[Review] Sofirn IF25A flashlight: $34 (discount code available) with 21700 cell, 3800lm, USB-C, Anduril [pic heavy]

LED Flashlights – General Info 21700 Flashlights
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One more to toss out there, the SD01. Take a Q8, make it in the shape of an insulated coffee-mug, and put a magring on it, and that’s a SD01.

You hold it by the handle, and let gravity do its thing. No need to grip the whole light like a Q8 or other sody-pop-can light.

Lowest is 350lm, bright enough for looking out for rocks, branches, holes, etc., but it cranks up to 6000lm if you want to see what’s down the path wanting to kill you.

And yeah, it’s a diving light, so no worries about getting soaked in the rain, etc.

I’ve been having fun with mine, and even a paltry 350lm on lowest is plenty bright for most things.

23

Darn, that sounds frustrating. Hopefully they haven’t started gluing the bezel.
A hair dryer can help weaken glue if there is any, though my experience with glued heads has always been a bit palm-blistering.

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Again, thanks for your helpful comparisons. Sounds like the 33 would have to be a 5000K emitter for me to like it. I don’t think they are in stock right now. I dedomed my 33 v2 and the color dropped slightly so that my be an option. Aside from that, the I25A 6500K sounds good. And the Sp31 pro too. 3 more lights. Thanks Sofirn. :rage:

25

just got my IF25A. the type C connector is a bit low and off to one side from the opening, however it plugs in and charges without issue.
put the light in front of a fan to let it acclimate to the room temperature. it’s 23°C in my room. checking the temperature calibration i got 2, then 3 blinks.
spot on out of the box. :laughing: well done Sofirn. :+1:

the beam has a nice width of flood. holding it above my head aiming down makes it even broader for searching on the ground.
haven’t done any wandering at night yet, but from what i can tell so far it’s a perfect balance EDC for my use.
if i feel i’ll need more range (spotting (not hunting) deer etc), i’ll grab my Convoy C8+ XPL-HI.

love the interface. long push for moonlight, push again for smooth ramp. very familiar to my LT1.

color rendering (4000K) is wonderful as i hoped.

-would like the fins to be finished nicer. they are de-burred, but have sharpish edges.
for the $ though the light is an incredible value.

oh, and i paired it with a Vapcell G50 (Sammy 50G re-wrap) 4900mAh 9.8A as i don’t use turbo.

i’m thrilled with this light. my S2+ is going to become my dedicated bike light. which needs a new driver, and a wide lens.

cheers :beer:

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:+1: :+1: :+1:

Now… pocket a glove for use if using on turbo for more than a few minutes :wink:

I also prefer the 50G to the higher current batteries I tried. The high current batteries just got hot REAL fast, while not really doing much for the throw (when I tested both my 5k and 6.5k IF25a’s). I barely (by a hair) could see higher output on them, but figured “hey, if I can’t hold the light after 45 seconds… what’s the point?”

Glad you got your “IF” light!

27

Thanks for the review. What is the regulation like on this light? Can it sustain a constant output in the non outrageous lumen settings?

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I haven’t measured it yet but I think it’s close to the Emisar D4 in terms of regulation. Likely to be between 500 and 600lm.

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Sofirn have provided me with some 20% discount codes for the IF25A on Amazon UK. PM me if you’d like one.

30

I got one and love it for easy poker carry when walking the dig on the beach . Where can I find a diffuser for it ?

31

For candle mode, I'd prefer 2700K and lightning mode, 6500K. Seems like I recall an older version of this light ramping between tints, just without Anduril. Is there an Anduril light that can do what I prefer?

32

Nice idea to use different tints for candle / lightning.

The IF25 (not IF25A) had the 2 different tints but not Anduril.

The BLF LT1 lantern has both tint ramping and Anduril. There’s also the LT1M mini lantern in the works, which I think is based on the IF25.

The Noctigon K9.3 may have tint ramping but I don’t think that’s been confirmed yet. It does have 2 separate tints that can be controlled individually.

33

Nice review! Been playing with my If25a for a few weeks now and since it’s almost the perfect travel light for me I got to thinking. If I was to use it for something that would use a moderately high output over a longer runtime, what is a “safe” brightness setting? Let’s say for argument sake that o change the ramping ceiling to this setting. What x/150 would be appropriate?

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At what lumen level does the IF25A have stable output/regulation? And is it different (better or worse regulated output) than the CCT shifting IF25 with buck driver?

I haven’t seen any runtime graphs on either model.

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Thermal limit works :slight_smile:

10 clicks for 40C.

20.62A on Turbo with a Vapcell T50 21700

View post on imgur.com

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I ordered the IF25A on 11.11

USB-C PD charging works with my Pixel charger. 1.65A charging current. The Sofirn 4000mAh 21700 cell arrived with 3.498V.

The IF25A also charged via a USB-C to USB-C cable when connected to my Pixel XL.

Sofirn IF25A 4000K

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Sofirn IF25A 4000K
Ordered from AE on 2020-11-11
Anduril version: 2020-03-08

Charging works between the IF25A using a USB-C to USB-C cable with a Google Pixel PD charger. IF25A also charges when connected to my Pixel XL.

38

Has anyone ever tried slicing the SST20s for better throw? Or wouldn’t it change significantly because of optics?

39

Just ordered the IF25A and was inpatient to wait for it to arrive, thus I have started to look after some more detailed info on the driver most importantly.. This sums up pretty much all I could find about the IF25A driver:

Only think I can think is: Wow! What an absolute joke.. They went from a 2 channels buck driver in the original IF25 to a FET +1.. Amazing, isn't it.. amazingly cheap that is.. Is there even ANY good buck or boost driver/s running Anduril in a decent flashlight.. ? Or at least the driver itself.. I thought with this IF25A I had finally hit the jackpot.. 21700 cell, USB Type-C charging, decent.. 'ish beam compact enough, etc. FET +1.. really..

WHAT

A

JOKE..

FET +1..

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Aren’t your expectations too high? At a retail price of only $34 this is an inexpensive, cheap flashlight. I am not surprised that it contains an inexpensive driver.

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Why would my expectations be high while they used to offer the same exact product, only more complex and obviously more expensive to produce at the same price to begin with ?

They have already set the standard expectations, fair or not for either party, with their own product. Now it's only fair for the new product to be judged compared to its original counterpart.

IF25: € 25,79 - 30,16 (price/s with/out battery)

IF25A: € 26,74 - 29,42 (price/s with/out battery)

You can observe that not only the IF25A is the cheaper one of the two to produce, but it is even more expensive, even if only by 1€..

Why ? Because it has Anduril ?? Well, that is even cheaper for them, because they don't even have to come up with their own code from scratch.. (which is the case for the original IF25.. )

I'm sorry to disagree, (not really.. ) but I would say that it would be only fair for one to not be surprised of it containing the same quality driver as before, not the other way around.

Of course I knew Anduril on a proper buck or boost driver would imply design changes and most likely code change/adaptation, hence the reason I was afraid this might not be the case.

The only thing that I had done wrong was to not do my research first and press the buy button second.. But that wasn't a big deal, as the light has not yet been shipped anyways..

I would say that making excuses for any company, while in the customers detriment is the least said.. counter-productive.

Btw, Suez Canal is now blocked since two days ago, the 26th by a Japanese company "Evergreen" cargo ship "Ever Given", thus shipping from China to EU is now paralyzed for who knows how much longer..

So for anyone in the EU waiting for their just purchased China orders, you might want to prepare yourself for the waiting game.. Or consider not placing new orders for a while.

Cheers!