Short Review of Sofirn SP33 v2 with XHP50.2

JasonWW · 2019-12-23T04:35:35.000Z

d_t_a:

Any idea if the SP33v2 just developed parasitic drain by itself, or it has that parasitic drain already in the first place?

I don’t know. There might have been something wrong with the driver from day one. Maybe the MCU is not going to sleep for some reason?

I can see it developing a drain later, especially if it was dropped. Ceramic filtering caps do have issue of shorting internally when they are physically stressed. Sometimes they seem to go bad over time for no apparent reason. A shorted cap might be more than 3mA, though.

d_t_a · 2019-12-27T04:15:22.000Z

JasonWW:

d_t_a:

Any idea if the SP33v2 just developed parasitic drain by itself, or it has that parasitic drain already in the first place?

I don’t know. There might have been something wrong with the driver from day one. Maybe the MCU is not going to sleep for some reason?

I can see it developing a drain later, especially if it was dropped. Ceramic filtering caps do have issue of shorting internally when they are physically stressed. Sometimes they seem to go bad over time for no apparent reason. A shorted cap might be more than 3mA, though.

Thanks for the explanation.

No, my SP33v2 was never dropped. So it probably just went bad over time for no apparent reason… so fixing this parasitic drain requires ordering a new SP33v2 driver?

JasonWW · 2019-12-27T05:54:09.000Z

d_t_a:

JasonWW:

d_t_a:

Any idea if the SP33v2 just developed parasitic drain by itself, or it has that parasitic drain already in the first place?

I don’t know. There might have been something wrong with the driver from day one. Maybe the MCU is not going to sleep for some reason?

I can see it developing a drain later, especially if it was dropped. Ceramic filtering caps do have issue of shorting internally when they are physically stressed. Sometimes they seem to go bad over time for no apparent reason. A shorted cap might be more than 3mA, though.

Thanks for the explanation.

No, my SP33v2 was never dropped. So it probably just went bad over time for no apparent reason… so fixing this parasitic drain requires ordering a new SP33v2 driver?

Yeah, I can’t see it having a drain anywhere else in the light.

Sofirn · 2020-02-27T07:50:14.000Z

$10 discount code for 2 HD 26650 5000mAh batteries: [5Z8E9KX85DXD]（can be used 10 times only）

Sale price: $12.99 Discount price: $2.99

1.The battery fits in SP33 and SP33V3.0

2.Codes only work for our official website www.sofirnlight.com

Link:https://sofirnlight.com/products/plb-flat-top-hd-26650-5000mah-rechargeable-battery-cells?variant=31504670818364

Grigio · 2020-03-01T16:18:40.000Z

Just noticed this ‘upgrade’ (+500 lumen) on their new Sofirn website

JasonWW · 2020-03-01T23:30:49.000Z

Interesting. I’m guessing they boosted the driver output.

longuylander · 2020-03-02T00:03:03.000Z

I just ordered one of these from their site on February 21st. It’s currently being ready to be shipped out by China post (enough movement has happened for me to believe it’s actually shipped). I didn’t notice though if it was the updated version though… All the references I have to my order don’t say upgraded next to the name. If I got the older version, I guess I’ll have to make do with 2500 lumens. Strange how that was fine when I ordered it, but knowing if I waited two weeks I’d get a slightly more powerful one now makes that number a touch disappointing.

Barry0892 · 2020-03-02T01:44:08.000Z

SP33 V2 uses XHP50.2(3V) now gives out max 3000 lumens. The driver was redesigned.

JasonWW · 2020-03-02T01:51:07.000Z

Barry0892:

SP33 V2 uses XHP50.2(3V) now gives out max 3000 lumens. The driver was redesigned.

Are you mixing it up with the version 3?

Version 2 had boost driver.

Sidney_Stratton · 2020-03-02T03:20:29.000Z

Does it still have the 2 minute stepdown from turbo?

That was the only fault of this light, barring the 6000ºK.

Grigio · 2020-03-02T04:17:37.000Z

Also see this mentioned in the specs: “Switch Mode: High/Middle/Low”. The sequence used to be L/M/H, not? And what does “Function: Hard Light” mean? “Light Source: LED Bulbs”??

Just wish most sellers/producers would write their spec sheets a bit more accurate.

Di_Joker · 2020-03-02T07:42:21.000Z

Barry0892:

SP33 V2 uses XHP50.2(3V) now gives out max 3000 lumens. The driver was redesigned.

