Sofirn - Great Lights, Great prices, great service
Sofirn
…boxy, but cheap!
Sofirn: Bright, Done Right.
Nice list, TheIntruder.
some thoughts about Sofirn’s flashlight model numbers:
C8T appears to be left out from the list above.
C8S is the name for Sofirn’s C8 host, if I’m not mistaken, not a complete flashlight.
I’ve also been going through Sofirn’s flashlight models, but haven’t tried to read about all of them.
The MS, SD and DF appear to be “diving’ flashlights. So it’s sort of a mess to have 3 different designations.
SF uses tailswitch
SP uses a side-switch (although some may also have a tailswitch, eg. the SP31/SP31v2/SP70 have both tail+side switch)
SC has built-in charging.
However, the SP30A (I think it’s SP30A instead of SP30) also has built-in charging… (SP30A has tailswitch + sideswitch + built-in charging, so perhaps the Sofirn model-naming people weren’t sure whether to place them in the SP series or the SC series, and SC was a newer model name).
LT1 = lantern (well, there’s only 1 model for now)
IF25 = tint-ramping flashlight (only 1 model so far, but does it need a different model designation?)
The TK (TK70) model designation seems strange. TK70 is supposed to be a very similar flashlight to the SP70, but with a simplified UI.
(So far, only one model using the TK name)
~
“C8x” was used since it’s a very popular model that’s also used by other brands…
“Q8” - so they decided to use the same Q8 designation since the BLF Q8 was already popular. Use the same model for the Sofirn Q8, since the main significant difference is just the LED (BLF Q8 vs Sofirn Q8)
now trying to decipher the digit.
for 2-digit models, they seem to follow these, but there are many exceptions:
0x = uses AAA (eg. C01, SF02)
1x = uses AA or 14500 (eg. SF11, SF14, SP10Av2)
3x = uses 18650 (although the SP33 uses 26650)
but as mentioned, there are many exceptions…
Their ratings are bull though. The lumen ratings are not accurate at all.
Judging by the above list, they aren’t that bright :person_facepalming:
You don’t seem familiar with the brand. Sometimes their ratings are a bit too high, sometimes too low. This may be due to the device they use to measure with. Overall, they are one of the more accurate when it comes to ratings.
It’s all relative. Maybe you should pay less attention to brightness specs and look at the whole package.
I wasn’t really being super serious, just having a bit of fun.
Sofirn are one of the best value brands out there
It looks like Sofirn have a professional integrated sphere though. I thought maybe it’s not calibrated properly but why would the ratings be all over the place?
The SP70 rated at 5500 and reported close to 7000 with their HD 26650 if I remember correctly. Ended up being 4800 to 5200 with the HD cells.
Then we go to the TK70 rated at 5500 and I got 6500 with the HD cells. The C8A was also underrated. Everything else is quite a large gap higher. It’s really strange
Having done lots of light measurements myself, I found that accuracy of the device is only one factor. Not following the standard measurment procedure can cause differences way larger than the accuracy of the sphere. As wel as battery type, charge level, starting from a warmed up or cooled down flashlight, and I’m sure I forget a few.
But if you have at least tried to keep a constant procedure, you should be able to get it right within say 20%.
They have some type of manufactured testing device that they bought. It probably cost them a lot of money, but it doesn’t always match what we measure in both lumens or throw. I don’t know the details on their device. It may have some design flaws or it might be any of the other things Djozz mentioned (battery type, charge level, starting from a warmed up or cooled down flashlight, etc…).
Sofirn… illuminating your path with quality and style!
I don’t negotiate on the Oxford comma. All lists must use it.
I remember a fair bit of… erm, debate, regarding the SP70 rating. IIRC, Sofirn wanted to rate it at what the bundled low-discharge cells would provide, in order to avoid claims of inaccuracy. In the development thread we were assured it was capable of more - and as Dale proved, with minor modding it did much more.
“Nova” is actually not that bad in spanish, you would need to accentuate the last syllable as in “Nová” for it to sound like “No va” (not going). Per Spanish rules we would accentuate the penultimate syllable (in this case the first) in absence of a tilde in a vowel ending word, plus “Nova” is just the word for a Nova star. The other two are indeed terrible.
But calling a car a Nova?
That's a car that doesn't go! 
And the Nova did not sell well in Latin America because of its awful name.
“Nova no va” sounds funny as a wordplay but because of its symmetry, “Nova” would be accentuated on “No” and “no va” would be accentuated on “va”. We would never say “Nova” as “Nová” or “No va”, accentuation is important. We would think of a car not starting(“no arranca” or “no prende”), not working (“no anda” or “no funciona”) or not running (“no corre”), the car not going (“no va”) sounds like something a foreigner would say, close enough to be understandable but not correct. Wikipedia says that’s an urban legend, I think if the car indeed didn’t sell well it was due to price or competition, not because of the name.
The other two names can be serious insults depending on the region and I would expect to be punched if I call someone that.
I generally believe Snopes, so you learn something new everyday.
I was taught in a college marketing class about the Chevy Nova, though I had heard the story before.
Apparently they were completely wrong.
“Good, Fast, Cheap — pick Sofirn”
I really like new Sofirn host - IF25 (21700):
I think that any qualification of Sofirn does not hold up in reality, they are not the cheapest, not the highest quality, not the most innovative etc., and “Sofirn, fairly good flashlights for a great price” does not sound particularly attractive. So I would not refer to why people choose Sofirn flashlights but the very fact that they do:
Sofirn flashlights, what smart people choose!
(native english speakers will formulate this better I expect)