[review] Csteboke SC31T SE

LED Flashlights – General Info 18650 Flashlights
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[nb: waiting for pix to be “published” on Amazon so I can link to them]

I’ve always been a fan of the Sofirn SC31 family right from the original SC31, through the B version, then the Pro version, and now there’s the T (tactical, I presume) Special Edition. The deviation from the previous models is that instead of a single sideswitch to control the light, now there’s a set of sideswitch and tailswitch. The tailswitch controls on/off, including momentary-on (woohoo!), and the sideswitch selects the modes.

The name Csteboke might be a tongue-twister, but it’s essentially a Sofirn light, which to me is a good sign, as (full disclosure :laughing: ) I’ve been a fan of the Sofirn lineup for a long time. And true to form, this model didn’t disappoint. Why the name-change, I don’t know. :slight_smile:

The T came in a sturdy cardboard box, lined with foam on the bottom. The light was suitably protected in a bubblewrap sleeve. With it was an envelope with extra O-rings and lanyard. A charging cable was also included. The 18650 cell was inside the light with a protective insulator (to keep the light from being inadvertently turned on in transit). Also, a printed manual was included, which gave a good outline of the light’s functions. So as usual, everything you need to get up and running is included in the kit.

First impressions of the light are excellent. It’s a beefy little light, quite solid. Fit and finish is excellent, ano is a perfect semigloss black, and with the exception of the deep-cut fins in the head for heat-dissipation, there are no sharp edges or points anywhere. Even the lanyard holes seem to be chamfered.

Knurling on the light is a fine diamond-cut. Grippy without “biting”. Along with the brand and model, etchings on the light are the CE, etc., markings opposite that, a little battery-symbol at the back showing which way the cell goes in, and the usual bacon-in-a-triangle on the head warning that it can get hot. I could personally do without all that graffiti on the light, but it’s probably some legal thing that requires it.

Yes, there’s usb charging! The rubber cover is really nice and thick, takes some effort to pull it out and even more to put it in (that’s what she said…), but it looks like it’ll stay in just fine and keep out dirt, dust, water, etc., from the charging port. When charging, the sideswitch light turns red, and when charging is finished, it turns green. The indicator also doubles as a battery-status indicator, which stays on a few seconds after the light is turned on. Green for good, red for low, blinking-red for critical.

The included 3000mAH cell clocked in at just over that (3010mAH, if I recall right), even on my pessimistic Opus. Nice!

The main attraction is the venerable LH351D LED, high-CRI (color rendition index) so it’ll show up colors quite nicely and accurately. Color temp is about 4500K by my estimates, a nice soft color that’s not too yellow, and nowhere near as harsh as those retina-scorching 6500K-7000K lights. Better still is that it’s behind an orange-peel reflector, so practically no artifacts that can happen with smooth reflectors. The beam is nice and floody, perfect for grubbling through cabinets, going for a walk, etc. I always found floody lights to be way more useful except for when I need a thrower, in which case I’d use one.

The UI (user interface) is pretty simple. The tailswitch does on/off. Period. The sideswitch handles all mode changes. When on, clicking changes modes/levels accordingly. There are 4 brightness levels in stepped-mode, and a continuously-variable level in ramping-mode. Doubleclicking gets you to turbo instantly, and a single click brings you back to your previous brightness level. Triple-clicking gets you epilepsy-mode with strobe, SOS, and beacon. I hate blinkies in general, but beacon mode is pretty amazing. It’s an incredibly-bright flash every 2sec or so, definitely an attention-getter. Quad-clicking toggles between ramping and stepped modes.

There’s also a shortcut to moonlight, namely by holding the sideswitch when turning on the light. This guarantees the lowest level of lighting, as to not ruin your night-vision. From there, you can brighten the light, vs starting from what could be an unexpected blindingly-bright memorised brightness level.

Negatives? I hate strobe and SOS modes, and they’re the first two options in blinky-mode. I’d prefer a way (similar to my Skilhunt M200) to be able to “lock in” a particular blinky (eg, beacon) so that it “sticks” until changed.

Also, in ramping mode, it seems to blow through lower brightnesses pretty quickly but lingers in the top end. I’d tweak the ramping algorithm to slow it down when dim and speed it up on bright, to make it visually linear. As a result, with most lights, I typically prefer stepped mode over ramping.

All in all, I’m pretty happy with the dual-switch interface. It’s pretty logical, and after using it a while, pretty intuitive as well. Plus, as far as the light itself, color is excellent, has high color-rendition, is hella bright, and has an excellent smooth floody beam. I’m impressed. :slight_smile:

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Thanks for the review! I also like the two button UI, but I’m a bit disappointed in the brightness of the Csteboke. The Csteboke lacks the brightness I’ve come to expect of 18650 lights lately. Compared to the SC31 Pro it is night and day. I also reversed the tube and replaced the clip with a deep carry s2+ clip so that half the light wasn’t sticking out of my pocket. Aside from those couple points, overall I agree that its a nice well-made light.

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Thanks for this nice and detailed review :+1:
I was curious about this new iteration of Sofirn sc31t and wondering how it would compare against similar Wurkkos fc11 aside from the dual switch…
Different driver? Higher substained output?
I’ve always found fc11’s output a bit dissapointing compared with its “cousin” sc31pro or even with Convoy S2+ with same led. Maybe this new version performs better…
Anyway, it’s a shame for non US-based customers it can only be purchased through Amazon.com atm. With the lauch discount I would probably give it a try…

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I’m good with the brightness as it is. I’m thinking maybe because it’s a warmer temp, it’s not as jarring as a CW emitter?

