[Review] Sofirn SP32A Flashlight - 1x18650 high output EDC

LED Flashlights – General Info 18650 Flashlights
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This is a review of the Sofirn SP32A flashlight. This is a basic every-day-carry light that takes a single 18650 battery (included), and produces output from 1 lumen up to 1200 lumens.

Sofirn is a company that produces affordable flashlights for a variety of purposes, including a wide variety of EDC lights, tactical lights, and dive lights. This light was sent to me by Sofirn for review purposes.

There is also a video review of the light I put up on youtube, here:

Currently, Sofirn is having a sale. You can see their sale and site here:

https://sofirn.aliexpress.com/store/bigsale/2933049_224021.html

Overview:

The Sofirn SP32A flashlight includes a decent 18650 battery and a charger, as well as some accessories like a lanyard, pocket-clip, and spare o-rings. Yes, it includes a nice 18650 battery and a small USB charger! This makes it an excellent package for someone that wants to get a 18650 flashlight (and all its advantages), but is a little concerned about the start-up cost with batteries and chargers.

Don’t worry, anyone getting into 18650 lights will have plenty of time to get into the expense of batteries and chargers later. But, they don’t have to dive into that all at once, with the Sofirn SP32A package.

More on the battery and charger later, but first, let’s describe the flashlight.

The SP32A is surprisingly powerful, for an inexpensive light. Not only is it bright (1200 lumens), but it also has a flexible user-interface accessed by a single electronic side-switch. You can use the light in a standard multi-mode configuration (5 mode levels), or you can easily switch to a very responsive “ramping” mode configuration. Ramping mode is very intuitive, and lets you seamlessly ramp the output up and down over almost the entire output range.

The manufacturer specs state 1550 lumens, but I believe that would probably require a spring bypass to achieve the necessary current, and maybe some magic. My tests show 1200 lumens, using either the included Sofirn battery, or a Samsung 30Q battery. But even at 1200 lumens, it’s impressively bright. It also has a slightly more defined hot-spot for more throw than most lights of similar size and output. The smooth reflector is responsible for the extra throw.

Overall, the Sofirn SP32A package offers excellent value, considering it comes with everything you need including a battery a charger. Build quality seems decent for a budget light, it has an easy user interface, and is very bright with a neutral tint.

User Interface:

There are two user interfaces you can choose from.

1. A standard 5-mode configuration.

2. An infinite ramping configuration.

Switching between them is done by pressing & holding the switch for 3 seconds.

Discrete mode use:

In the multi-mode configuration, there are 4 main mode levels plus a turbo. The light is turned on with a single click, modes are rotated through using single clicks, and the light is shut off with a long click (press & hold for a second). There is mode memory on all the main mode levels, so when you turn the light on again it will be at the same output level as when you last shut it off.

These are the output levels I measure:

Moonlight: 1 lumen
Low: 35 lumens
Medium: 140 lumens
High: 750 lumens
Turbo: 1200 lumens (not part of main mode sequence, more on this later)

Ramping mode use:

Ramping is very easy to use. Click to turn on. Click to turn off. Press & hold (when on) to ramp up and down. The ramping direction switches if you let go of the switch and hold it again. If you leave it alone for several seconds, the ramping does not switch direction. When you turn the light off, it has mode memory so remembers the output level for next time you turn it on. This description makes it sound more complicated than it is, but it really is simple and intuitive. See my video if you’re at all confused.

Ramping goes from 1 lumen up to about 1000 lumens. In order to get the full 1200 lumen output, you can double-click for turbo.

Turbo mode:

Turbo mode level can be selected by a double-click when the light is on or off. The light immediately goes to 1200 lumens. There are two levels of thermal protection on this light:

- After 1 minute, the light steps down to high.

  • After another 3 minutes, the light steps down to medium.

In my opinion, I don’t think the second step-down is necessary, but it’s there. My guess (and it’s just a guess) is that the light uses a 7135 driver for medium mode (and lower), and a FET driver for high and turbo. Stepping-down to medium allows the light to use the more efficient 7135 driver for long run times (5 or 6 hours).

