Sofirn SP70's have an uneven shelf, need others to check too.

Just letting everyone know that Sofirn are sending me 2x SP70 replacements without any trouble at all. Took a couple emails to explain the issue but that’s to be expected.

So many companies would have asked for it to be shipped back for repair at this price point.

I haven’t yet been let down by Sofirn’s customer service.

UPDATE

All Sofirn SP70’s have an uneven shelf. They’re covering this issue by applying way too much thermal paste to make it look like it’s making good contact but it’s not. There’s enough paste for 3-4 SP70’s on one unit.

Received 3x more SP70’s to find 1pc wasn’t making contact. Decided to wipe off the other units thermal paste and check, they too had the same problem

I’m going to make a video applying my own paste to make it clear to them, this is terrible quality control.

Is it just the SP70 that has the problem?

From what I’ve seen, yes. In total I’ve had 5pcs out of 12 where the led died. Now I know why it’s happening,

My video I sent to Sofirn just now. Ignore my left hand tremors, also no audio.

Anyone out there that can check theirs?

How new are these? I have an SP70 from the first batch and the shelf is flat - I recently modded it and redid the thermal paste with mx4

The units I have in stock are within the last 8 months, the one in the video was ordered end of last month. Checked all units and same issue, some only half make contact and others it’s next to nothing. 3 burnt out leds from the older stock

Ok, I think what's goin on is from the machining it left a bump up in the middle - is that correct? This is quite common, unfortunately, least in lights I usually mod (the lower end, budget level). You will never find that in some brand lights I'm sure - probably true for MaxToch.

You can usually spot them easy - sit the MCPCB in there and see if it wobbles or not. If not, there could still be a depression in the middle, so still have to check for that. If there's a good grease under the MCPCB, the MCPCB should be suctioned to the shelf surface so you have to pry it off. If there's no suction, there's probably a contaminate in the way or something is not flat.

Not surprising at the prices Sofirn charges, also it's been so common in China for initial batches to be superior quality, then later batches drop in quality - just how they do business unless you really stay on top of them.

Brass P60 pills for example are known for this. With those I would take a large nailset or punch and give it a couple taps of the hammer and could flatten them out every time. Easy way to check is a metal flat edge, like the end of a small SS ruler - I use one often to check for flatness. For these SP70's, I wouldn't hammer. Most alum shelfs I'll sand it out, starting with maybe 200-300 GRIT paper. Lot of times you can see that middle point go down and down, constantly checking with the flat edge.

It's just something I always do when modding. Got to take out that MCPCB and discover what's underneath - many times there's surprises like a fragment of solder stuck - they don't check, they don't care. Do you think Convoy's are made and assembled by Simon or Emisar's made and assembled by Hank? Nope, so do those workers care as much as Simon or Hank? Nope.

PM'ing with Richard at MtnE in the past, wow, nightmare's of entire Convoy batches messed up. People wondered why he didn't stock this or that, and many times the lights and parts came in but had to be rejected - he would not sell them in that condition.

I feel for you. I toy'd with the idea of goin retail or modding at a more serious level many times (even had a job offer to mod!!), but having to deal with the mystery of what you'll get to resell is scary, plus the time/work to make it right -- I'm too much of a perfectionist to make money at this.

I thought the SP70's were aggressively priced more recently. They could do the shelf right but I'm sure it takes more time/labor and these workers are under great pressure to produce.

Thanks for your input Tom E.

I’ll have a go at sanding down the shelf after I get some sandpaper. I am going to push for a refund though because as a dealer I shouldn’t have to do this.

On one of the units there was a point in the center, sanded it but still no difference, guess I didn’t sand it down enough.

Thanks for the warning, Funtastic. I wonder how little use those lights get to not see more reports on burned out LEDs here. If they’re all ending up on the shelf, it makes me no wonder that quality degrades over time.

