Contents

• Pricing & Availability
• What comes in the box?
• Design & Construction
• Size & Measurements
• User Interface
• Emitter & Beam
• Mode Chart
• Runtime
• Driver & Regulation
• Switch
• Carry & Ergonomics
• Batteries & Charging
• Competition
• Conclusion

Pricing & Availability

Sofirn sent me this light in exchange for an honest review. Here is the official product page where you can see current pricing. At the time of writing it’s $82 from Sofirn’s website with a battery.

What comes in the box?

Sofirn has been stepping up their packaging recently. IF30 comes in a high-quality white cardboard box with a magnetic closure, printed outer sleeve, and foam insert inside. It’s a big step up from their typical brown cardboard box packaging and is sure to leave an impression of quality. With that said, it doesn’t really fit Sofirn’s budget-oriented reputation. I can’t help but wonder if the light would be a couple dollars cheaper with some simpler packaging.

• The light itself
• Battery (inside the light)
• User manual
• USB A-to-C charging cable
• Wrist lanyard
• Spare o-rings

Design & Construction

IF30 has a short body tube with a wide head to fit the center throw reflector and the bank of surrounding flood LED’s. That makes it seem a bit short and stubby compared to other lights of a similar diameter, kind of like a Wurkkos TS11 scaled up by ~80%.

Build quality is appropriate for the price point. Totally satisfactory but nothing to write home about.

Size & Measurements

Sofirn BLF LT1 | Wuben X1 | Sofirn IF30 | Acebeam L19 2.0 | Mini Maglite

Olight Marauder Mini | Sofirn IF30

Measurement	Measured (mm)
Bezel Diameter	61.3
Maximum Head Diameter	61.3
Length	129.3
Switch Diameter	16.6
Switch Proudness	1.7
Body Tube Diameter (internal)	33.0
Body Tube Diameter (maximum)	38.0
Body Tube Diameter (mode)	38.0
Body Tube Length	71.3
Tailcap Diameter	41.0
Tailcap Length	14.3
Driver Diameter	34.2
Included Battery Length	69.1
Included Battery Diameter	32.4

Weight with included battery: 410g

User Interface

This interface is usable and you can get used to it, but it could really use some improvement in a future version.

The actions are # of presses followed by a hold (H) or a release (C). So, “1C” is one click and release. “2H” is two clicks but you hold down the last one.

This light uses a forward/reverse clicky mechanical switch. A “click” is a full depression of the switch to the point that it clicks. A “tap” is a quick half-press and release without fully depressing to the point of clicking.

State	Action	Result
Locked	1C	Double blink (medium level), last-used-channel
Locked	1H	Momentary on (lowest level), last-used-channel
Locked	Rotate knob (clockwise only)	Unlock and illuminate battery indicator
Off	Rotate knob (clockwise only)	Illuminate battery indicator (no brightness adjustment while off)
Off	1C	On (mode memory)
Off	1H	On (lowest level, not memorized)
Any (except locked)	2C	Turbo (not memorized)
Any (except locked)	3C	Strobe (not memorized)
Turbo	1C	Previous level (including off)
On	1H	Cycle channel (flood-throw-both, memorized)
On (except Turbo or Strobe)	1C	Off
On	Rotate knob clockwise	Increase brightness
On	Rotate knob counter clockwise	Decrease brightness

What they got right:

• 1C on/off. Every flashlight should turn on and off when you click the button, and this one does (except when it’s locked out).
• Common shortcuts work. 2C for Turbo, 1H for the lowest mode, and 3C for strobe are all widely used shortcuts on other lights and they work here too.
• Turbo, the lowest mode, and Strobe are not memorized. They each have their own dedicated shortcut, so you can access them quickly without overriding your memorized mode.

