pretty decent, those “angery blue” tints are just annoying (though I can tolerate them in a 5mm in certain applications).

That said I just don’t see any reason to tolerate low cri anymore. You have the sst-20 which offers high current and output in a small size, LH351d and even the xpl hi is offered in 80+ cri flavors. I guess if you are just trying to build a lumens monster that’s one thing but for real world use why wouldn’t you want a high cri led? I get with the 219 leds you were sacrificing some max output but with newer options you aren’t, really. At least nothing that would be missed.

For example I just reflowed a 4000k sst20 into my lumintop worm. It’s still every bit as bright as it was with the xpg but now in a beautifully neutral tint with great color rendition. Still the same excellent beam shape, too!

The SST-20 is quite low output for it’s amperage. The XP-G2 blows it away. It’s close to the 219c output. It’s just a small die, so output is not so great.