Upcoming Sofirn HS42 - triple channel 18650 headlamp

Specifications

  1. Emitter: 1SST-40 6000K LED, 3CSP2323 5000K 90CRI LEDs, 2*HFL1-R red LEDs
  2. Battery Option: 1*18650 battery
  3. Working Voltage: 3.0V-4.2V
  4. Mode Operation: E-switch
  5. USB Type-C charging
  6. Material: AL6061-T6 aluminium alloy
  7. Size: 26mm27.2mm112mm
  8. Weight: 71g (only headlamp without battery)
  9. It has a magnetic tailcap

Bottomline from me:
SST-40 - why?!
So nice design with triple channels light in L-shaped body. I keep fingers crossed for updated one with decent emitters.

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Without a regulated buck driver this is a no go for me. Judging by the number of channels and the associated complication in design it is most likely going to be a FET driven light, yet again.

I find the HS40 really good with some minor modifications (TIR and possibly emitter swap to a 519A, although the stock 5000K SST40 is nice and efficient behind a TIR). The stable output makes it a very useful tool rather than a toy. And unless the main channel is a thrower, I don’t see the point of having a secondary white channel. It only complicates things. A white/red duo channel is more than versatile enough.

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Is there any more info on this one @Sofirn? For instance: would it have springs on both sides so that flat top 18350 battery can be used with short tube? Driver? Runtimes?

Could someone comment on LEDs used:
SST 40 (6000K)
CSP 2324 (5000K)
HFL1 (Red, ?nm)

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I waa about to make the same comments above about sst40

That sounds promising!

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I don’t think so. Regulated driver giving 2100 lumens? It needs at least 6.5A output. A 6.5A buck driver in this small, cheap light, with 2 additional channels? Not likely.

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I wonder if @Sofirn agrees with this assessment :⁠-⁠)

All Leds are in one piece optic? why harsh 6000k?

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Yeah it looks like a once-piece specially moulded TIR with matching special MCPCB. Not really easy to mod. If the main emitter is SST-40 then the footprint cannot be changed, any swap will have to be a 5050. Not to say how is the TIR fixed on the host? If it’s a press fit ring or heaven forbid, glue, then forget it.

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Right, maybe even mcpcb layout is one piece for all Leds.
So, not 3535 option and another 18xx headlamp😑

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If the temp remains high enough then you get flat stabilised output on the HS40, but if it dips below the temp increase threshold you get the following result.

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Many drivers out there are FET+Buck, very few high end models are fully regulated on turbo at it’s peak value.

If it pushed up to 2000lm from the SST40, you can’t really put anything smaller than 5050 in anyway if you don’t want to fry it :smiley:

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Excellent utility as is. I just pre ordered two … :beers:

Yes, I’m aware of this ugly behavior. It’s basically the next best thing you can have: A well regulated low - mid mode with ugly high / turbo. It’s still better than pure FET or FET+7135.

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…continue from here. Made some short test and it looks like it do have PWMed stabilization and what meens it have some kind of buck driver and that is gooooood. :slight_smile:


To see what is going on all other leds, modes and voltages i have to unscrew head to connect it to lab supply…

Tested a little bit more. All modes and leds output stabilized down 3.2V, then all leds modes start to dim down , hi and med modes steps down to low , so at 3.1V we have only low mode left down to 2.75V LVP. Very “conservative” output similar to linear. Probably it is asynchronous buck, so efficiency will be no more like about 85%. Without disassembly hard say. And that’s not easy task. :slight_smile:

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Could owners briefly comment on the choice (for instance, wouldn’t at least SST40 5000K be a more rational choice, and does it matter in practice?). And the high CRI flood LEDs - are they decent? Reds will be something like 620 nm, not like 660 nm SST20-DR, I imagine?

6000K probably has more lumen at the same input power, so bigger specsheet value. Sofirns main customer base is still not enthusiasts (even if they are active on here), so they need those eye-catcher values, I guess. I would say, SFT40 5000K would be the best Allrounder choice for a throw channel.

The CSPs are what Wurkkos usually uses (CSP2323 I guess, the 24 was a typo?). HD10 and TS10 have them. I am sure there is better and worse bins, but those LEDs can be really nice.

Don’t know the red emitter, no idea.

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Can all ‘lighting sources’ cycle while in moonlight? It’s not clear in the manual. Basically long press from off then triple clicking to cycle through spot, flood, mix, red, will all of them be in moonlight? Since there are moonlight values in the output tables I assume they do just want to know if you can switch while in moonlight.

Edit: Reached out to Sofirn. The answer is yes.

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