Don't like Anduril lights any more? and 4000K tint?

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Guys,

Recently I got a headache. I can not figure it out why anduril lights by sofirn are not popular any more, let alone 4000K version.

Such as SC31 Pro, SP36 Anduril, SP36 Pro, LT1, and IF25A which as 4000K 95 CRI version

During the past years, sofirn sell lots of anduril lights. I do appreciate for the support.

But in this year, I notice anduril lights are less popular, especially light with lower tint.

I don’t know why.

Please tell me I am wrong and you guys still like anduril lights. Because there are many inventory left. That’s a burden for sofirn.

Barry

Add：
we do have some inventory waiting for clearance. Maybe some are worth for attention.

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I think people are more aware of the importance of an efficient, well regulated driver. Since there are many more review sites like 1lumen and zeroair, it is easy to see run time graphs and compare among lights with similar target market.

A light that gives 3000 lumens for 30 seconds then drop to 300 lumens is a lot worse than a light that starts at 1000 lumens and stays there. When it is regulated, it also tends to be more efficient so battery life is extended and it puts out less heat.

A good UI is icing on the cake. It the hardware is not good to start with, then it is just a glorified toy.

For me personally I avoid any light without a buck or boost driver and can sustain good brightness for the life of battery.

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Hi Barry,

I think the main reason for that is the emitter used, historically the LH351D was popular because it is bright and high-cri but now has been surpassed by the Nichia 519a, which has better, neutral or rosy tint and improved red representation (R9 >80).

We still like them, but I think one of the main issues with that is that regulated drivers are becoming more popular because of efficiency and having a high stable output. Convoy for example this year released a lot of lights with regulated buck or boost drivers, as well as spare parts to upgrade old lights.

The Sofirn models with Anduril usually use a simple FET+1 driver, which is not very efficient. I think with some community collaboration (for example with @loneoceans for the amazingly efficient Lume1 and LumeX1 drivers, or @thefreeman) the anduril UI could be kept while greatly increasing efficiency.

I think an updated SC31 Pro with a buck driver and a 5000/4500k Nichia 519a in high-cri could be a very popular light to recommend. Maybe called the SC31C for the constant-current driver.

Edit: Chatted with some people, seems the popular sentiment is agreement especially on 519a instead of LH351D on high-cri models, SFT40 instead of SST40 and XHP50.3HI instead of XHP50.2 in high-output low-cri models. FET drivers are fine on cheaper models but constant-current Buck+FET would be nice

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It’s a hard requirement as far as I’m concerned. I love being able to set the max brightness.

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I think it’s a combination of two factors. Two kinds of user:

  • People who are fine with lower output and prefer warmer CCTs and regulated drivers
  • People who want power, who are fine with any driver as long as it puts out a lot of power, and prefer neutral to cool CCTs

Try offering more efficient (buck or boost driver) Anduril lights in warmer CCTs, as well as your current versions (which are still brilliant and I regularly recommend). 719A in boost driver lights might be popular, and if you can do a boost buck+FET anduril light it would probably be very popular.

Also, if you can, dual channel. Make a flood/throw light with anduril and an attiny1616 and it’ll do well.

I only own one Sofirn light that doesn’t run Anduril.

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That wouldn’t work.

Maybe you’re thinking buck+fet, unless it’s multichemistry.

Also I forgot to mention, Anduril is a hard requirement for me. Only non-anduril lights I own from Sofirn are an IF22A I got a good deal on and an SP40 I was going to give away.

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Yes, I was. Brain being weird today :stuck_out_tongue:

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Hi Barry,

I stopped buying Sofirn lights because they seldom use constant current driver anymore. Anduril 2 is great, but the only models from Sofirn which I recommend to are the ones with constant current driver: SP31v2.0, C8L, SP35.

The last purchase I made from Sofirn was the SP35T, because your staff said it was using “BUCK” driver. This turned out to be false, and I was extremely disappointed. Also, I was not the only one who felt that way.

I am now only interested in Sofirn lights if they have constant current, regulated drivers. Buck or Boost. Or Buck+FET. So for me personally, I have ignored all your new models due to this reason. Unless it has a good efficient driver.

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I think part of the reason is because Sofirn is competing with Wurkkos.

