Hey everybody, Dale here with another (yes I know) look at the new Sofirn C8F Triple. Tracy at Sofirn contacted me about this new revision and I bought the light at a discount on Amazon HERE
They are offering a 25% Discount to BLF users with the coupon code N6LKSTK9. With the battery charger and a really good cell, this comes out to around $34. A pretty nice deal I think.
They have upgraded the C8F to use a side e-switch and have several groups in the driver firmware that are easily selected by the end user.
Specification:
√CCT Range:5350K-5700K, Neutral White(NW)
√Four light Groups:
Group1:Low2(85LM)>Medium(650LM)>High2(1330LM)
Group2:Low1(37LM)>Low2(150LM)>Medium(790LM)>High2(1330LM)
Group3:Low1(22LM)>Low2(80LM)>Medium(630lm)>High1(990LM)>High2(1540LM)
Group4(Muggle/Kids Group)Low1(20LM)>Low2(70LM)>Medium(150LM)
Turbo:2580 Lumen.(2800mah unprotected 18650 battery used in test) In any mode (except lock-out and Kids group), Double-click to go to Turbo
√Light Cup: smooth reflector
√Thermoelectric separated MCPCB
√Reverse polarity protection, to protect from improper battery installation. The light is off if battery install improper.
The original groups is group 1 and it always cycle from Low to High
- Memory Function: from OFF, hold 0.5 seconds to go to the previous used mode
- In any mode, hold 1 second to go to Moonlight/ML
Mode Set Operation
1, From ON, 4-click to go to another Light Group.
2, Group 4 /Kids Group: In any mode (except lock-out), hold&press 10 seconds to go to Kids Group
3, To Lock-Out the light, from OFF, 4 fast clicks
4, Battery level Indicator: From on, 3 fast clicks to go to Battery level indicator
5, Low Battery Indicator
Package:
C8F Lampe; 18650 battery; USB charger; 2 of O-rings; lanyard; Manual
They also took heed and made changes to the emitter selection and MCPCB, we now have XP-L emitters that I believe are W2 and in the 3A or 3B tint range. Tint is just slightly cooler than a 3D, power level is very capable and well received by yours truly!
Now, Barkuti has a nice review with a lot of good pics and run times and all that, so I don’t aim to bore ya to death with another albeit less qualified review like his. He might not have had the triple, or the new side switch version. So I’ll show ya some pics and then we’ll go inside and see what makes it tick! (and then what makes it tick FASTER!)
They’ve made a very nice triple reflector, used a Direct Thermal Path MCPCB (confirmed) and have what I believe to be the W2 power level of the XP-L. I say this because the emitter has a small flat on the side, not the usual large full coverage flat that won’t fit under a Carclo optic. I’ve only seen these once before and I found them to do over 2000 lumens in a full direct drive light.
Look at the emitters on the board and see the one I’m holding to the right, a normal XP-L V6 emitter…
They even supplied a charger and a cell, this time an unprotected cell (I know, the label says it’s protected but testing and questions to Tracy proved out they made an error with the printing on this label) I unwrapped it and it appears to be a Samsung 30Q, but it does better than the 30Q’s I have. Bested only by Sony in the form of the VTC4 and VTC5A in my tests.
This might also be a good time to point out that Sofirn has already done the spring bypasses for us! Yes, 22ga wire bypasses already installed at the factory! Nice touch!
Tests? Yep, I tested the light with their cell and with a couple of others to see where they all stood…
……………Sofirn ……………………………30Q…………………………Sony VTC4
- 0.552 Lumens…………………0.552 Lumens………………0.587 Lumens
- 37.50 Lumens…………………22.29 Lumens………………22.81 Lumens
- 83.15 Lumens……………………82.8 Lumens………………84.53 Lumens
- 890 Lumens………………….872.85 Lumens………………931.5 Lumens
- 1338.6 Lumens……………1314.45 Lumens…………….1400.7 Lumens
- 3015.3 Lumens……………3018.75 Lumens…………….3125.7 Lumens
……2756.66 at 30 sec…………….2691 at 30 sec
So as you can see, their driver is really working quite well! It appears to be an FET+1 design of their own, albeit with a bit more sane FET than I typically use.
They assemble this triple reflector light in the usual manner, even though it’s smaller than what we normally see done this way. This is to say, they use a screw from the middle to pull the reflector down onto the MCPCB through the emitter shelf, but they ALSO use one screw to hold the MCPCB to the reflector so it can’t twist and kill emitters. They put a recess in the emitter shelf for this screw to seat down into. Clever!
You see the two wire holes at the bottom with the recess at the top and the anchor screw in the middle…
This is all isolated with white plastic centering/isolation rings. Nicely thought out and well executed in the first C8 Triple with a metal triple cup reflector. The reflector is also well done.
Threads on the battery tube are non-anodized at the head, anodized at the tail. Heavy V shaped threads are cut flat at the point to be a good compromise between the normal fine V thread and a narrow square thread, I find these to be robust and well done.
The e-switch falls readily to thumb, well placed here as well with an interruption for the switch in the finned section of the head.
Even the laser etching is well done, a place many cheaper lights suffer noticeably…
I especially enjoyed their attention to detail when it came to the reflector itself. Look at the deep pockets cut into the bottom of the reflector to clear the wires…
I had to test those out, of course, to see if larger wires fit. 18ga SuperWorm did indeed fit and clear.
With nice threaded retaining rings and a relatively deep driver bay, the head of the light is again well done and easily accepts modification.
Something I did, indeed, embrace.
So, I applaud Sofirn with the improved and upgraded C8F triple, very nicely done and a welcome addition to the C8 style lights we know and love! Well done Sofirn!
I will elaborate a bit more on the moddability here directly……
Thanks for checking it out, you sure can’t go wrong here, they outdid themselves with this one!