Sofirn Newest AA Flashlight Needs Your Advices!

Commercial Sellers' Spot
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Hey Sofirn fans, this is Sofirn.

We just got two prototypes of the newest aa flashlight F1.
It’s our first zoomable light, there are two versions to choose from,
one uses TN led 6500K,

F1-TN平头-6500K-放
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F1-TN平头-6500K-缩
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and the other uses Nichia 519A 5000K.
F1-519A-5000K-放
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F1-519A-5000K-缩
F1-519A-5000K-缩1920×2560 60.4 KB

Which beam do you like more?
I know you would choose Nichia 519A, don’t worry, I will make two versions available.
Now there is a decision hard to make, I really need your advice. As you can see, when you adjust the beam to the narrowest, it has a yellow outer ring. The narrower of the beam is, the bigger yellow ring it will be.
On this occasion, do you prefer a narrower beam but with the yellow ring?
Please do the vote, and then I will submit the outcome after the vacation of May.

  • I prefer narrower beam and accept the yellow ring.
  • I prefer narrower beam but can’t accept the yellow ring.
  • I don’t need narrower beam, the prototype now is good.
  • I never like zoomable light.
0 voters
4 Thanks
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Nichia 519a is an excellent high CRI emitter with good R9. Much superior to the more intense cool white beam from the other led.

4 Thanks
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I like a fixed focus Aspheric lens like the McGizmo Sundrop

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here are a couple other Aspheric lens lights, the two on the right:

erY1p57
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I think this is useful, but could be narrower:

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I think this is too narrow, and not useful:

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I do not need zoom, just choose a good fixed angle, not too wide, not too narrow

I suggest no wider than 45 degrees, no less than 30 degrees

4 Thanks
4

Love a good aspheric. Weltool M6-Dr is surprisingly useful, considering it doesn’t put out much light. Nice for close up work.

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5

The only halfway decent zoom light I have seen is the Led Lenser. The trade off is just too substantial for zoom.

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I’m, really not sure what to think here. I tend to hate zoom flashlights, its an stupid concept… But then there are times I miss the focussing aspect of a Maglite.

I don’t think I’ve ever had a zoomie that wasn’t a $5 cheapie with no name bluey tint LED… With a decent tint, like a 519 @ 5000k, or even 4000K, and enough lumens to actually reach out when zoomed in, or light a good area at flood, I think I might like one.

Might.

I can’t answer in the poll choices.
I don’t care for narrower, that is probably fine as is, but the yellow ring will be annoying as hell…

Interested to see where this goes… As i say, a zoomie that is of decent build with some thought behind it is an interesting concept.

1 Thank
7

I’m not a fan of most aspheric (zoom) flashlights, but there are a few I think are good.

If it uses a side switch, it would be very nice to have an Anduril variant using the SP10 Pro driver and 519a, as there are no zoom flashlights with Anduril.

2 Thanks
8

I know zoomies do not get a lot of love but man I’m excited for that 519a version, as is, looks awesome to me.

5 Thanks
9

Have you considered one of the round-die LEDs that is now available?

4 Thanks
10

The only time I use zommies is in full-flood mode. When narrowed and the lens is pulled away from the emitter, it only collects 1/3 or less of all available light. So the beam might narrow, but intensity doesn’t increase proportionately.

If you look at the Acebeam Pokomon, it has an aspheric lens but is fixed in full flood mode, not adjustable. That’s perfectly fine for me: good wide flood, quality light (519, I think), and both bright and efficient.

More importantly, it’s well-sealed, and most zommies that are adjustable aren’t very well sealed against water and dust, so that needs to be taken into account if carrying it every day. Leave it in a pants pocket and it goes into the washer, and it’s gone. A bigger light is hard to forget, but an AA light that just slips into a pocket might end up that way.

That said, I think all aspherics have that yellow ring, and you can let it go to an extreme. If you don’t want to project The Bat Signal, you can just back off a little bit.

When I use my Cometa, I rarely zoom it to an extreme, but always back off just a bit so that it’s a rounded-square. It can zoom more, but I don’t do that. But 99% of the time, it’s in full-flood mode.

So… if you want it to zoom, you can make it the tighter beam with yellower ring. Anyone who doesn’t like it can just back off a little bit to the fuzzier version.

I still like the zooming of the S11C, though. Not a true aspheric, and not as “zooming”, but still decent.

2 Thanks
11

Make yourself at home, Truman_Da_Tiger!
Do you like the University of Missouri?

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Using a round LED would be nicer for this use case, as it will produce an even round beam at all focal distances. They can be made at various temperatures and high CRI with great results, and for cheap (cheaper than the 519A). As for the yellow ring, there’s no cost effective way to get rid of this optical aberration, it’s better to just live with it.

2 Thanks
13

I think this is waste of your time and resources.

1 Thank
14

I like the 519A, or use one of the high CRI Yinding round die LEDs. In general, with most zoomies people care less about a ring when it’s zoomed to maximum throw, and care more about there not being a ring when it’s zoomed to flood mode.

3 Thanks
15

Not saying I agree or disagree, but they want to make one, soo…

What would you rather they focus on? Cheap flashlight market is pretty saturated, perhaps refreshing current models with more efficient drivers? Bring back the HS10? I dunno, I’m not the mass market target audience :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

1 Thank
16

Would AA also mean 14500 Li-Ion?

Looks like the zoom part has been decided on already. For what it’s worth, I think I liked the NiteLab UHi 20 MAX idea serving the spot/flood usefulness without the moving parts and with the possibility of smoother beam pattern when used with OP reflector.

Not high CRI, and the EDC33 implementation with the tail switch was too militaristic for me. Are there similar LEDs, like Yinding, but with better colour rendering that could be used instead?

1 Thank
17

I’m not big on zoomable lights. It’s not just that the ones I’ve tried in the LED era have not been good. It involves extra stuff and more that can go wrong. Echoing @AK-Adventurist , I fondly remember my days with Maglites. (That was before LED and it’s easy to forget all the artifacts and such.) My old Maglites managed to be very sturdy and resistant to the elements despite the twist-mechanism for “zoom”.

If a zoomable modern flashlight could be sturdy, that might change my mind. Still, I feel like my needs are met very well by any of the non-zoomable flashlights I have with good emitters and more medium beam patterns.

(BTW, the 519A looks better here. Personally though, I don’t think I ever carry anything cooler than 4500K these days. I feel like 4000K is good for all-purpose and warmer is better at night.)

1 Thank
18

I just don’t want a zooming light.

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19

My advises…only if you’re planning on using it as a free shipping vessel for Sofirn 14500 li-ion cells.

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20

The yellow ring is there because the LED is not yet at the focal point of the lens–the sliding/zooming mechanism needs to be made longer to allow the lens to go farther from the LED.

For the cool white version a small, round-die, high-intensity emitter should be used over the TN. The AA format cannot take full advantage of a large-die emitter like the TN, which results in loss of peak intensity.

1 Thank