Decided to try my Sofirn 4800mAh battery out in my IF25a last night. Went out on a charge of about 4.15V which is about where the lights stops charging.
With the heat factor in mind, I figured running a lower drain, higher capacity battery would be a better way to run this light right now in summer. I suspect there is some voltage drop and all occurring. But I wasn’t going for turbo, just wanted to run it with my ramping set at about 75% at the top of the ramp where I have been using it since setting my initial ceiling there.
It ran great! When I double clicked up to turbo a few times, it still reached a great brightness and started heating up just like I’d does on the Molicel. But after the 10 minute foray, the IF25a was warm, but not as hot as it usually gets. I ran only 20 second bursts in turbo, maybe three times. So the light didn’t get quite as hot with the 4800mAh Sofirn battery given the same test as I’d run before.
I’m going to guess the Sofirn 4800 mAh battery is similar to the LG M50 which is a 7.3A lower drain battery with about the same capacity. And as batteries are rated at a certain current for a given length of time, they often can/do produce more current for a short time before hitting the wall and going over 60 Celsius.
As I won’t be using this light in turbo for more than a few minutes, I figured the battery is getting me ALMOST as much output for that short time I’m running it at turbo levels (I can’t tell the difference). All the while otherwise, it’s giving me the same output at my ramp ceiling where it is set to.
So the idea is that the battery and light are paired nicely given they BOTH are not running at full speed 99% of the time. I figure I can live with the slight loss in output on turbo (which I didn’t perceive as the light threw to the same distance down my fenceline as it always has when I did go to turbo).
The trade-off is a cooler running light that also has another 800 mAhs of run time
Tonight I went out for THREE hours hunting squash bugs. I have about 80 ft of cucumber rows in the garden and for several weeks I’ve spent the nights out there picking bugs (I am a super-organic gardener, so can’t use ANY pesticides). I had Sofirn’s 4800mAh battery at about 4.1V loaded when I started.
I kept it right about where I’m guessing I was hitting approx 45 Celsius. Or in other words, about 60% of it’s output capability. The light ran great without stepping down at all for a few hours. At about 2 1/2 hours it started stepping down a tad, but kept on running and I started double clicking it to push it back to turbo as I was wanting to push it to it’s limit. I checked voltage when it started stepping down more than one step and I was probably getting about 30% output at that point. That was at 2.9V.
I then put it in a low output setting- not moonlight, but probably 10-15 lumens. I left it on for over an hour before it finally shut down at 2.7V.
I have to say… this light WILL get you home if you need it too. It starts getting “frugal” with it’s output management around 3V and if I was packing it out on a late night, I’d appreciate it’s ability to manage it’s output on a LOW battery- conserving energy with decent output to light a trail on the way home.
I also did push it into turbo (about 20 times) below 3V and it put out a LOT of light for 10-15 seconds before stepping down slowly over a few minutes. It never blinked, it never shut down (until 2.7V). And after resting it for 10 minutes it popped back up to maybe 200 lumens for 30 seconds before stepping down and finally shutting itself off in about a minute. It did this several times BTW.
Yes… I am torturing the battery here and I know it. One thing I expected was the switch light to go red. It is now done and won’t turn on and sitting on my desk as I write this. The switch light is still green… but barely I just turned it on again and it gets bright for 10 seconds then steps down and turns off in about 45 seconds now. I’d guess it would stay on moon for a while if I really wanted to push it The Fluke says the battery is at 2.73V as I just put it on charge.
Anyway… a testament to a great UI here with Anduril managing things very well throughout this test. And the IF25a did hold great bright output for hours while I “worked the bugs” this evening. But I was surprised and particularly impressed with the low voltage management giving usable light when one MIGHT need it for sure.
I’m tempted to get this light. Not a whole ton of reviews on it. The lens is listed as “TIR”. It doesn’t look TIR to me, at least not in the sense of the TIR lens in headlamps like ArmyTek. I don’t have any thrower flashlights, all of my lights are very floody and I thought it would be good to have at least one somewhat throwy light. I like the size and 4000k tint option on this though.
IF25A runs Anduril, the lowest brightness can be configured. I would think sub-lumen is possible.
By default, the lowest brightness is probably around 1 lumen (just judging by observation — I can definitely look at the light without it being “glaring” to my eyes).
The IF25A doesn’t take CR123A’s…
I’m also not too sure how “TIR” would be defined. There are the “honeycomb” / diffused TIR optic, and there are TIR optic that captures light and shapes them in a different shape (compared to say an “reflector”-type beam).
It was an unpleasant surprise for me that the IF-25A does not have a battery status indication in the button, it just glows green until the flashlight is completely discharged. Despite the fact that when charging, a two-color indication is used. Why not do the same for discharge? I think this is a very big drawback of a modern flashlight.
