I purchased 30pcs to sell, but seems to be okay since it’s only low output.
That’s the only 4x AA model I’ve used, everything else is lithium
Supposed to be 1050 lumens, about 10W of power so still a fair bit.
BTW Sofirn’s site currently says
I put thermal grease right around the sides and didn’t heat up anymore than without it, so doesn’t seem to be an issue. It has a 3 minute stepdown to High which would help. I measured 1000 lumens, Sofirn’s early models were so accurate on the ratings.
Sounds like a great deal lol
I have an old light with a separate pill that is press fit into place with a lot more contact than two screws, when tested it had a lot of lumen sag becasue of the poor contact. Thermal paste also did not help much. So i find it hard to believe that two screws is good enough and would not be improved by not being a solid one piece setup.
And that is a weird offer from sofirn. You may be the about only one who might take advantage of it since you sell flashlights.
@WL27
I read your post not long after buying this light and was initially relieved at not having the same problem, that is until last night which is exactly one week since getting it in the mail. And you know what? My experience is 100% the same as you described. The light got hot with the 14500 battery while off, so I took it out for the night. This morning, I put the battery back in and left the light off to see if the light would heat up. It did! Then I figured it might be safe to just use the light with alkalines and NiMH batteries, but discovered that they no longer work. The lithium 14500 still works, but I can’t leave it in the light without it draining itself and making the light hot, not to mention making me fearful of it exploding (as lithiums have been known to do sometimes) and burn my house down.
This is my first lithium powered light, and now I’m more leery of them than ever. I guess I’ll have to try returning it to Amazon since I clearly can’t use it anymore. But I have to say that when it worked, it was ridiculously bright in turbo mode! Very impressive that way. At the same time, I have to point out that finding the button in the dark by feeling for it was very frustrating. It’s nearly impossible to find. I even turned the pocket clip to be opposite side of the button so it would be a guide as to where the button is, but it shifts too easily so that it can’t even serve that purpose.
Sofirn makes some excellent lights and sells them at reasonable prices (I got this one with a 40% coupon code). But this is one that fell through the cracks.
I asked for and received the coupon code for the SP10V3 a few days ago. I got busy and never sent the order in. Sure am glad now after reading the sad stories from you folks.
Keep us posted about your return request because a lot of people here buy flashlights from Amazon. Never heard you couldn’t return one.
OUCH! 
Just in this thread there are four different reports of SP10v3 flashlights failing in exactly the same way on the same part (WL27, Nooner, TIFisher, LEDLove).
It definitely looks like the SP10 v3 has a major defect. 
Either Sofirn used a substandard or defective part, or the driver design is faulty.
I wouldn’t be surprised if ALL SP10v3 share this defect. Sofirn should issue a recall ASAP. This is a pretty colossal error on Sofirn’s part that is going to be pretty expensive in cost or reputation for them to fix (or ignore).
I was going to buy one of these, but I’ll steer clear.
Well, they gave me a refund and didn’t require me to return it, so that’s really nice. They seem to have a policy of not taking returns of defective lithium-powered devices.
I think Sofirn just don’t care maybe. As a dealer they replace everything without issues, unlike some brands which ask me for a video even as a dealer! Very frustrating
Those are one’s I think I’d like to stay away from.
Seems like any company selling through Amazon is good, as long as Amazon doesn’t start making people send in videos to prove an item doesn’t work.
Sofirn stands behind their product. 
Imagine the problem that could occur if a person sent it back with the battery installed without a plastic separator disk—and it goes thermal in the cargo bay of some truck, boat or airplane. i suspect that they would not want to be liable for that.
That’s why I thought they would just tell me to keep the battery and return everything else.
But it got me to also wondering how they’re able to sell and ship OUT products that have lithium batteries. Any lithium powered flashlight that has a built-in battery is going to have that risk.
My guess is that Amazon is sure that the battery has a plastic disk when shipping things out, and assume that some/many/most people won’t tape the battery ends over or use the plastic disk when making returns.
Highly unlikely for this issue since the Sofirn 14500 handled 5A discharge without exceeding 80°C. If it discharged at 5A then that battery would be 0V in under 11 minutes
Thats Sad 
Sofirn wants me to cancel the dispute and send me a new one now since i gave them a link to this thread on Aliexpress. But i dont really want the sp10v3 anymore with that many people having problems with the light.
Does someone know if i cancel the dispute i cant open it anymore ? Because im not sure if they really want to send me a new one or just get the dispute closed.
Just say you’d prefer a refund so you can buy another model because many people are reporting a faulty driver.
In my case, I requested a return/ replacement from Amazon. They provided a return shipping label with no mention of batteries or restrictions for shipping the unit back intact. I received the replacement yesterday. This sample is not exhibiting the the heat issue, and overnight there has been no drain on the 14500 cell. However, it will not turn on with standard AA or NIMH, and the switch is sloppy and unpredictable. This one’s going back with a request for refund. I’m tapping out on this model, it’s a dud.
Mines been ok so far but I’ll check the charge level in the morning to see the drain on a working driver.