For example, the SC31 Pro is currently listed in Sofirn’s store with SST40 LED and a single color button. But Wurkkos has the FC13 with SFT40 and RGB button. The Wurkkos model has a few advantages:

  • better performance and a nicer-looking beam, due to using SFT40 instead of SST40
  • RGB button
  • attiny1616 MCU with standard flashing pads
  • the host design looks more interesting and feels nicer in the hand
  • somewhat nicer clip
  • power bank functions

However, to make it really popular, it would need a few more upgrades:

  • constant current boost and/or buck driver with high dynamic range and high efficiency
  • nicer LED types, like Nichia 519A 5700K dedomed, 519A 4500K with dome, Osram W1 or W2 (CSLNM1.TG, CSLPM1.TG), XHP70.3 HI 5000K 90CRI, SFT40 5000K, maybe 719A, …
  • a 1-way deep carry clip, ideally captive instead of clip-on
  • ideally the charge circuit should have a connection to the MCU so it can detect when charging and show charge status using the RGB button colors
  • would be nice if the entire host was smaller, because it uses 18650 but is as large as some 21700 lights

A light with these upgrades could become very very popular.

The LT1 is awesome… the best lantern on the market. I’m guessing the main factors slowing sales are its somewhat high price, and it seems like almost everyone already has one.

It would be really cool to have an upgraded LT1 and LT1-Mini with a dual boost driver and aux RGB.

These use the old FET+1 driver, which has been losing popularity. It was big in 2017, but is now going out of style. Many of Sofirn’s lights also use (or used) the attiny85 MCU, which can’t do as much, and it is often unclear whether fresh bought lights will come with attiny85 or attiny1616, and whether it will have standard flashing pads or not.

The IF25A competes with the Wurkkos TS25, much like the SC31 Pro competes with the FC13. But the Wurkkos version is nicer and costs less.

About the SP36, it is normal that “soda can” lights are less popular than “EDC” lights, simply because they are too large to carry everywhere.

…

I hope this provides some helpful info.

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I have 4 sofirn light.
The sofirn sp10 v2, the sofirn hs05, the sofirn SP35 and i have just bought sofirn sp10 pro with andruild 2.0 this month and love this amazing UI.

I think in the future, sofirn can make more boost, or buck driver for 14500, 18650 flashlight (such as the best flashligth SP35 you did with 21700).

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I think the t85 are sold out at this point; I’ve never received a t85 light from Sofirn or from resellers this year. for example, I have two SC31 Pro and both have the t1616 and UPDI pads.

Buck driver would be nice too. Or buck+FET similar to the NOV-MU to give a higher maximum output power as well as improved efficiency.

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For me personally…
I already own most of the lights you mention: SP36, LT1, IF25A… so I would need something new and different to buy more.

I agree with the others that we would like regulated drivers.

For LEDs, I have no problem with LH351D because I tend to modify the LED if it isn’t to my liking. A sliced LH351D can be quite nice, but 519 is the new favorite so look to upgrade to that LED. Likewise, replace the SST40 with SFT40 versions.

I prefer high CRI in the 4000k to 5000k, but usually end up swapping LEDs anyway.

If you want a real winner… use the SP10 Pro dual fuel Anduril driver in a smaller host (think Wurkkos TS10 size… the smaller the better). Also, this same drive in a small headlamp would be a winner.

FB

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As a person who has relatively recently got back into flashlights. After many years of being content with older Streamlight options. Being blissfully ignorant of how much better LED’s batteries and flashlight UI’s have gotten I was blown away by what currently available.

The first modern light I picked up was your SC31 Pro in 6500K and quickly picked up another in 5000K. I very quickly realized the 6000+K that I was used to was far inferior for most uses and no longer a trade off that I had to make. Further more I have been absolutely blown away with Anduril 2. Even just the concept of an open source flashlight UI used by multiple manufacturers is so far beyond amazing. Having so much flexibility to set up and configure my lights to my liking makes going back to more limited UI’s a much harder sell for me.

My next purchase was a Wurkkos TS11, I chose is over the IF19 mainly beacuse it has Anduril 2 and the reviews that the SFT40 was a better option for throwers. I also really appreciate the compatibility with many of the Sofirn and Wurkkos battery tubes and tail caps.

After those light I decided that I wanted a similarly sized angle style headlight. Here I found the options much more limited. I really wanted a angle light with Anduril 2 but there are only a few options all of which were either bigger or smaller than I was looking for. Even after dropping that as a requirement I still had a hard time deciding on what to get. Most options were either more expensive than than I wanted, too large or had a weird head design, or lacked the range of brightness options I was looking for. I finally settled on a SP40A with the LH351D in 5000K and a SP40 with a LH351D in 4000K. For me these are a big compromise as the UI frankly sucks but the output levels are at least usable to me. I looked pretty close at the HS40 but it has far too big of steps between levels. No options between 10 and 300 lumens is a huge deal breaker. additionally having 6500K as the only option made it even less desirable. I may eventually get a Skillhunt H04R with a Nichia 519 but its lack of USB-C charging and a interchangeable 18350 battery tube make it less appealing to me. So for now the SP40 and SP40A will get me by, but if some one offered as similar light with Anduril 2 I would buy it and replace them.