Strobes:

A strobe is accessible by a triple-click from either on or off. Its primary purpose is to anger everyone around you.

Lock out:

The light can be electronically “locked out” from accidental activation by doing 4 quick clicks of the switch. It will then require another 4 quick clicks before you can use it again. This is a good feature for any bright light to have, as this could burn your pocket if you accidentally turned it on and didn’t know it.

For those that like to do things old-school, you can also lock out the light by slightly unscrewing the tail cap.

Batteries:

As mentioned, the Sofirn SP32A package includes an 18650 battery and charger. Everything you need to use the flashlight, other than your own hand, is included.

The battery is actually pretty good. It it labelled 3000 mAh, but I measure it to be about 2700 mAh. Perhaps drained completely, it might be 2800 mAh. In any case, that’s a pretty good capacity 18650 cell, considering it is “free”.

The battery is also capable of reasonably high-drain. When I measure output of this light using a Samsung 30Q high-drain cell, it came out to the same 1200 lumens. No difference between the included battery and a “good” name-brand battery, at least by my quick test.

The included Sofirn battery, however, does not hold as high a voltage as a name-brand cell. After 1 day, the fully charged cell is sitting at about 4.16v. This continues to drop by about 0.002v per day. So, while the battery is good, it’s perhaps not “great”. This shouldn’t be a surprise, though. The surprise was actually getting a good capacity cell included (I expected some crap Ultrafire or something like that).

The charger is a simple USB charger, and comes with a micro USB cable. You can charge all sorts of battery sizes with it, and it claims it charges at 750mA. Red light when charging, green light when done. The final charge level is 4.185v. I’ve used these kind of chargers lots of times, and they’re great for a portable charger for 14500 and 18650 cells, as well as other sizes you might have.

The SP32A has low-voltage protection. The light will warn the user when the battery is low (below 3 volts), by flashing occasionally. At 2.8 volts, it will flash rapidly, and then shut off. In practise, I find this is actually closer to 2.9v, but whatever it is, it shuts off well before the voltage drops too low.

Specifications:

Construction: Black anodized aluminum. Decent build though a bit light. Easy grip on body. Threads came lightly lubricated. Lanyard and pocket clip included. Waterproof to 2m. Drop-proof to 1m.

Modes: See prior discussion.

LED: Cree XP-L2 V6.

Tint: 5200K neutral white. There is a little green in the corona of the beam, which is usual with Cree emitters, but not noticeable in normal use.

Lens: Glass with no anti-reflection coating. The specs say it has an AR coating, but I don’t see any sign of one.

Size: 122mm long, 23mm diameter.

Weight: 71g + battery.

Battery type: 1 x 18650 high-drain lithium-ion. Flat-top or button top. Cell included.

Output: 1-1200 lumens.

Beam pattern: Mostly a traditional EDC floody beam, but the smooth reflector gives decent throw.

Low voltage protection: Yes. About 2.9v.

Reverse polarity protection: Yes, but please never rely on this.

Stand-by drain: 11 microamps (much less than a battery’s normal self-discharge).

Heat: The light will get hot on turbo, but steps down after 1 minute.

Tail-stands: Yes.

Package contents: Flashlight, cardboard box, spare o-rings, lanyard, pocket clip, battery, charger, cable.

My impressions:

Pros:

- Excellent value, considering it comes with a battery and charger.

- Bright.

- You can use it either with discrete modes, or with a nice ramping interface.

- Decent neutral-white tint (probably Cree 3A tint).

  • It has low-voltage battery protection.

Cons:

- My light did require a basic cleaning to stop some random glitches, but after that it has worked flawless. Aside from that, the quality is descent, and it should be a reliable light.

More pictures:

Here you can see the tint is similar to that of the BLF A6 flashlight with its 3D Cree tint. It’s a very pleasant tint, IMO.

This is the Sofirn SP32A (on right) vs the BLF A6 (on left). Very similar beam profiles and reach. The Sofirn has a touch more throw, though.

