Hi all,
So about 4 months ago I modded a convoy l21A with a white flat. And while I was extremely happy with the results, I wasn’t completely satisfied.
For one, I kind of screwed up the pristine reflector coating by having to wash it. The microfiber cloth left some very very small scratches. It doesn’t affect reflectivity (i think) but I can notice it and it annoys me. Secondly the l21A is just too big a host for a led as small as the white flat. Proportionally it just doesn’t make sense. It’s a fun light, but bothersome to take with me.
So I went on a search for a nice host with as little modding work as possible.
Initially I was looking at the GT mini, but (at the time, without coupon) I couldn’t justify the cost. Also, the side switch would complicate finding a suitable driver. Next my obvious thought was a C8, but in general I just don’t like the look of it. Besides… commercial c8’s with a white flat already exist, so what would be the point.
In the end, I went with the sofirn sp31T and I’m going to explain why it is (in my opinion) the absolute best host/flashlight.
First of all it feels incredible in the hand. Lots of grip and the balance is just right. The driver of the sp31T is the same as in the sp31v2. Which means nice regulated output :+1: . And more importantly, I wouldn’t have to change the driver to use the osram led. Only negative (for me) would be the double switch, which makes the light a little too long.
I tried a different tail cap without switch and I think it looks much better. In the future I might replace the driver with the sp32 v2-one which doesn’t need a tail switch
Replacing the led star went very well. The only problem I had was that the star wasn’t 16mm as I expected, but 17mm. Which initially I didn’t mind since I could fit my bought 16mm star with centering gasket just fine, but after fully assembling it, it turned out my gasket was too thick and as such the osram wasn’t focussed well. So I tried using the original gasket (which doesn’t fit the osram, but was a lot thinner). To make it fit I had to solder the wires to the outmost edge of the pads (so the reflector wouldn’t short out the wires), but that wasn’t too much of a hassle. After assembling it once more I noticed that by pure and utter luck I got the led centered perfectly :heart_eyes: (what are the odds right!?)
And another surprise: The beam was absolutely excellent. No circles, no color-shift, just a small dot and an evenly lit spill!!
Some beamshots from before the mod and after:
The tree is about 250m away, and while it doesn’t show very well, the new beam lights it up very easily.
50m: 
30m: 
So in conclusion: The sp31T was made for a white flat. If sofirn remade the light with the sp32 driver and a modified gasket that would be amazing. The reflector is deeper than the one of a c8, so slighly more focused spill. It is still pocketable and an absolute blast to use.
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