Recently I swapped the 6500K SST40 in my first SC31 Pro for a 3000K SFT40 HCRI and am much happier with it. I can confidently say I will never buy another 6500K light outside of maybe a higher powered thrower. I really do not understand why you do not offer the SC31 Pro with a 3000k to 4000K HCRI LED option. The main group of people interested in lights with Anduril 2 are also people who want warmer color temperatures and high CRI.

Additionally now that I have a much better grasp of what is available, better drivers with higher efficiency, higher sustained outputs, and longer run-times is definitely on my list of features that I would like to have. While I am ok with the FET+1 drivers in my SC31 Pro’s if I had the option to buy a similar light with Anduril 2 and a better driver I would. This becomes even more important in smaller lights with more limited battery capacities.

TLDR: I really like Anduril 2 and prefer it. However it alone is not always the deciding factor. Better LED options and good drivers would help make the decision to buy easier.

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Don’t forget there are still people who want power too :wink:

Much like anduril itself, the value is in having options.

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And want power for more than 30 seconds…

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A guess? There’s a difference between The Enthusiast and The Muggle.

The Enthusiast knows what he wants, knows color temperatures, CRIs, tints, even the emitter he wants.

The Enthusiast wants andy as the UI and thinks that The Muggle is fine with Simple Mode, that it’s easy to use, and if he wants to learn to use the other features, he can.

The Muggle probably doesn’t know or care about those parameters, and thinks that 6500 is a bigger number than 4000 or 4500, so must be better.

The Muggle looks at the UI flowchart and runs away scared, maybe regrets not getting that PhD in flashlightology (but probably doesn’t).

The Enthusiast likes “shortcuts” to moonlight, turbo, strobe, whatever. The Muggle just gets confused.

This goes back to The Grandma Test, and whether The Grandma can just pick up a light and use it, or if she doesn’t know “press’n’hold to turn off” and leaves it on 'til the battery runs down. She has no clue what’s “ramping” or “shortcuts” or “moonlight”. She goes back to the cheap D-cell plastic flashlight in her sewing drawer and uses that.

And like it or not, The Muggle and The Grandma outnumber The Enthusiast probably 1000:1.

But one thing that people don’t like to hear, much less think about, is Too Much Variety.

How many variations of a tubelight can there be? Different knurling, different LED, different this, different that, just little variations here and there, but a whole new model number, new listings, etc. The Muggle gets confused.

It’s one thing to improve a model, but another to just change up things and do something different, just for the sake of being different. Again, The Enthusiast might buy 1 of each of 5 colors of the same light. The Muggle only wants A Light.

“People don’t want ¼ in drills.    People want ¼ in holes.”

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I don’t want to offend anyone, but there is a silent majority and there is the rest.
Imho that rest group wanted the specs you named, and now they are satisfied with what they got.

Not pointing fingers, but at my age you appreciate lumen. The only substitute for lumen is more lumen.
Though I don’t consider myself being a muggle, CRI and DUV and BBL are of secundary interest. To me.

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Thanks for writing this, so that I didn’t have to :smiley:

I really liked this whole message, but that idea reminded me of Barry Schwartz’s book “Paradox of Choice”

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“Analysis paralysis”.

Or worse, lookit the thread on the right-angle headlamp.

I want usb-c!

I won’t buy it if it has a charging port!

I want the switch on the top!

I want the switch on the side!

I want the switch on the back!

I want a magnetic tailcap!

I don’t want a magnetic tailcap!

I want the switch on the magnetic tailcap!

I want fins!

I want it plain!

I want knurling!

Knurling picks up dirt and grime so I don’t want it!

I want it floody!

I want it throwy!

I want it both throwy and floody.

I want white and red!

I want white and UV!

I want white and red and UV!

And 2700K/2200K for sleeping!


I’d just quit making flashlights at that point.

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The 4000k sst20’s, all sst40s, and the 5000k lh351d’s you guys use are very very green.

They have a very bad tint. Are not nice to look at.

That’s definitely part of it. Might as well just use cool white low CRI emitters and get more lumens than use the super green sst20s and lh351d’s.

I also suspect the q8 plus is cannibalizing sales of the sp36’s.

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