Sorry, but this is some kind of horror. The SP33 V2 had an excellent brightness stabilization driver. In this “upgrade-degradation”, the brightness will now drop with the voltage drop across the battery. For what purpose? + 500lm? So the SP33 V2 and SP33 V3 now differ in the presence of built-in battery charging?

Immensely disappointed! SP33 V2 was one of your best flashlights. For SP33 V2, we only asked to remove the timer and add the ability to select the emitter CCT (4000K, 5000K).
Instead, the SP33 V2”new” received a primitive driver like on many other flashlights. If the matter is the rate of return, then it would be possible to increase the price and advertise a stable driver as a real advantage.
Bitter disappointment.

Sofirn · 2020-03-02T06:19:12.000Z

Grigio:

Also see this mentioned in the specs: “Switch Mode: High/Middle/Low”. The sequence used to be L/M/H, not? And what does “Function: Hard Light” mean? “Light Source: LED Bulbs”??

Just wish most sellers/producers would write their spec sheets a bit more accurate.

Thanks for reminding. We are short of workforce. We will update the information as soon as possible.

Sidney_Stratton · 2020-03-02T17:25:01.000Z

Di_Joker:

…/ Immensely disappointed! SP33 V2 was one of your best flashlights. For SP33 V2, we only asked to remove the timer and add the ability to select the emitter CCT (4000K, 5000K).
Instead, the SP33 V2”new” received a primitive driver like on many other flashlights. If the matter is the rate of return, then it would be possible to increase the price and advertise a stable driver as a real advantage.
Bitter disappointment.

Thank you for the graph for the 2 minute step down across high output. I thought this was only on Turbo, now see why I had to re-click on those longer runs.

If Sofirn wants to capture a larger clientele, they’ll have to act more intelligently. This “upgrade” is not! Was my recommendation to field operatives. Not anymore.

Much that I applaud the inclusion of the batteries with most of their flashlights, their change of better emitters (SST20 vs. XPG2) and adding On Board Charging; the nomenclature of some lights is so confusing. What is the problem of using Vx.x where the first ‘x’ describes a major change and the decimal ‘x’ pertains to a slight change?
They have the SP10A (and then the SP10B) now superseded with the SP10S. The SC31 -> SC31B which follows an alpha upgrade, others using a numerical.

Any would be first time buyer is so confused that they drop their selection. I’ve had that happen to some co-workers. Then the product description is sometimes so poorly written that it just screams “good enough China product”.

Doesn’t inspire confidence nor trust…

JasonWW · 2020-03-02T21:29:28.000Z

Sidney Stratton:

ZeroAir:

.

Thank you for the graph for the 2 minute step down across high output. I thought this was only on Turbo, now see why I had to re-click on those longer runs.

Look again, High was 150 minutes, not 2.

d_t_a · 2020-03-03T03:52:32.000Z

Sidney Stratton:

Di_Joker:

…/ Immensely disappointed! SP33 V2 was one of your best flashlights. For SP33 V2, we only asked to remove the timer and add the ability to select the emitter CCT (4000K, 5000K).
Instead, the SP33 V2”new” received a primitive driver like on many other flashlights. If the matter is the rate of return, then it would be possible to increase the price and advertise a stable driver as a real advantage.
Bitter disappointment.

Thank you for the graph for the 2 minute step down across high output. I thought this was only on Turbo, now see why I had to re-click on those longer runs.

If Sofirn wants to capture a larger clientele, they’ll have to act more intelligently. This “upgrade” is not! Was my recommendation to field operatives. Not anymore.

Much that I applaud the inclusion of the batteries with most of their flashlights, their change of better emitters (SST20 vs. XPG2) and adding On Board Charging; the nomenclature of some lights is so confusing. What is the problem of using Vx.x where the first ‘x’ describes a major change and the decimal ‘x’ pertains to a slight change?
They have the SP10A (and then the SP10B) now superseded with the SP10S. The SC31 -> SC31B which follows an alpha upgrade, others using a numerical.

Any would be first time buyer is so confused that they drop their selection. I’ve had that happen to some co-workers. Then the product description is sometimes so poorly written that it just screams “good enough China product”.

Doesn’t inspire confidence nor trust…

Just want to clarify about the SP10 series. I have not tried the SP10A (v1), but I have tried the SP10B, SP10v2.0 (SP10Av2.0) and SP10S.

