(Yet another) ThorFire PF04 Review

Like many others here, I was provided the opportunity to review the ThorFire PF04. That said, all remarks are my own and unbiased.

LED Tint: the LED tint bin isn’t specified by ThorFire, but it is on the cool side. Definitely not the coolest LED I have. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s around a 1A Cree tint. For comparison, here is (from left to right) the PF04, a Tank007 E09, and the Astrolux A01 (a Nichia 219B 4000K High CRI). The A01’s 4000K tint is much warmer. But the PF04 seems like a nice, clean white - definitely not blue.

Beam Pattern: the PF04 has a very floody beam, as you’d expect from a penlight. Great for up-close work, not so great for distance illumination. This can be seen in the beamshot - notice the considerably larger hotspot when compared to the other lights.

Modes: the PF04 has three modes with off-time mode memory. The update to L-M-H order is much welcome. I’ve never really understood the mode order (H-L-M?) that the previous version had. The modes are nicely spaced. My one gripe is that low (actually a moonlight) is way too low. I appreciate having a low mode, but it needs to be bright enough to be useable. The moonlight on this light is even dimmer than the moonlight on the Astrolux A01, not nearly bright enough to illuminate a book in a dark room. And the medium mode is overkill for reading, but passable.

PWM: while I’m not overly sensitive to PWM, I cannot detect any PWM on any mode. The image shows the beam arc on low mode (typically the easiest mode to detect PWM on). Not a hint of pulses to be seen.

Build Quality: the PF04 feels very nice and solid in hand. The anodizing is even and neither matte nor shiny. The glass appears to be anti-reflective (AR glass) - very nice addition for a light in this price range. The button is firm, but easily click-able. Having it protrude fully from the end of the light makes it easy to find and use.

Packaging: the light came in strong cardboard box with a good layer of foam all around it. Included in the package were a few spare o-rings, always good to have around. Batteries are not included, but AAA are common enough.

Conclusion: overall, the ThorFire PF04 is a very nice penlight. However, my EDC preference is 1xAAA sized lights - I don’t like carrying something this long in my pocket. And for bigger tasks, I usually stick to AA or 18650 lights. Being a great light, I’d hate to see it go to waste so I will likely be passing it along to a friend or family member so that they can enjoy it.

Miscellaneous photos:

Very nice review
I like the way you show (lack of) visible pwm, smart!

I use a spinning fan blade to see PWM. Seems to work.

BTW Thorfire has a $6.00 off code on Amazon for this light right now. Use code 4R785VAD

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