Review Sofirn SK1
With the SK1, Sofirn has released a new tactical light with an interesting user interface and a small, round LED in the 18650 format. The light comes in a nice magnetic flap box containing a hand strap, USB-C cable, two o-rings, and a manual.
The LED has a cold white color temperature at about 5700 K at CRI66. Its Duv lies pretty much on the BBL, being without tint. There’s no notable color shift across the beam profile. In low output modes, the light becomes quite greenish. This reminds me a bit of the SBT90.2.
In turbo mode the light reaches 479 m. The spot opens by about 15 degrees, the spill opens by 70 degrees.
With the Sofirn 3 Ah battery, high mode lasts for slightly less than two hours. Unfortunately, it switched unexpectedly off when reaching about 140 lm. The indicator LED warns for this to happen, but depending on how the light is carried, this might slip the attention of the user.
The light really shines with its user interface with magnetic control ring and a two-staged switch. A magnetic control ring allows for adjusting normal (Duty) and tactical (Tac) operation modes along with a lockout (Lock). In lockout, a momentary moon mode is available. In tactical mode, only momentary turbo (half-press) and strobe (full-press) is available. The duty mode offers moon up to high mode. Full-presses switch the light on and off, half-presses switch through the modes. There’s mode memory.
Unfortunately, full-presses are not registered when they happen fast. To blame is not the hardware in my opinion. The switch is precise, and if clicked slowly, everything works as expected.The firmware seems to not be able to catch fast presses.
The light profile, the range, and the UI make the SK1 a pretty serious tactical light. I could be more efficient with a buck driver instead of the FET driver, but I’m sure this would make the light much more expensive.
The firmware needs to be addressed to allow for registering fast full presses of the switch and to implement an energy management. Right now the light switches unexpectedly off.
This light is nice for people interested in this user concept. There’s a lot to be explored, but it’s not quite ready for professional use. As soon as the SK1 is available with a regulated driver and a new firmware, the light will be ready for prime time.