What they got wrong:

• Auto lockout. After just a few seconds of inactivity, the light will lock itself. You must rotate the knob until the LED indicator glows, then you can turn it on. There’s no way to disable this “feature” and the timespan for auto-locking is far too small. While I was writing the chart above, I’d do something with the light, turn it off, write one line, and by the time I was done the light would have locked itself. The user should be able to disable auto-lockout if they choose, and the time should be more like 30 seconds to a minute rather than 15 seconds.
• No stepped modes. I don’t like smooth ramping and I really wish there were stepped modes on this light, even if the rotaty knob is still used to control them.
• No dedicated channel switch. 1H from on is used to cycle among flood, throw, and flood+throw. It’s slow and I don’t find flood+throw helpful, so I wish there were another switch that toggled between channels. Perhaps a button where clicking toggles between flood+throw or holding it activates both. That would also free up 1H on the main switch for stepped modes.

Emitter & Beam

IF30 has two groups of emitters, a flood channel and a throw channel. All the LEDs sit under a multi-level plastic reflector. All the flood LED’s are on one ring PCB and the throw LED is on a separate PCB that’s deeper in the head of the light. It’s very fiddly to get the reflector out and to put it back in place so I don’t recommend disassembling unless you absolutely have to. I believe the reflector and MCPCB’s are exactly the same ones used in Wurkkos TS32, because both MCPCB’s say “TS32” on them.

The flood channel is made up of twelve TN-3535 LEDs each set in a small reflector. This is the first time I’ve heard of TN-3535 LEDs but they seem to be fine for this application. They’re cool white and standard CRI. I think that was the right choice here because the main purpose of this flood channel is to provide as much flood as possible.

The throw channel is a single Luminus SFT40 in cool white, sitting at the bottom of a deep reflector. I think SFT40 is the best overall single-cell thrower LED choice because it’s inexpensive, bright, intense, and efficient. Sofirn made the right choice by using the cool white version instead of the recently released neutral or warm white versions because the cool white is the brightest and will provide the most throw. That’s the whole point of a throw channel.

If you have very particular emitter preferences, take a look at Noctigon DM1.12 instead.

The flood beam has a wide hotspot with some corona and plenty of spill. There’s a bit of tint-shift and the center of the hotspot is slightly brighter than the rest but you only notice those things when white-wall-hunting.

The throw beam has a tight, punchy hotspot and a clearly defined spill. That spill is really nice and I missed it when I tried the throw mode on Olight Marauder Mini. There’s some ringing but again, you won’t notice it unless white-wall-hunting.

In the beamshots below, the concrete corner to the right of the hotspot is 39M away and the power pole in the center is 185M away.

In the beamshots below, the garbage can is 21M away and the trees are 40-50M away.

Mode Chart

Disclaimer: All of my measurements are taken at turn-on. Lumen measurements were taken on a Texas Ace 3.5″ Lumen Tube. A candela measurement was taken at 10 meters with an Opple Light Master III on the highest brightness, and other candela figures were calculated relative to that. CRI, CCT, & DUV data was taken for each mode from a few feet away at the center of the hotspot with the Opple Light Master and Waveform DUV Calculator. Runtime tests were performed with the Ceilingbounce app on my smartphone. All of these tests were performed with a fully charged included battery unless otherwise specified. I cannot measure moonlight directly, so moonlight readings are calculated based on the brightness relative to the next-lowest mode. None of this is professional equipment, so take all of these measurements with a grain of salt.

• Throw Lumens: 2,100
• Throw Candela: 140,000
• Flood Lumens: 9,300
• Flood Candela: 19,500

Normally I do a big chart with all the modes and the color properties and everything, but this light doesn’t have any discrete modes. I chose not to measure the color properties because if those are super important to you then you should buy a different light that has different emitter selections.

Ramp Speed: is poor. At the low end of the brightness scale, rotating the knob changes the brightness very quickly and dramatically. At the high end of the brightness scale, rotating the knob changes the brightness so slowly and slightly that sometimes I wonder if it’s even working. This has been an issue on every smooth-ramping light from Sofirn that I’ve tested and they really should have it fixed by now. This is partially why I so strongly wish IF30 also had a stepped modes option.

