Small but bright EDC flashlight with a simple UI? You don’t want to spend a lot of money? Then check out the Sofirn SC13!
You can find the German version of this review on my website: SammysHP Blog › Sofirn SC13
The flashlight was provided by the manufacturer for this review. Thank you very much!
Supplied parts and hardware
- 18350 Li-ion battery with 1100 mAh (3.94 V at arrival)
- Clip
- Lanyard
- 2x replacement o-ring
- USB-C charging cable
- Manual (EN, RU, CN)
Length: 64.8 mm
Diameter: 25 mm
Weight: 40 g including clip (plus 22.5 g for the battery)
Interesting design! The waist really helps with a secure grip and it feels very nice in the hand. The anodization is slightly rough and feels very nice as well.
It has a Fresnel lens, that is held by a pressed bezel. You might wonder about the strange ring around the head – it’s for the clip.
The two protrusions on the head will stop the flashlight from rolling away on a flat surface.
You can attach a lanyard at the hole in the tailcap. Unfortunately it is placed in a way that the flashlight cannot tailstand anymore with a lanyard attached.
Especially bad because the tailcap includes a strong magnet (that is glued in).
Once you attached the clip to the flashlight, it immediately starts looking more complete. I really like the clip. It has a fairly large opening, doesn’t scratch the tailcap when removing the battery and allows great deep-carry.
Located opposite of the switch, there is a USB-C charging port. It is protected by a silicone cover.
During charging the status LED in the switch lights up in red. When it battery is full, it switches to green. Below a certain voltage (probably 3 V) it charges at 100 mA, but then continues with appropriate 1 A. Termination at 250 mA is a little high, especially at 4.22 V after the charging has finished.
I had a little problem with the charging port cover: While using the flashlight, my finger frequently pulled on the little tab of the cover. So I simply cut it off and now it is perfect.
The manufacturer says that it is IPX8 protected against water and survives drops of one meter height.
While the tailcap has a spring, the driver side only has a simple button. There’s enough space to fit any 18350 battery (button and flat top, even protected ones).
User interface and features
An electronic side switch is used to control the flashlight. It is flat, has a rubbery surface and a snappy actuation.
Nice and simple UI with direct access to turbo, moon and last used brightness. The strobe alternates between 14.2 and 7.6 Hz.
| State | Action | Function |
|---|---|---|
| Off | 1 click | Turn on (last used brightness, except moon and turbo) |
| Off | 2 click | Turbo |
| Off | 3 click | Lockout |
| Off | hold | Moon |
| On | 1 click | Turn off |
| On | 2 click | Turbo |
| On | hold | Increase brightness (Low → Medium → High) |
| Turbo | 1 click | Previous brightness or off |
| Turbo | 2 click | Strobe |
| Strobe | 1 click | Previous brightness or off |
| Strobe | 2 click | Turbo |
| Lockout | 3 click | Unlock |
| Lockout | hold | Momentary moon |
For the first five seconds after turning on the flashlight, the status LED in the switch will show the approximate state of charge:
| Color | State of charge |
|---|---|
| Green | 70% – 100% |
| Red | 30% – 70% |
| Red blinking | < 30% |
A flat switch makes it less likely to press it by accident, but also makes it slightly harder to find. The protrusion of the head helps finding it, but you have a 50% chance pressing the charging port cover instead. If you don’t want to lock the flashlight with three clicks, you can also slightly loosen the tailcap for a mechanical lockout.
Illumination
So far I couldn’t find a definite answer from the manufacturer, which LED is used in the SC13. But some information I found on the Internet indicates that it is a Luminus SST-40. This would match my observation from the slightly greenish low CRI light.
Something you don’t find often in flashlights: the Fresnel lens, or better: the Fresnel TIR optic. Not sure if it performs much better or different from a regular TIR optic, but it creates a very soft spot, which fades out in a spill with some rings. There is a tint shift between the slightly yellow spot to the bluish spill.
Driver and runtime
The SC13 uses a simple FET driver. Thus the given runtimes are more of a theoretical nature because the brightness is decreased continuously with the battery voltage.
| Mode | Brightness¹ | Runtime¹ | Intensity¹ (Throw²) | Current³ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Turbo | 1300 lm / 500 lm | 2 min + 1:20 h | 11750 cd (217 m) | 4.48 A |
| High | 500 lm | 1:30 h | 4267 cd (131 m) | 1.77 A |
| Medium | 150 lm | 3:30 h | 1242 cd (70 m) | 0.55 A |
| Low | 10 lm | 17:36 h | 81 cd (18 m) | 0.04 A |
| Moon | 1 lm | 100 h | 9 cd (6 m) | 0.01 A |
| Off | 59 µA |
¹ According to manufacturer ² ANSI FL1 ³ Measured
After one minute in turbo, there is a step-down to about 25% of the initial brightness. The temperature reached about 43 °C.
In all modes except moon, the brightness is regulated with 20 kHz PWM. Even turbo shows some PWM in the measurement (probably to limit the maximum current). At a voltage of about 2.7 V the flashlight turns off to prevent the battery from being low discharged.
Conclusion
The Sofirn SC13 is a small and lightweight EDC flashlight with a creative design. The waist and texture feel very nice in the hand and allow for a reliable grip. Sofirn did everything right with the UI: It is simple, has shortcuts to lowest, highest and last used brightness and no unnecessary features.
Not sure if there is any benefit from the fancy Fresnel optic. The beam has a smooth spot with some small rings in the spill. Unfortunately the tint is not the best: slightly green with a noticeable tint shift between spot and spill. But for most users it should be acceptable.
Got curious? You can find the Sofirn SC13 here at Amazon US. Use the code “109BPEV9” to get a 10% discount on your order!