This is the Sofirn SP32A (on right) vs a Convoy C8 thrower. Obviously, the C8 blows away the Sofirn in throw, but with a much more narrow beam.

Summary:

I find this to be a good entry-level light into the world of high-power 18650 flashlights. It comes with everything you need, so value is very good.

That’s all for now. Thank you for reading.

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Sofirn SP32A comes factory spring-bypassed on the head side, but not on the tail side, I wonder why they didn’t do both sides (like they did for their Sofirn C8F/A/T).

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Yes, that might push the output closer to their rated spec, but then the included battery probably would be the limiting factor. You’d have to use a good high-drain cell like a Sony VTC5 if you bypassed the spring.

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WalkIntoTheLight,

Many Thanks for your review and all the hard work that goes into writing these, pic’s too.

Very impressed with all my Sofirn lights.

I put in a TIR optic Lens to mix the green into the beam. Lovely now.
I May try spraying the reflector with hairspray (an Old Lumens trick) instead to see if it also smooths out the colours.

Has the ramping been sped up from 6 seconds to de-bug the older light’s pause in mid ramp?

Just bought 2 more as on sale at Ali-Express a week ago.

Cheers,
S-L :slight_smile:

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Thanks. Yes, all Cree domed emitters have a slight green in the corona. You can even it out, but then you’ll lose some of the throw this light gives. That may be what you want, though.

The ramping is a lot quicker than 6 seconds, but there’s still a slight pause (very short) in the ramp. My guess is that this signals the transition from a linear driver to a direct driver, but I’m not sure. IMO, I like to know this, since the linear driver is a bit more efficient. I don’t find the brief pause annoying. Some other lightsI have pause and blink, which is annoying.

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Great and thorough review and video, thanks for posting.

I ordered one because of your review, looks like a nice flashlight with a good UI. The only concern I have is the tint shift of the XP-L2, but I will probably swap it anyway.

:beer:

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I’m starting to look for a replacement for my Thorfire TK15. The switch on the first one of those I got was bad right out of the chute. The replacement has just started to act it: it will start flashing slowly for no apparent reason. So I’m looking for a close equivalent. Has anyone noticed any switch problems with this Sofirn? (By the way, if any other suggestions are made for replacements, I want something in the same price range and with a side switch only.)

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I’ve had one for about 2 months now and haven’t had any issues. My son actually “stole” it from me and uses it a ton as a reading/nightlight in his room. Not exactly long-term experience, but I have several Sofirn lights and haven’t had any issues at all yet.

Also, in this thread, Sofirn indicated they’re releasing a “2.0” version of the light which appears to be shipping in another week or so on Amazon.

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Thanks. The current one is being sold on Amazon with a charger, raising the price about $10 over Aliexpress. I hope they’ll sell it on Amazon without the charger.

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Whenever a ramping UI is used I have to ask if it is linear or logarithmic.

For those not familiar:
A lot of companies will use a less refined linear style which flies past the lower levels and then gets really slow at the brighter levels and is generally a pain to use.

The logarithmic ramping pattern is what Narsil uses and is a constant speed from the low levels all the way to the high levels making it very easy to stop exactly where you want.

In looking at the video I can’t tell for sure what ramping style is used. It looked like the lowest levels were slow enough to stop where you want. Could you clarify this for me? Thanks.

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My 32A behaves as a linear style. I’m guessing that is going to be the upgraded part of the new one.

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I don’t think the 32A is strictly linear. It has enough of a “logarithmic” ramp to it that the low levels are accessible. It’s not as smooth as Narsil, but it’s much better than I have on other ramping lights.

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Linear, which is why I stick with the simple stepped modes.

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older batch (ordered sometime Feb-March 2018) would be linear (about 7-8 seconds to ramp)
newer batch (ordered sometime April 2018) probably a modified linear ramp? (about 3.5-4 seconds)

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I have been using my SP32A for several weeks now and I like it well enough to put it into rotation on my nightstand, in my car and around the house. It is of a similar quality as the other lights I own in this price range (Astrolux, Convoy) and it’s no wonder that Sofirn is making some waves on this forum. I like how they paid attention to details such as lubricating the threads and bypassing one of the springs. The fact that they include a charger and battery as well as a clip, and other box goodies, is very attractive for someone who might like to gift or buy an all-in-one setup.