I checked mine last night, bought in April of 2019 from the Sofirn Ali store for ~$55, and it had a small raised nub in the center, it should be easily sanded down. I've had it apart for months now - forgot what I was even planning for it, probably driver upgrade to run NarsilM/Anduril. After adding spring bypasses, mine hit like 8500 lumens (calibrated), 200 kcd. It's a big reflector.

On mine doing a quick check, looked like the center point was the only place not flat. Mostly the machining leaves the center raised, but if the center is depressed, it's a lot more complicated to get flat.

The odd thing is though, if I sit a 20mm mcpcb in the center it’s completely flush.

I won’t be selling this model anymore, too much work checking every unit. Imported 12pcs this year and 2x LEDs failed in Jan, 2x LEDs failed in August, 4pcs from last month arrived a week ago which I checked to find this issue.

I bypassed the springs last year and could only get 6000. Bypassed the TK70 and got 8000 at 30 sec.

Hopefully my complaint and video showing the issue will make them look into this problem.

For the flatness, I'm afraid there may be the center bump, but overall center area is depressed. A flat straight edge is the best way to check.

Oops, my reading was 7700 at 30 secs but running on a pair of GOLISI 26650's which are pretty good, getting 14.6 amps at the tail.

Have you looked into becoming a dealer for MaxToch? I really like their quality, and the anodizing is 2nd to none. I tried sanding the anodizing off a shelf and just could not get to bare aluminum.

Back a while, I know the dealer/reseller discounts can be substantial on the bigger name brands. I think Manker's costs were like 40%-45% of list I was told by a dealer. If you haven't you should check it out with some brand names. Should be less quality issues, better service as well, maybe...

I have looked into MaxToch but their MAP & MRP are too high. I don't like rules on how much I price my products at haha. I understand it's to make it fair for other dealers but when I'm a new store it's difficult to get the sales.

I'm a dealer for Skilhunt and their customer service is just amazing, 30 min wait time on replies to emails. They said since I'm New Zealand's only dealer I can do what I please on pricing. I love that kind of attitude. Tried Fenix but wow they're strict, they wouldn't allow me to sell their hunting range because another dealer in NZ was already selling it. The only area they would allow is law enforcement. I had to then give detailed examples of how I would sell and advertise their products

I applied to Manker but they wanted to do a video call haha. I absolutely hate video calls so I didn't get back to them.

I fixed one of the SP70's. It took me 3 hours messing about, sanded the center and it was worse, sanded around the screw holes, then noticed the screw holes on the mcpcb had a ridge around them. Finally got there in the end. Sent Sofirn the video and they're looking into. I think they'll want to take it more seriously when I'm a dealer

Shame about MaxToch, but good to hear about Skilhunt - I like their products I bought, think I got 2.

Funny with the pricing. I used to buy a few lights from Illumn here in the US. They carried some big name brands, but I always emailed/messaged them first to ask for their best price, usually it was a nice savings - dunno, maybe that's a way to get around MAP/MRP restrictions, or maybe they cover that loop hole now.

Was this ever resolved?

Not to my knowledge, I stopped importing this model. After taking apart a few Convoy C8+ units I see the same issue on a couple too.

I only asked Sofirn to refund two units and asked for replacement LEDs for the two that cooked. I fixed them all, but took me around 3 hours each for the six that had the problem

Maybe I’ll give them another go, but undecided for the moment

Good to know. I see this light recommended quite a bit on Reddit and bring up your post for visibility. I don’t want anyone wasting money on a light that could fry at any moment due to poor manufacturing.

If they could sort this out though, I would buy one myself.

Hello BLF, my first post here :laughing:
Maybe it’s stupid question, but how you unscrew the bezel in sp70?
Am i too weak, or they glue it or something?

Welcome to BLF!

It's been a while but I don't recall mine being glued, though anything can happen differently from batch to batch. I'll use sticky gloves to get a better grip and usually that works. But I do have strap wrenches for the difficult or glued ones. Some glue is very hard to break, others not so bad - it's a wide range.

For me, the most stubborn ones I clamp up in pine boards, then use a strap wrench on the bezel. This method never damages the light.