I took four amateur digital photos that go with this review.
The first one is my LT1S near my Cardigan Welsh Corgi dog.
He'll be fourteen years old this year.
Queen Elizabeth II likes Pembroke Welsh Corgis, but I prefer Cardigan Welsh Corgis.
Two of the images are of the LT1S next to an unbranded lantern, with both lanterns on their highest output.
In one image, the LT1S is at 2700K and in the other one it's at 6500K.
The unbranded lantern is at about 5000K in both pictures because the tint doesn't change on that one.
I took the pics with my inexpensive cell phone camera, plus I'm a terrible photographer.
It's hard to tell in the photos, but the LT1S is quite a bit brighter in person than the unbranded lantern.
The last image is of the LT1S on top of a Coral Aloe, one of my favorite succulent plants.
The professional flashlight images in this review are from Sofirn, and the images are being used with their explicit permission.
I used a program called Topaz Gigapixel AI to improve the image quality.
I received this lantern on June 28th, 2022.
I ordered it two days earlier.
Gotta love Amazon for their quick shipping!
I don't even have Prime, and I chose the "slow" free shipping option.
I'm used to ordering lights directly from China, and I usually don't mind waiting, but I do appreciate quick shipping when it happens.
First of all, this review is as honest as possible.
I will go over any deficiencies that I can find.
Having said that, the Sofirn LT1S Lantern is just superb.
My only other lantern I own is an unbranded lantern that Sofirn sells on their website.
It's not made by them, but they sell it because it's a pretty good lantern for the money.
But the LT1S blows away the unbranded lantern in just about every way possible.
Here's the link for the unbranded lantern:
And here's a couple of links for the Sofirn LT1S:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09TB1NFWF
https://www.sofirnlight.com/products/sofirn-lt1s-500-lumen-with-red-light-and-white-light
If you order the LT1S from sofirnlight.com, your order will come directly from China.
So if you don't want to wait for maybe several weeks or longer, luckily there's Amazon for you.
If you order from Amazon, in addition to the lantern, 2 extra o-ring, a charging cable, and printed manual, you'll receive a very nice 21700 cell.
The 21700 cell says it's 5000mAh and it can handle up to 50 amps!
That's a very high capacity and a crazy high amperage it can handle.
It's my best 21700 cell that I own.
It's probably a bit overkill because I doubt this lantern pulls anything even close to 50 amps, so I'll eventually use the battery in a flashlight that can benefit from a high drain cell.
My biggest complaint about this lantern is the printed manual. The font used is very small and it's tough to read. I searched online for a digital pdf manual, but couldn't find one.
I think the font should be at least 50% bigger.
The manual is in 10 different languages, and the English version is well written. (I don't know about the other languages.)
The font is just too small for me. I can read it, but just barely. It reminds me of the "small print" where the lawyers hide all of the important information that no one ever reads.
The 21700 cell is removeable, so you can charge it in your own charger, or you could use the charging cable and charge the cell while it's in the lantern.
The lantern has many features.
It'll display approximately how much power the cell has, which is nice.
It has five brightnesses to choose from, but it also has stepless ramping.
It also offers a red light, and there's strobe and SOS but they're out of the way if you don't like red light or disco modes.
You can change the color temperature to anywhere from 2700K to 6000K with stepless ramping.
That means you can choose cool white, neutral white, warm white, or something in between.
That's a really nice feature because different people prefer different tints.
I like the stepless ramping for color temperature, but I prefer the stepped modes for brightness.
It's super-convenient that you can choose from stepped modes or stepless ramping for brightness.
The build quality of the LT1S is top notch.
The lantern is very "solid" and it's bottom-heavy so you don't have to worry very much about accidentally knocking it over.
The fit and finish are excellent, with no sharp edges anywhere.
I like to use the little handle to carry the lantern, and of course you can hang the lantern on a hook (or something similar to a hook.)
The lantern has mode memory--it immediately remembers what brightness and tint you had the lantern on last.
There is no garbage "next-mode-memory" with this lantern.
The button on the lantern is pretty good and has a nice feel to it.
The button could be a tiny bit more robust, but I'm nitpicking here.
Compared to the unbranded lantern, the LT1S is a bit bigger and quite a bit heavier.
I think it's heavier because it offers so much more than the unbranded lantern and also because it uses a larger and heavier cell.
The LT1S has a better build quality, an infinitely better UI, plus it's quite a bit brighter in person.
The unbranded lantern doesn't have stepless ramping for brightness, and it comes in only one tint, about 5000K (neutral white.)
Also, the unbranded lantern uses 18650 cells and the LT1S uses 21700 cells.
I really like 21700 cells because many offer more capacity than 18650 cells, and many can handle more amps than 18650 cells.
(There are some poor performing 21700 cells, but who intentionally chooses those?)
If the unbranded lantern or the LT1S doesn't appeal to you, I have a couple of recommendation (though I don't own them.)
There's the Sofirn LT1M. It's similar to the LT1S, but it's a different shape. It's taller and skinnier. I prefer the shape of the LT1S, but it's nice to have choices.
Then there's the "original" Sofirn LT1. That lantern is much larger and runs on up to four 18650 cells.
Sofirn basically owns the high quality LED lantern market.
You'll have a lot of trouble finding an LED lantern that's better than the LT1S, LT1M, or LT1.
The unbranded lantern is "nice for the money", but it isn't all that great compared to the Sofirn lanterns that are made by Sofirn.
I really like the Sofirn LT1S.
It's so much nicer than my unbranded lantern (from Sofirn), even though the unbranded lantern really isn't that bad.
I got the unbranded lantern for my family members and the LT1S for myself because I like nice lights.
The LT1S is the perfect size and shape for me, and the UI is amazing.
I like being able to change the brightness in two different ways, and I love the stepless color temperature adjustment feature.
The LT1S manual is very informative and well written, if you can read the tiny print.
My biggest complaint is the tiny print of the manual, which means there isn't much to complain about, though I do enjoy complaining.
I also enjoy using the LT1S.
It's such an excellent lantern.
THE END
