Well filed a dispute today. Bought from ali store and my messages were unanswered for 3 weeks. Status was shipment cancelled. Tried contacting Sofirn via many ways. Got two answers saying that they dont run the aliexpress store and thats it. I never got my SP33v3. Was really looking forward to this light. But no I will probably never spend a dime to Sofirns direction. Atrocious customer service!
Found a review of the SP33 v2.0 on Zeroair and shocked at how VERY efficient it is. The driver efficiency is on the level of Olight, Fenix, Nitecore, and Zebralight! Wow
Sofirn should continue to sell v2.0 alongside v3.0 because some people would prefer the super efficient driver and perfect regulation.
Have a SP33v2, swapped emitter w/ 5000ºK (damaged led in transit). Best budget light for sustained high. Great UI - low/med/high w/double click for temporary turbo. Long press from off for Moonlight (~ 10 lumens), just right for a evening walk.
My SP33v2 loses turbo at a little above 4 volts. At what voltage do you lose turbo?
I lose mine at 3.70 volts. Dirty connections can have an effect. Boost drivers need as much voltage as possible so you want to make sure the circuits are clean with no extra resistance.
Have you seen the springs in the v2 ?
They should be bypassed.
They’re like 8 cm of iron wire each…
Done all that Jason. Only thing left I haven’t tried are spring bypasses. My driver just seems to lose turbo early. Wondering if I am the only one.
I added a very thin ring to the head / body as to align the ‘make’ and sometimes I couldn’t get to turbo. Have to unscrew /rescrew the head tight.
Yes, my review.
You have the driver ring, both battery tube ends, the tail cap to battery tube area, pop the spring out and clean the pocket, clean the spring, clean the battery ends. I think that’s all.
Have you tried different batteries? I’m not certain, but battery voltage sag might play a part. I use the Shockli 5500mah as well as Aspire 4300. The Shockli seems to work better since the amp draw is not that big at 6A.
I have not had a reason to bypass my springs, but that’s something you might consider. It might give you longer cumulative Turbo runtime.
Although you might already tried it. I’ve had so many lights that loses turbo shortly or immediately and it is fixed after washing the tube and head with detergent and cleaning the head spring or contact with rubbing alcohol. I’ve had many lights including Thrunites that had black grime on contacts that require much rubbing with finger nail to remove. Fixes turbo problems and low output almost every time.
So, the big question is, is the V3 at $30 a better light than the V2 at $20? Even if money wasn’t part of the equation, is the V3 really better than the V2?
Depends on how much you value max output and USB-C recharge. For me USB-C recharge is important in a muggle friendly light like this. However, I much prefer the V2 boost driver for its excellent regulation and efficiency making it more suitable as a tool. I wish Sofirn makes a USB-C version of the V2.
Your logic convinced me to order the V2. While the max output is better on the V3, it doesn’t seem to live up to its numbers (as stated here), making the difference to the V2 not as dramatic. USB charging isn’t all that important for me, but steady and constant output is. I just ordered the V2 on Sofirn’s site with battery and charger for $20.70.
Unlike the SP33v2 that uses glue,the SP33v3 has an aluminum locking ring that turns counterclockwise.
I have not removed out the driver.
The bezel unscrews quite easily to remove the 2 x O rings,lens and OP reflector exposing the LED / MCPCB.
The spring on the bottom of the driver was a bit tilted that was put aright with needle nose.
This light could probably use some better springs.
Received mine today. I love it so much…It makes the tint on my EC01 look good 
The bezel, reflector, beam pattern and charging port cover are identical to the EC01 but the tint is cooler and a bit greener…Seems like sofirn also make the EC01. Why didn’t they just stick with the same LED as the EC01 5000k? The only good think about the cool LED is the slightly less noticeable tint shift. The design and build quality is nice but I dont like the fact it has a FET driver whereas the older version was constant current. I definitely would have preferred anduril with 5x 7135 and a warmer tint. Might end up selling it. Not sure though. It’s for my family so they probably won’t mind the tint. Oh yh and one last thing. The LED indicator seems almost useless. It stays off when the light off and comes on for a few seconds when you turn the light…I guess its just there to serve as a low battery warning and charging indicator. They should’ve just made it stay on so you can find it in the dark…I know I’ve said a lot of negative things about it but it’s still a good light. Just not what I’m looking for.
Sofirn…if you’re reading this could you make a V4 with a better tint, regulated modes up to 1000lm and a way to permanently disable turbo. Like maybe 5 short clicks and one long. Something that someone can’t do by accident. If you do the above this could be the perfect muggle light.