My particular SP32A, which I set up with ramping, takes longer than my other three ramping lights and has a lag somewhere in the middle that was reported in another review. It’s not something that I like as I scroll through the lumens, but it’s not a deal-breaker. Still, a quicker ramp would be preferable.

After showing it, and other lights to my family, a couple people said that they liked the small switch on the side. They didn’t have any particular experience with a higher-powered light (they were used to Maglight and cheaper department store lights or even free Harbor Freight stuff) but thought that the switch made it ergonomic and more like the slider switches on their old incandescent lights of their childhood. It took a minute to work comfortably with the ramping but once they used it a bit, it became pretty intuitive.

With my other Sofirn SP32 (no ramping), they had a bit of difficulty differentiating between long and short clicks to work through the settings. They much preferred the ramping simplicity and flexibility. Some found my Convoy lights to be easy with their more tactile switches and generally liked the steps I set them up with using Biscotti, but again, the ramping feature was the overall favorite, especially with my D4 and Q8 and modified MF01.

I like my two Sofirn lights and will absolutely think of them as one of the companies to look to when choosing a light for someone who wants a bargain and a first 18650 light. Tweaking the ramping would make mine a bit better but then again, I’ve become more picky with my lights in the past year or so.

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I wonder if they could bring this ramping UI to their C8F model light?

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Just like to mention regarding anodization quality of Sofirn flashlights (I got a number of Sofirn flashlights by now, although the only one I more regularly use is the SP32A)

So far, my most often used EDC flashlights are the pair of Astrolux S1 (3D tint) and Sofirn SP32A.

I’ve had the Astrolux S1 much earlier, but the anodization is still good.
The Sofirn SP32A is newer, and yet it seems the anodization is fading already (see the white specs on the main body tube in above picture).

So I would rate the anodization of the Astrolux better than the Sofirn.
(I also have the Convoy S2+ Desert Sand, but I rarely use it; I would rate the Convoy S2+ Desert Sand’s anodization to be a bit better than the Astrolux… though I could be biased since I more rarely bring out my S2+ Sand…)

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Would a comment from a naysayer be a real downer here? I received an SP32a a couple of days ago, and I’m not as thrilled by it as I thought I would. The ramping function may not be as useful for my purposes as I thought. I change light levels frequently, and as fast as it ramps, it’s hard to get it just right each time. The leap in lumens in the programmed mode is odd. Does it seem strange to you, the big jump from 160 to 900 (from med. to high)? Also, having the moonlight mode in the regular rotation is kind of annoying (I must not have paid much attention when I read the specs!). If I need ML, it’s at a time when I don’t want to turn the light on at a higher level. So I have to remember to put it in ML mode before shutting it off. This was bought as a replacement for my Thorfire TK15 which is acting up. I like the UI on that light better.

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Do you have v2.0 which takes about 4 seconds to ramp? I would not think of that as being too fast. I’m used to NarsilM which takes only 3 seconds so 4 seconds seems like a good thing.

Or do you have v1.0 which ramps over 8 seconds? That is pretty slow, but it seems like you can stop it exactly where you want. Except at the lower levels maybe.

I notice v1.0 goes from 160 to 900 lumen. (4, 43, 160, 900, 1550)

V2.0 goes from 130 to 500. (5, 50, 130, 500, 1300)

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Judging by the lumens, I have version 1. But it doesn’t take 8 seconds to get all the way from lowest to highest. With practice I might be able to hit the right spot when I’m ramping very easily and then change directions to make it dimmer or brighter and hit the spot I want. I don’t know that I would be worth the effort. But I’ll give it the ol’ college try. The spread between medium and high in version 2 makes much better sense. But I’m stuck with the one I have. I bought it from China; it wouldn’t be worth the cost of sending it back.