Thanks for noticing that and pointing it out. It’s still so new that the typical detailed reviews aren’t out yet. The Sofirn site’s info on their product is very sparse. Or, I guess we just expect to know a lot about a flashlight.
The IF25A runs Anduril. The side button works similar to an “aux-LED” (on other Anduril lights) and can be programmed to 4 states: Off - Low - High - Blinking (Breathing), however, it’s not linked to battery voltage… Battery check mode can be done via triple-click from Off (will count the voltage). Granted, this is a slightly more “accurate”, but uses more time to check…
Three clicks from OFF. The first flashes are the Volt units, the flashes after the pause are decimal points. So, 4 flashes followed by 1 more after the slight pause means 4.1V. Click once to cancel battery check.
Thanks guys, I know how to check the battery status with clicks, but it’s not at all the same as seeing the remaining charge just by looking at the button.
Does anyone have both the 4000k version of the IF25A and a 4000k version of the D4V2 (either E21A or XP-L-5D)? How does the throw compare between the two?
Edit: If you have both lights (IF25A and D4V2) - which one do you prefer?
The IF25A comes with SST20, which will out-throw the E21A and XP-L-5D. It won’t out-throw XPL-Hi at 4000K. It’s worth noting the D4V2 is also available with 4000K SST20, in which case throw can be the same at equal outputs. (They’re both using Carclo quad optics, though I’m not sure exactly which one. But swapping them on the D4V2 is very easy.)
I have IF25A sst20 4000K and D4s xp-l hi 4000k and of course D4s with xp-l throw much more. But it would be incorrect to directly compare them, because they have different optics, IF25A shines much wider. The efficiency of LEDs is also different.
Overall, the D4S is better done with much more attention to detail. But much more expensive.
If I’m not wrong, the Sofirn IF25A doesn’t use a carclo quad. The Emisar D4s throws more than a D4/D4v2, no surprise that it throws more than an IF25A thanks to its Ledil quad with bigger optics.
Hello Zappaman, thank you so much for sharing your overview/observations on the Sofirn IF25A. That light with Anduril UI seems pretty good for EDC.
I’m ordering SC31 Pro from Sofirn Official Store on AliExpress. I was also considering the IF25A but decided to buy the SC31 Pro. I chose sc31 pro mainly due to its smaller size compared to the if25a.
From the specs it seems comparable in size to the convoy s2. i think it’s more ideal for full EDC. I have been EDC’ing Convoy S2 since 2017, not cumbersome at all to keep it in my jean’s pocket. .
The if25a is still in my consideration, I think it could be good for usage around the house/yard, for now i have convoy BD06 for that role.
Where did you guys get your IF25A? I got mine from the US Sofirn store (sofirnlight.com). The Anduril firmware version I got turns on the LED immediately when the button is pressed, which seems to be an older version of Anduril. The newer Anduril versions will wait to turn on the LED until after the hold-time is met. The newer version makes it much easier to hold long enough to get into moonlight without over-holding and starting to ramp.
Does the IF25A come with a newer version of the firmware? One where the hold-from-off to moonlight works better (i.e. LED doesn’t turn on until hold-time passes)?
first, i’d like to thank you and everyone for sharing your experiences with this light. it’s at the top of my considerations for a EDC in 21700.
looking at Battery Mooch’s data, the Molicel M50A outperforms the Samsung 50E (not sure about the newer 50E2)
the Samsung 50G looks to be the best of the bunch. i couldn’t find any for sale at the dealers i trust, but apparently Vapcell re-wrap these as the G50 15A* 5000mAh* (9.8A 4900mAh)
if using turbo AT ALL i would go with a sony VTC6A, Molicel P42A, or a Sammy 40T. for more practical use (<10A) the 50G/G50, 50E2, or M50A look like the better choice for runtimes.
batteries hate heat. running above (using turbo) their constant current rating will heat up the battery reducing it’s life and potentially cause thermal runaway.
Yes, that cannon is on Ft. Jefferson on Key West Florida. Worth the 2-3 hour tour if you’re there on a holiday. Western hemisphere’s largest brick and mortar structure.
BTW: I went from the Molicel to the 50G and never had enough run time to get the battery hot. Turbo ran fine on both and light gets hot way faster than (either) battery by the time you need a glove. I have the 18650battery Epoch re-wrap of the 50G. Great seller and great battery. The 50G button top is on sale there now too.
I just turned it on again and it gets bright for 10 seconds then steps down and turns off in about 45 seconds now. I’d guess it would stay on moon for a while if I really wanted to push it 
