[Review] Sofirn SP70 (5500 Lumen Thrower, XHP 70.2)

liquidretro · 2019-07-02T03:02:58.000Z

Do you miss the days of having an old big multi cell Maglight? If so Sofrins SP70 is for you. It’s their new, flagship thrower flashlight and it’s the largest modern flashlight I own. It’s so big in fact that it ships with a shoulder sling. Thanks to Bangood for sending this to me to review. If you are interested make sure to check the links in the description below for the discount that’s currently being offered on this light.

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Packaging
Sofirn doesn’t spend any time or money on their packaging like some flashlight companies do, instead its a basic brown cardboard box with nothing on the outside, and foam inside protecting the contents. Accessories include a set of spare orings, an extra button and some steel rings to make attaching the shoulder strap. It also comes with a shoulder strap since this is such a large light.

There are a couple of versions available of the Sofirn SP70. I received just the light itself, but Sofrin also has a kit version that includes 26650 batteries and a basic charger. I know both versions are available on Amazon, but it looks like Banggod is only selling the light only version.

Construction
The light is made from aluminium and has a smooth black anodizing on it. Quality overall is good, no sharp edges or visible machining marks. It is a heavy weight coming in at 864.7 grams. The light is large enough I am going to take it apart here to talk about the various components and fit them on frame.

The tail has a mechanical button covered with a silicone button with grip. It’s surrounded by two wings that allow the light to tail stand. One has a rather large slot milled in it to allow for the shoulder strap to attach. On the sides the tail cap has a 12 sides milled in to give some style and a bit of grip. Inside is a stiff dual spring.

On the body tube tail end threads are square cut and anodized. The light does have a tactical ring, but on a light this big it’s more of an anti roll ring. It has two holes where you could attach a lanyard if you wanted. The center part of the body tube has nice diamond knurling on it, providing a good level of grip. Threads on the top part of the body tube are anodized, square cut making it reversible.

The inside of the head has two springs as well which is nice to see in a light this size. The button is on the lowest level nearest the body tube and fits my hand pretty well. It has green LED’s underneath that power on when the light is on. There is a good amount of milled in heat syncing on the light all over the head to help dissipate heat and reduce weight. I do like that they left some metal in directly under the button to give you a place to rest your pointer finger when you press the button. Also in the head just in front of the button is the other shoulder strap attachment point. The very front of the light has a lightly crenulated bezel that allows for the glass lens to sit recessed. The reflector underneath is has a heavy orange peal all around it.

Size and Weight Comparisons
This is the first light that was too long to measure with my calipers in one go, Length was measured at 250mm, Diameter at its largest (Head) was 90mm, and minimum diameter on the body section was 34mm. I measured the weight with two KeepPower 26650 cells installed at 864.7g, which makes it the heaviest light I have tested. That almost 2lbs of flashlight, no wonder this comes with a shoulder sling. The light is IP67 water rated.

I don’t have any modern lights this long or with this big of head to compare it to. Here is a Klarus XT32 Thrower that uses 18650’s. The Klarus isn’t a small light either but the SP70 just puts it to shame in it’s size. I will insert a picture of the Astrolux FT03 I reviewed last week on this channel for comparisons in size too.

LED/Beamshots/Runtime/Lumens
The Sofirn SP70 uses a Cree XHP 70.2 LED at 6000k. It’s got the usual XHP 70.2 falts but here at least in my example the cree rainbow isn’t as noticeable. It’s a good emitter for tons of output and throw.

That brings me to the beam pattern here, while a good thrower it’s not as tight as beam as I was expecting. The hotspot is pretty good size and doesn’t have the usual hard edges you see no a lot of throwers. In my night shots you saw that bigger beam and even larger spill.

Sofrin lists the following outputs for group 1 modes.
Moon - 2 Lumens
Eco - 60 Lumens
Low - 400 Lumens
Medium - 1,200 Lumens
High - 3,000 Lumens
Turbo - 5,500 Lumens
Beacon - 1,000 Lumens

Although this light can run on 18650, for the runtime and the performance benefits I would recommend running with 26650 batteries instead. In my runtime graphs here you can see the difference between using 18650 and 26550 batteries. Turbo would be the letdown here, because it only lasts about 2 minutes while decreasing in output. The light declines over about 30 minutes to around 70% relative output. At this point we see a large decrease in output to about 30% for the next hour. From here we see small declines then the light runs at a very low output for another 130 minutes for a total runtime of 240 minutes on 2 26650 batteries. On 18650’s total runtime was similar but you only got about 50 minutes of effective light.
LVP kicked in at 2.85V. I did notice the cells didn’t discharge evenly (2.85V and 2.89V) so if I was using this light alot I would rotate positions every once and a while after a full recharge.

