The SOFIRN SP35 is a light I bought off Amazon a while back. I thought that I would like the SC31Pro, but the Anduril UI is not my favorite, no turbo from off mainly, too many blinky modes for me. Same with the IF25A, it is a good light, but has Anduril which is a fantastic UI for capabilities, but I do not love it. I like the new Manker UI, it seems to be what I want, except the low is not low enough outside of moonlight… I saw the SP35 and not many reviews, but I figured I would give it a shot. Now it is not on Amazon…
Well, the UI on this SP35 is just about perfect for me. Moon or turbo, even blinky modes from off. This is handy walking the dog and crossing a street, you can double tap for turbo or triple tap for strobe to get a drivers attention. Lockout is without a moon mode, so totally dark with four clicks. Unscrew a tailcap for mechanical lockout. It has built in charging, but that is not a value added for me, as it has issues with waterproofing. It works though, the included USB-C cable allows you to recharge easily from a regular wall wart power supply.
The levels on this are not adjustable, and have decent jumps between them. I thought between eco and low it would be a huge jump from 7 lumens to a claimed 120 lumens. In reality it is not that bad actually. I do think that low could be say 70 lumens and that would be better, but that is from a runtime perspective. 7 lumens on eco is enough to walk a paved path at night, and the low at 120 has enough reach for when there is need for more light. Medium and high are respectfully 400 and 950 lumens claimed. Turbo is supposedly 2000 lumens and is probably close to that by eye. There is no thermal regulation on this model, so no stepdown until its too hot and you punch the off button.
If you do not want the predetermined levels, it also has a ramping mode… Four clicks when on toggles between the fixed levels and ramping. I am not a fan of ramping, but it does have its uses for times, so it is a good option and easy to get to.
I used this light on a recent trip, albeit, not as much as I would have liked. It makes an almost perfect travel light for me. The built in charging does cut down one other thing to carry, though you need a USB-C cable if you do not need it for anything else. The size is “large EDC” which means it fits in a pocket, but people may wonder why you are so happy to see them on occasion. It has one of the best clips I have seen on a light, though it optimistically has a hat brim reverse on the clip. I think a light this size may work on a hat in a pinch, but would not be comfortable and the hat would have to be cinched down.
The pros are all the above, it has great output and UI means you can have it ramping or stepped and the steps are decently spaced for my uses. It is a buck driver, so the output is well regulated, and will not sag with battery voltage. The switch has a voltage indicator that comes on for about 5 seconds when the light is turned on, and is off otherwise. I like this as I do not like switch or aux LED’s.
There are no real negatives, maybe the built in charging that takes away some of the water resistance. It is supposedly IPX8 rated to 2 meters, but not going to try that myself unless an accident.
Nitpicks: It has an SMO reflector. I would like to have an orange peel reflector for a bit of a wider hotspot. I do not like the SST40 as it does not have neutral or warm options, but love the output. This is supposedly 6000K and not that blue, I can live with it for now. This would be great with an XHP 50.2 3V as well, but the same thing, nothing below 5000K for these LED’s as of now. This UI with programmable step levels would be my favorite UI. The lack of temperature regulation is nice too, I can use this to stop a terminator on turbo when it melts down on a full battery if needed, but otherwise I will know when to turn it off.
Hope this helps someone, if you are not a fan of Andurnil UI, try this one for a simple version. Though ToyKeeper is coming out with an Andurnil 2.0 with a better simple mode.