I was just playing with my new 519a model… it sure seems like it goes LMH-LMH. Maybe I am misreading the question… or maybe because I always … so far… have turned the light off when it was on the low level… Meaning the memory turns it on in low.??
PS I just tried it. turned off in medium it then goes MHL-MHL so I guess it depends on the reference level…meaning where one leaves it when turning it off.
It would be nice to be able to defeat the memory mode.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that going from High to Medium, instead of going from High to Low would be more useful. Moving from Down towards Up, then from Up towards Down, not around.
(Almost) Anduril behavior. When you ramp up, then stop holding the button for a bit and hold it again, it will ramp down. Let it go, hold again, ramps up again. Same behavior in stepped UI. Very useful imo.
OK, I am slow… he wants to be able to reverse the ramping? Yes that would be nice, but it really only has three main levels… Or does he just want it to always go down instead of up from wherever you stop? But in this light that would mean going from low to high??? I think I am lost again…
Wurkkos-sold H25S does the same thing with sharp levels, without Anduril :-). I guess what I really want is - Anduril or not, smooth ramping or not, letting the switch off for a second or not to change direction - for the levels to go up and down and then up again, without ‘wrapping’ from High to Low or from Low to High. Always.
It’s not fair to compare Sofirn to fake Apple products or stores, or even to insinuate Sofirn are behaving in this way. Sofirn has been upfront and honest, taking the text mistake on the chin and letting us know there’s ongoing staff educational training and responding to questions. It doesn’t seem like poor business practice or a scam.
It’s good to see this little light with a nicer LED. I have one of the originals and like it a lot, but that beam is very white. I’ve ordered a couple of the Nichia just now, with the discount it’s crazy not to.
I can also see that us at BLF are light enthusiasts and experts. It’s why Sofirn are here, to use this resource, I guess it’s mostly normal folk who are the bulk of the customers. While we may care about buck drivers, most customers wouldn’t know what it is. When I started out on the road to ruin, I just wanted huge lumens without a care for the Kelvin, CRI wasn’t even a thing.
While I agree with the sentiment you have - in my personal experience, @Sofirn has really not improved their CS over the last 4 years that I have purchased from them. This isn’t the first time they have ‘misspoken’ about a flashlight having a driver that it doesn’t have - and other similar things.
I personally have given up on them, and unless some reviewer whom I actually trust has given a good report on a product, I tend to skip Sofirn lights these days.
It’s fine and dandy to be upfront and honest - as you say - but in my actual personal experience, they really haven’t seem to have made any effort to improve in their CS.
I also agree, that most of their customers probably don’t give a rat’s @ss about regulated drivers - but it’s very disappointing to have to discover (by doing my own runtime tests) that a light which I was led to believe was a buck driver is actually a FET driver - and the only response they gave was an offer for a $3 (iirc) coupon toward my next purchase.
I’m sure there will be some who will chime in and say “Oh, but my experience was different”. Fair enough, but I base my purchasing decisions on my own experiences. Fool me once.
When all is said and done, I get it - it’s a budget brand whose staff members mostly don’t speak English and are using machine translation. Their output of different models from month to month is a sight to behold. But I would rather spend my money on another brand that actually follows up with a fixed model, and doesn’t just offer a paltry coupon.
@darosk, fair comment. I’ve not had any dealings with Sofirn customer service. Did you ask for a refund? My experience of the refund process with many Chinese companies is that partial refunds, coupons, keep the item plus partial refund etc, is common practice. It’s kind of bartering in reverse.
I think this is an honor issue for @darosk, and others. I don’t think everyone with Sofirn can hold up to that scrutiny but just like they may offer a discount, refund, free product, for your disappointment, it’s a cheap relationship, for us individuals. Obviously, we have to be content with our personal decisions. I have a strike list of vendors and restaurants, for sure. Haven’t been to Chili’s Grill & Bar in years!
My attitude towards Sofirn and Wurkkos is, if they didn’t specifically say “constant current buck driver” in either the title or description, I will always assume it is FET, until I see a real world test with actual run time graph.
Don’t get me wrong, I like the HS40 head lamp and FC11C which I have (which are both buck driven), but I will always be weary of their new products of being cheap and cheerful toys.
Yes, that is expected, and similar to what I’ve experienced in the past. They only offered the $3 coupon, which to me was the more insulting part. IMO, the mis-‘advertisement’ of the driver type warranted more than that, but obviously @Sofirn thought otherwise. Different driver = significant departure from what was expected. When it was clear that was all they were offering - I left it at that. I could have been more petty and do a chargeback (because this is a case of product received not being as advertised) but I didn’t choose to do that at the time, but instead just decided to put them on my no-buy list.
Yes, it’s a cheap relationship as you say. Honestly speaking, based on the models I’ve seen them release since, I haven’t really lost out on anything of great value or innovation. At least Wurkkos, on the other hand, are trying new and different things, or are more responsive to community feedback.
The underlying issue here is that we (myself included) want quality, customer service, and low price. This is truly not attainable.
All three of these things, especially returns, cost money.
If I were to tell you, you can get a TS10 that is perfectly made, you have the ability to ask the company as many questions as you want prior to the purchase, it would have a one year warranty with free exchange shipping, and have a 30 day no questions asked money back guarantee, but this light would not be $12, it would be $90.
Would you buy it? I wouldn’t.
I would rather take my chances with a $12 light with uncertain quality, zero customer service, and zero retun policy even if it is defective.
There is a reason Malkoff and Elzetta cost as much as they do.
I don’t disagree with you - but on the flip side you have a company like Wurkkos, which again, from my personal experience (because I don’t wish to use anecdotes and hearsay) have given CS which is miles apart from Sofirn. Is it to the same level of those premium companies? Not really. But for the prices they are charging, it has been damn good. And they are literally under the same umbrella company (Jinba Technology Shenzen). Maybe I’ve been supremely lucky when dealing with them - but it seems I’m not the only one that has favorable comments to say about Wurkkos staff.
Is a company like Wurkkos a rarity? Absolutely. But they show it’s indeed possible to have a company that provides affordable products (read: crazy cheap, especially for what you get) and actually has decent CS, which most of the time takes community feedback into account. They’re definitely not without their faults however, but I think that’s for another thread.
I’m sorry for having derailed this thread to bash on Sofirn, but I just felt it had to be said. I’ll stop now.
@ebastler You wrote a great, informative review and these take time to do so I want to thank you! You have certainly earned this new addition to your collection!
But actually SC21 didn’t sell well, so we are very confused
Thank you so much. We Sofirn really care about our customers, but you know there’s always something difficult to talk about. But anyways thanks for your trust, we won’t let you down my friend.
Sorry about that. We are improving our customer service step by step. Welcome to sofirnlight.com, nice customer service is available there now.
We are trying to get every staff trained, but it’s a big project. Welcome to sofirnlight.com, nice customer service is available there now.