I always pull off any clips (hate ’em), so that doesn’t bother me, either. :laughing:

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No worries.

Not really sure. I rarely have many same-class lights all out at the same time to compare ’em back’n’forth. And even if I did, I probably wouldn’t be able to keep track of ’em all. SC31, SC31B, SC31pro, SC31T, FC11, etc.

A wider hotspot looks “dimmer” than the same exact output focused into a tighter hotspot which looks “brighter”.

Most times I’m more interested in flood than throw, because most of what I’m looking at is either close-in or at moderate distance (eg, across the room). If I want to see what’s across the yard or farther, I’ll pick a light that’s throwier.

So all in all, I’m pretty happy with the wider warmer beam from the ’31T, even if it won’t light up trees waaaaaaaaaaay off in the distance. If I’d be going anywhere where I’d be likely to need that, I’d bring a thrower with me, too.

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Thanks for the review. Looks like another “me too” 18650 tube light with nothing to differentiate it from the competition. No memorized strobe or constant frequency strobe (as per 95% of lights) - manufacturers how about doing something different for people who actually use strobes? Emitter only available in one CCT unlike the FC11.

What I really want to see is a decent 18650 tube light with tail e-switch and Anduril - a FW1A beater!

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I generally hate strobes, so never took notice either way. I do like the “beacon” function, though. Wish that could be set to the default blinky-with-3click mode, like the way the M200 memorises blinkies.

I hate dual-frequency strobes with a passion, though. Moreso than blinkies in general (except beacon, which can be quite handy).

Dual-tube? Meh. It’s done nicely on some lights, but can also be kinda finicky. That was the curse of the original FWs, iirr.

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For the first point, it is possible for a strobe to be both hidden (so that people who don’t want it, don’t need to select it) and memorized (so that people who do want it can activate it with one click after it has been previously activated). The old Thorfire TK15S could do this.

Second point, there are plenty of flashlights with inner tubes (such as Klarus XT11 series, Noctigon KR1/4) that don’t have the reliability issues that the FW series have. Inner tubes are a non-issue if engineered correctly.

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Absolutely. My Cometa (or anything with bistro/bisgotti/whatever) can select memory on/off, moonlight on/off, blinkies enabled/disabled, etc, just fine. And multiple blinkies, it could very easily memorise the last-used blinky (strobe/sos/beacon/battery/bike/whatever) if it wanted to.

But someone’s gotta believe that people want that. Otherwise we get the same silly 2-freq strobe, etc.

Of course. Like my TM-03, TF84, ED20-T, whatever the alphanumeric-soup lights that I have which have all tailcap-controlled functions.

If it’s done right, yeah, it can be pretty reliable. But as we’ve seen, sometimes it ain’t.

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I’ve got all three. Putting them on the same VTC6 cells, they cover three different bases although the differences aren’t huge. SC31 Pro is the brightest with its smooth reflector and a bit tighter hotspot. FC11 is in the middle with an op reflector, nice balanced hotspot, less bright than the SC31 Pro to the eye. The CSTEBOKE SC31T SE has an op reflector but for some reason has a wider still hotspot and while it isn’t floody, it does lose some punch because of that. I haven’t taken them apart to measure but perhaps there’s a difference in the reflectors or something (actually it almost looks like the SC31T’s emitter dome is slightly smaller, which wouldn’t make sense and is probably my eyes playing tricks on me). The SC31T also appears to be a tad warmer than the others (all 5000K as ordered). I’ve not measured current on any of these but if the SC31T is running lower current that would affect this of course.

I think if you aren’t pleased with the Wurkkos, then get the Sofirn. The biggest difference in these lights to me is the UI, and of course the dual switch. Except on turbo/high, they’re all quite similar in light output. (also, I think the CSTEBOKE fails in terms of “tactical” use…certainly not a duty-quality light and I’m sure that’s not what they were going for with the use of the word “tactical”…only thing there is the momentary tail switch I guess. But it’s a good light.)

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Actually, I think that’s what makes it “tactical”. Lights with soft-off (tailcap on, but turned off via the sideswitch) can end up doing nothing if you press/click the tailswitch if it’s already “off”. So you hit it with a hard-off and then click back on for… still a soft-off.

By the time you figure out wtf’s going on with the light, the badguy shoots you in the face.

When I’d lock out my C8F, it’s soft-off, then tailcap clicked off, and unscrew the tailcap a bit. Talk about overkill. When I left it a long while and came back, it took me… a while… to get it back on again. Completely forgot it had a tailcap switch. :person_facepalming:

At least with no soft-off, whenever you click on the light, it will be on, even if dim. So you can bap it higher if you want, or “tactically” sneak around in a dark office with low light.

Aside from quibbles about blinkies and real battery-voltage blink-out, the UI (at least in stepped mode) is minimal but perfectly usable. I’m honestly not crazy about its ramping mode.

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Thanks guys… Appreciate your feedback :wink:

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The name is growing on me. It looks better than it sounds.

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Yeah, it’s like the Klingon version of Valhalla…