My quick impressions of the SP33v3 after spending some time with it. One note, I ordered with the 26650 battery but it did not come with a battery.
Pros:
- Build quality. It feels solid and looks good. The machining and anodizing are very pleasing.
- UI. It’s simple and intuitive. I really like it a lot. The moonlight and turbo (and strobe…) modes being hidden as well as instantly accessible from off make it very versatile. Good usable mode spacing too for the stepped mode. Plus of course there is ramping mode.
Cons:
- Beam colors. My first reaction turning it on for the first time: “Wow, that’s ugly!” It has a hotspot that is white enough, but there is a VERY noticeable green/yellow ring around it, which then turns to a noticeably blue spill. At close range it is very distracting because the same object will look multicolored! Truly the worst part of this light. The colors are so bad, I don’t even notice color temperature, CRI, or any other typical concern. At larger distances or for general lighting, it is ok… ish.
- The switch is difficult to find in the dark or by feel. It always takes me time to find it, and the easiest way is to feel for the bump of the charging port and know that the switch is 180 degrees away.
Overall, I think it’s a great flashlight and it has a ton of brightness. I’ve been using it with only 18650 batteries that are not high drain, so I imagine it is capable of even more brightness than what I’ve seen. Very abundant on that front.
A minor note is that the cuts for the “fins” of the heatsink are slightly sharp, unlike the smoothness of all other edges. Not a huge deal, but I do notice it and wish they were deburred slightly better.
Generally, the SP33 feels really good in the hand. The 26650 tube is a nice size and every time I hold it, I feel happy about the construction quality.
The USB charging is a feature I appreciate a lot as well. I don’t know what the charge current is but by comparing with the SP40 which is known to charge at ~1A, I’d say the SP33v3 charges at a higher current since it is a bit faster. That also means it seems to charge the same batteries slightly less than the SP40’s built-in charger.
With it plugged in to a charger, there is a 1.8 mA parasitic drain. That goes down to ~26-28 uA with the cable unplugged.
Welcome to the world of the Cree XHP50.2 and XHP70.2. The older 50 and 70 had a much nicer looking beam with no yellow corona, but they also tend to produce a donut hole beam pattern (OP reflectors needed) and the max output was lower. I will say you tend to get used to the corona over time. Maybe we will get better leds in the future.
I think the very new Luminus SST-70 might make a good replacement for the 6v 50.2. Hopefully we can buy them soon. It should make a nice replacement for the version 2 light. I dont know of a good led for this version 3 since it’s 3v.
Um, thanks… I don’t know if I’ll get used to the corona. It’s especially noticeable when the beam is not static. The yellow ring gives everything a pee-stained look, especially light-colored surfaces like snow! 
In contrast, the 5000K XP-L in the SP-40 also doesn’t have what I would consider a pleasant color due a greenish hotspot with blueish spill, but at least that is more homogeneous without a corona, making it less hideous and more tolerable.
Does that make me a tint snob??
To be clear I still think the SP33v3 is a fantastic flashlight. I don’t go easy on criticism.
No, it just means you can see. No one likes the yellow corona of the 50.2, 70.2, XP-G3 and XP-L2. These use Crees new flip chip design which has phosphor all the way across the top of the chip. Here is a comparison of old vs new.
The performance is good, but something about the design, maybe phosphor on the sides of the led, creates the yellow corona.
Tint snobs can be really picky always swapping new leds in all their lights looking for just the perfect tint.
There can be a lot of variety in the tint of any led and it also changes based on brightness. If you see green in the hot spot it may be a sign that it’s above the BBL. I dont know what model xpl Sofirn uses for the SP40, but you can certainly swap it for a different one. Most folks prefer tints below the BBL because they are closer to red than green and that’s more pleasing to most people.
Using a U2 USB C power meter the SP33v3 charged at 5.03v / 1.3A using premium thunderbolt 3 certified 18" C cable from the meter to the USB 3.0 port on the SP33v3.A high end A to C cable was used from a recently made custom build gaming desktop PC USB 3 gen2 port to the U2 meter..The very new ShockLi 26650 5500mAh cell inside the SP33v3 was at 3.6v when the USB C port charging began.When charging completed the flashing red power button turned blue.
An SP40 using a U2 USB power meters but using an A to micro USB cable from the meter to the SP40 charged at 4.97v / 0.898A.The new Panasonic NCR18650G in the SP40 was at 3.75V when charging began.When charging completed the flashing red power button turned green.
I did not time the charging.