UI
This light has 2 UI modes. By default it came in a more conventional stepped interface by default, but it’s also capable of a ramping UI. I did my testing with the default UI. It has 6 mode groups from 2 lumens to 5000 lumens. The UI starts on low and goes up progressively. The light has a mechanical switch at the rear and then an e-switch up at the top. The mechanical switch does work as a momentary. You can have the mechanical switch on the the e-+switch off but this does increase the power drain on the light. When the light is on if you want to turn it off (sandby) with the eswitch a quick press will do that. Longer presses make it cycle up in modes. Double click takes you to turbo. The light has memory, and lockout modes as well. Overall it’s a pretty simple interface and pretty intuitive. I like that beacon is hard to access.

Pro’s

Thermals are pretty well controlled, for as many lumens as we see here it doesn’t get too hot to touch.

That said I would prefer active thermal controls over timed step down but that is more difficult to do at this price point.

Huge output and good throw

Beacon isn’t part of the main mode groups

Con’s

It’s really big and appropriately heavy, your not going to EDC this light in your pants pocket. The big head size does make me a bit worried about damaging the glass lens with an impact.

XHP 70.2 has some cree rainbow.

Conclusion
If you miss the days of having a big 3 or 4 cell D Maglight that had some real heft to it and in the market for a high lumen, long distance thrower light, the Sofirn SP70 is a good option and fairly affordable as well. Everything about this light is big, from it’s throw, lumen output, spill, or gross weight. Sofirn has done a good job in the past year of listening to enthusiasts and turning out better and better lights. It’s quickly becoming one of my favorite budget brands to recommend and the SP70 is their best large format thrower to date that I have tested.

Original featured on my blog at https://liquidretro.net/2019/07/01/sofirn-sp70-review-5500-lumen-thrower/

Redlyne22 · 2019-07-02T03:58:31.000Z

Nice and solid review. So I mod every single light I get my hands on, but this one I’m leaving stock. What else is there to do? Maybe tint or a shave. its goodtogo in my eyes. Good job Sofirn

Sillen · 2019-07-02T08:02:20.000Z

Great torch. Feels like it’s kinda faded on BLF since release - not a lot of hype on the forums considering how good it is. Maybe ppl want the BLF version with SMO. Too bad it released with OPL, I can’t justify getting another if there very is a BLF version.

Dioda · 2019-07-02T08:22:04.000Z

How does the SP70 compare to the new Convoy L6 that comes with XHP70.2 and SMO reflector? Would be really interested in some comparison.

Scallywag · 2019-07-02T13:52:32.000Z

SP70 has bad springs, bad UI (imo), and a bad FET. So, swap driver and bypass springs and you get something like 8k lumens.

Also, I don't really consider SP70 a thrower.

Redlyne22 · 2019-07-04T02:23:47.000Z

S70s sp70 and L6 Beam Comparison vid. Not my vid.

Actual beam comparison starts at 4:58ish

Somewhat surprising results!!!

d_t_a · 2019-07-04T02:51:41.000Z

Dioda:

How does the SP70 compare to the new Convoy L6 that comes with XHP70.2 and SMO reflector? Would be really interested in some comparison.

Sofirn SP70 (XHP70.2, OP) vs Convoy L6 (XHP70.2 P2-3C, SMO)

(flashlights are stock)

not a side-by-side comparison video...

(pardon the video has no voice-over, just turn volume down since there are a lot of background noise)

ground distance of flashlight to opposite building is 120 meters or around 400 feet (Google Maps);

my estimated distance when beam is diagonal maybe around 150 meters or so.

Sofirn SP70 (XHP70.2, "5500" lumens, OP reflector)

Convoy L6 (XHP70.2 P2-3C neutral-white, "4300 lumens", SMO reflector)

Relampago · 2019-07-04T02:59:25.000Z

The SP70 is still my nightly user, I purchased a 2nd because I like it so much. It is by far the best all arounder for my use. The throw is awesome, it has some serious reach. What makes it a better thrower for me is the wide hotspot/spill. I have an Astrolux MF02 and although it has greater reach I find that the smaller hotspot is less usable. Maybe if I was using optics for search or hunting it’d make a difference but for now the over 500 yard reach is more than enough. I can’t speak on the springs or driver, I’ll report if there are any weaknesses or failure. The current 5000ish lumens suffice and I don’t have any heat issues. It does step down but again it doesn’t affect my sporadic spot checks. I don’t typically sustain turbo for more than 3 minutes. The ui could be better, I’m a big Anduril fan. Narsil would do fine in this light as well. The ui is not enough to keep me from edc’ing the light, I have it on ramping and turbo is a quick double click.

One thing is for sure, if they improve upon this light with better quality components like the ones Scallywag mentioned, this light would be a home run. I’d probably purchase several BLF editions.

FromShadowlands · 2020-09-16T14:39:17.000Z

Anyone looking to purchase one? PM me. Great deal.

ArtieT59 · 2021-03-27T02:51:09.000Z

Can anyone verify the head / bezel diameter in mm? Also anyone know the size of the diameter of the mcpcb? Thanks!