Sofirn IF24 Pro Review
Disclaimer
I recived this flashlight from Sofirn free of charge for review. I have not been compensated nor influenced in any way to change my opinion about the product.
Introduction
Sofirn has recently released a few “multi-function” flashlights. Namely, the IF23, IF24 and now the IF24 Pro. How do these compare, and is the IF24 Pro the right flashlight for you?
Pricing, availability and options
The If24 Pro with a battery costs $45.99. The only option you can choose is with or without a battery. The flashlight is avalible multiple places. At their own store, and at their Aliexpress store. They are often running sales, so it’s easy to get a good deal.
Build quality, size, weight and handling
Let’s start off with the build quality. It’s absolutely amazing! The anodization is more of a matte black, instead of cheap glossy black. It feels sturdy, grippy and quality. The switch “system” feels nice and responsive. In hand, it’s comfortable with good switch placement. It also feels secure and in place.
The size is a little big for the battery size, but is to be excpected with all these features. It also has some decent weight to it, which I find a litte unpleasent when carrying the light. The size and weight is not a deal-breaker, but something to keep in mind.
User interface
The user interface is a lot better than on the IF23. They did this by adding a rotary switch around the main switch. This allows you to switch between the different channels of light. There are four positions the switch can be in. The main emitter (front), white side light, RGB side light and lockout (to prevent accidental activations). When turning the switch, it also turns on the flashlight in the channel it is in. This is annoying when switching channels. Sofin has said that they are looking into it, and might change it.
The main light and side light in white has well spaced modes. When on, you can hold the button to cycle through modes. Hold from off to get moonlight, and double press at any moment to get turbo. From turbo you can double press again to cycle through diffrent blinkies. It can be turn on and off by a single press if it’s not in turbo. If it’s in turbo it will go to the previously used mode before turbo. For the RGB side light, you just double press the button to change modes. If you press the button it will turn it to the first mode, you can then press it once more to turn it off. From off, press the button once to turn it on. In the first mode, you can hold the button to change color. In lockout mode, pressing the button will only turn on the battery indicator. Holding the button will momentarily turn on the main light in the lowest mode.
Light quality
There are many things to cover here. The most important is the main light, so let’s start with that. The emitter for the main light (front) is different in the IF23, If24, and this. The IF24 Pro uses an SFT40 in 5000k. The non-pro version uses a worse and older emitter, an SST40 in 6500k. The beam is better than on the IF24, but has a problem. The beam has a lot of rings, and the emitter is not centered correctly! This isn’t just a problem with mine, other people have reported the same thing. Luckily, this has been brought to the attention of Sofirn, and they have said that they will forward it to their engineers. Hopefully they will fix it. The beam is still pretty neutral in low CRI and has quite a bit of throw.
On to the white side light. This is a lot better than the main light, and I found myself using this quite a lot. If you put on the side light and clip it to your pocket (via the pocket clip), you get this nice and wide netrual light without using you hands. The light is surprisingly bright, and fills your whole field of view.
Last, we have the RGB light. It is mostly for fun. You have a lot of different modes to cycle through. The light is nice and widespread. Something that can be useful is the red light. The RGB channel always turns on in red by default from off, with can be useful at night as red light preserve night vision.
Performance, battery, charging and runtime
The Sofirn IF24 Pro uses an 18650 with 3000 mah. A lot of people have complained and said that it should use a 21700 (a bigger battery), but I dissagree. The IF23 uses a 21700, and it is a lot larger. Therefore the size (and weight) increase is not worth it for the extra runtime in my opinion.
Sofirn doesn’t state the charging time for this flashlight. They do however state the charging speed in the manual (5V2A), so I estimate ~2 hours+ of charging from 0% - 100%.
For the perfromance and runtime, I used this review since I don’t have the adequate equippment for the measurements myself. Here is a summary in bullet points:
- 1300 lumens on turbo (main light)
- 800 lumens sustained for an hour (main light)
- 500 lumens on turbo (side light)
- 300 lumens down to 100 lumens over 3 hours (side light)
Competition and comparison
There are mainly two lights that compare, and another similar one.
IF23: The IF23 is the older version and uses a bigger battery, but is bigger and heavier than the IF24 (Pro). It is brighter, but unregulated (output drops as the battery gets emptier). It doesn’t have a rotary switch, and the user interface is therefore more difficult (since everything in controlled by one button).
IF24: The non-pro version uses an unregulated driver (less efficient) and a worse emitter (worse light quality and less efficient) for the main light.
Wurkkos HD01: Wurkkos is Sofirn’s sister company, and offer some similar products. The HD01 isn’t actually that similar to the other lights in this section. The HD01 is a lot smaller and lighter, but most importantly it’s a flat-style flashlight. It has a main light, a white side light like the others. But instead of an RGB side light, it has a laser in the front.
After comparing these, the If24 Pro is my favorite. This is because it is smaller than the IF23, has better battery life and performance than the HD01 and is an upgrade from the IF24.
Conclution
Should you buy the IF24 Pro? As always, it depends. I have to say that this is an amazing product by Sofirn, and punches far above it’s price point. It has;
- amazing build quality,
- improved UI,
- good light quality,
- good performance and
- beats all of the competition.
So, if you are looking for an EDC that also has some fun (and useful) features like this, I’d say this is the absolute best you can get!
Here you can buy it at Sofirn’s official website: https://www.sofirnlight.com/products/sofirn-if24-pro-flashlight-1800lm?variant=8a6a9df9-6328-4793-9945-095fc8df236c
Here you can buy it at Sofirn’s official Aliexpress store: Sofirn if24 pro rgb light 1800lm 340m sft40 buck treiber usb c wiederauf ladbare taschenlampen flut fleck mit magnet - AliExpress 39