[review] Sofirn SC21, 16340 mini-light with usb-C recharging!

Had it on, dimmed, would abruptly step down from H to M, then M to L. Switch light was off the entire time unless I’d bap the switch for something.

About 3V and below, the switch would blink on/off constantly. Good so far.

Below 2.X, the blinkenlicht would stop, and the main LED would just glow dimly, about L if not moonlight.

Gave up, pulled the cell at 2.79V (about as low as I’d want to go; “rested” a few sec between starting to unscrew the light and measuring the voltage) and am recharging it now.

So maybe it’s a glitch that when the blinkies would stop, the light should turn off, but doesn’t, as low-voltage warnings seem to work, but not pull the trigger to actually shut off entirely. I didn’t want to chance killing an already weak cell.

Me, I wouldn’t let it get that low to begin with, but I can see if someone would leave it on unattended (or turn it on accidentally), where that might be a big problem.

Thanks for the test. I wouldn’t intentionally go that low either but it’s nice to know if lvp works just in case. I think I’m sticking with the shorty SC31 pro. I have a Wowtac W1 and don’t use it much. Practically the same light.

Nice review. Except for battery check, Sofirn really nailed the UI in this light and I love the fact it takes standard optics.

Oh, forgot to mention, try

“The code is coming! 20%off code: PP3x9UNN (it’s valid till August 30st.)”

CHANGE ’×’ to ’x’!!!

pee-pee-three-ex-nine-you-en-en

Heh-heh… “pee-pee”.

Nice!
I have an Olight S1 Ti Baton that I really like for it’s amazingly short height, but the relatively low mAh of 16340 cells always annoyed me. Many are around 600mAh. The best I’ve got is 750mAh. So it’s nice to see Sofirn managed to pack 900mAh into it. That’s equivalent to many 18350 cells.
Price is rather attractive. At $29.99 out of the gate, you can imagine later discounts could bring it down to something like $22.

how easy is it to get to blinkies inadvertently?

can it also use cr123a also - and run those down to nothing (and know it is not a 16340)?

wle

i can;t believe anyone actually likes ‘hold to change light level’ UI though

wle

900 mah . Hopefully but I doubt it. Sure would make these small lights nicer.

That would be nice, despite I think it will not be much different from this, comparing the Wurkos FC11, posted by Lux-Perpetua:

Hum, some years yes, 3 or 4, eventually, but it was a more or less generic model, so it is likely that it was not very appealing here. Some other brands like “CrazyFire” and other have that kind of model.

Wellp, everyone and his grandmother wants click on/off, so what else is there?

Would you rather have click to change level and hold for off? That’s the alternative, and it’s generally considered stupid. I’m looking at you Lumintop.

That’s one thing that pushed me into trying out 18350 alternatives. You can get some that are near the length of many 16340 flashlights. But a 16340 cell offering 900 mAh really makes that cell competitive again, for those of us that find 700 mAh a bit anemic.

It’s a whole “different language,” if you’re gonna click to step up in brightness, then press+hold for off becomes the natural thing to do. And that might feel “logical” for a light where you press+hold for on as well, starting on moonlight.

I prefer press+hold to ramp up, then double-press+hold to ramp down. Single click—off, single click—on. But I like the press-hold for on/off for EDC keychain lights, which easily thwarts accidental activation. Some use double-click on, like RovyVon, and it’s a bit annoying.

Narrator: It isn’t :smiley:

I did a bit of an LVP test. It got to where the LED was very dim, measured 2.45v, came back to 2.55V after 10 odd minutes. Popped it in a Mixboxer C8 which measured 707mAh after 2h27m charging.

Oh well, looked good on paper .

LH351*B* is much smaller die area than D, and this light definitely uses the later. C is right in-between and pretty much equivalent to a 219C in die size and output, so there’s no way the smaller B model would hit 1000lm. B/C/D doesn’t denote generations or tint like it would for Nichia, it’s more like XP-E/XP-G/XM-L options from Cree for example.

Not the best tint bin of 351D I’ve had, but also far from the worst! Seems to be more toward the 5000K end on my SC21 as well.

Has anyone been able to use ramping? I love this little light, but I’ve found ramping just impossible to use at lower levels.

Sofirn’s attempt at ramping sucks. There was talk of an Anduril version of the SC21, that’s probably what it’s going to take to get good ramping especially at lower levels.

Anduril would be nice indeed. Already have 2 and stepped mode works perfectly fine, so I’m out of the running for another one. But if they can get more usable ramping I’m all for it!

Btw, seems these are a mixed bag when it comes to unscrewing the bezel. 1 could be unscrewed relatively easy with bare hands (2700K), but the other one was impossible, even with thick latex gloves (4000K). Glue?

I can use it… for about 5sec, and then I switch back to stepped. :laughing:

I’m not a fan of ramping unless it’s done right.