Not sure how different is the SP10A since I didn’t have it (but seem to recall from others it has some slight operational differences from SP10B).
SP10B uses XP-G2, has a very very low “moon” (or “firefly”) mode. SP10v2.0 (or SP10Av2.0) is the direct successor of the SP10B — it also uses the same XP-G2 LED. Some changes are that the SP10(A)v2 has a slightly lower Turbo mode, but when it steps down in brightness, I believe it steps down to a slightly higher brightness level than the SP10B. Also, the mode spacing for SP10(A)v2 - the Moon mode is now more of a Moon mode rather than a really very low “Firefly” mode (but I still like the very low brightness “Firefly” mode of SP10B in some scenarios).

The SP10S uses the LH351D, resulting in a more floody beam than the XP-G2 based SP10B or SP10(A)v2 which has a throwy beam. The bigger hotspot of LH351D-based SP10S results in its higher lumens (more brightness since bigger LED).

I believe the SP10(A)v2 and SP10S have the same usage operation, other than their different LED. The SP10B has more shortcuts from the Off state (which can be confusing more some users, but some users may like it). Eg. SP10B can go to any of 4 different states from Off mode via short-press (Moon), long-press (memory), double-press (Turbo), triple-press (Strobe), quad-press (Lockout). I think the SP10(A)v2 and SP10S has some of these shortcuts, but not all.

People (like me) who like to “try” out the operations can probably discover those shortcuts, but the casual user probably may forget or find them confusing though.

IIRC the SP10v2 and SP10Av2 are the same flashlight, I notice some of them are marked SP10v2 while some are marked SP10Av2, but I think they are just the same model that use XP-G2. (again another confusing part)…

now back to the SP33v2 (“upgrade”) — I’ve also been recommending the former SP33v2 (with the long regulated output for “High” mode level of around 1000 lumens). When someone asks me he would like a flashlight that can sustain a steady ~1000 lumens brightness, I’ve always recommended the SP33v2 (instead of the higher-max-brightness SP33v3). But now that they change this behavior, I think I’m also not able to recommend the “upgraded SP33v2” if its brightness/runtime now operates just similar to the SP33v3…

Sidney_Stratton · 2020-03-03T07:26:36.000Z

@ d_t_a:

I read your paragraphs regarding the SP10s variants and I’m having a hard time wrapping my head. But you understand my point of their naming and changing some variable makes for a very difficult and incomprehensible technical specs that strays the would be purchaser.

I think they lack a visionary ‘mentor’ with which they could segregate the models and give a better comparison chart. And comprehend that a light may not be all-purpose but better suited for specific tasks, then may or may not have certain modes or levels.

I’ve gotten to remember to long click ‘off’, but often forget to long click ‘on’ to come back to my memorised level on the SP10A. Tried another variant (SF14v2) with tail switch. Never worked for me as always returned to low mode or moved to next mode if clicked within a few seconds from ‘off’.
Granted, some prefer a non-memory sequence, but the next level is outright trash.

May look into a better desk light (peaking about in the drawers or when something drops to the floor and rolls under).

longuylander · 2020-04-10T23:22:04.000Z

The SP33 V2 had an excellent brightness stabilization driver. In this “upgrade-degradation”, the brightness will now drop with the voltage drop across the battery. For what purpose? + 500lm?

Is this true or are you just speculating that the driver update no longer maintains brightness over the voltage drop of the battery?

JasonWW · 2020-04-11T01:36:54.000Z

longuylander:

The SP33 V2 had an excellent brightness stabilization driver. In this “upgrade-degradation”, the brightness will now drop with the voltage drop across the battery. For what purpose? + 500lm?

Is this true or are you just speculating that the driver update no longer maintains brightness over the voltage drop of the battery?

It is true. This is part of the pros and cons of different driver types. A FET driver will give higher max output initially but the brightness goes down as the voltage goes down. The higher output also produces more heat and a quicker stepdown.

A Boost driver will have a lower max output, but will maintain it until the voltage gets below a certain point then it will drop to a lower level. Its max level produces less heat and steps down after a longer amount of time.

Some people prefer the highest Turbo output and some people prefer a lower, but more stable output. A lot of BLF lights use FET drivers combined with NarsilM or Anduril. Boost drivers are a bit rarer because they are more complicated and expensive to build, but we are seeing more and more of them.

So they both have pros and cons and people have their preferences.

Sofirn · 2020-04-29T06:17:08.000Z

SP33V3 are available on amazon now
SP33V3 uses CREE XHP50B 3V LED with a lifespan of 50,000 hours. It supports 26650 / 21700 / 18650 Li-ion battery.