Runtime

Performance: Max Turbo is 9300lm which is pretty good for a light this size. You might be able to get even more from a super high discharge cell like a Samsung 30T. Turbo lasts a surprising 1.5 minutes on flood. Sustained output is relatively low at ~1000lm, but that’s to be expected from a FET driver.

Thermal regulation: There’s a huge difference between my cooled and uncooled Turbo flood tests so this light has very active thermal regulation.

LVP (Low Voltage Protection): the driver has low voltage protection and it does not rely on any protection circuitry in the battery. It will shut the light off when the battery voltage gets too low.

Driver & Regulation

Based on the medium-ish brightness runtime graphs, the price point, and Sofirn’s history, I believe IF30 is using a cheap FET driver. That keeps the cost down, but it also means it’ll be inefficient, won’t hold the brightness flat over time, and won’t be able to sustain a very high brightness level.

I was only able to test the regulation performance on Turbo because there are no stepped modes. You can also look at the medium-ish brightness runtime tests to see how well-regulated it is without any need for thermal throttling. The bottom line is the regulation performance is poor.

Note: All regulation measurements are taken at turn-on so they do not reflect any thermal or low voltage stepdowns that may occur. A value of 0 indicates low voltage shutoff immediately upon activation.

PWM: No PWM is visible to my eyes nor audible to my ears, but my phone camera can pick it up at every brightness level.

Parasitic Drain: ~200 microamps. That will take 3.7 years to drain the included battery.

Switch

IF30 uses a combination switch and rotary knob. It can be depressed just like a typical e-switch, but it can also be rotated. On/off and channel switching is controlled by depressing the switch and brightness is controlled by rotating the knob. It feels surprisingly sturdy with a tactile click and smooth rotation.

While I like this switch/knob design, I think it would have been nice to also have a second to change from flood to throw and back instead of holding down the switch/knob. Perhaps a simple button where 1C toggles flood?throw and 1H activates both. That would free up the 1H action on the main switch for something else (like stepped modes).

Carry & Ergonomics

The ergonomics are decent. The 32650 battery means the body tube is fairly thick and easy to hold onto. It’s a bit short though so my pinky would sometimes hang off the end of the light while my thumb was on the button.

The only carry method included with SC33 is a wrist lanyard. It’s far too big for a pocket clip. They could have included a belt holster, but I’m glad they didn’t because that would have made it more expensive.

Tailstanding works great with the wide, flat tailcap. It would have been nice to have a big, strong magnet in that tailcap as well.

Batteries & Charging

IF30 uses one 32650 battery. That’s a weird size that I’ve never come across before and the included battery has been under a lot of scrutiny by users with battery testing equipment and it appears to be relatively low quality, not rated for the high draw of this light, and of a fairly low capacity/size ratio. I wish Sofirn had included a better cell or used a more common battery format. It’s a button-top cell and I’m not sure whether it’s got any protection circuitry.

Fortunately, it’s a common XX650 length so you can use any 26650, 21700 (unprotected), or 18650 battery in its place with a basic spacer to take up the extra width. I wish a set of spacers were included in the box. An optional 26800 extended body tube would be a nice accessory to offer as well since those seem to be a relatively popular format with good-performing battery options.

The body tube has the battery direction indicator on it, but the battery tube is reversible so make sure you always put the positive terminal toward the head, even if the body tube says otherwise because it has been flipped.

Charging is facilitated by a USB-C port on the side of the head, sealed with a rubber port cover. Both A-to-C and C-to-C charging cables work just fine. The light is fully functional while plugged in, but brightness is limited if the battery is disconnected. There is a powerbank function and I was able to charge my smartphone directly from the flashlight.

I don’t like this new port cover design. For a long time, they had my favorite port cover design and used it on lights like LT1 Mini. It was very secure and easy enough to open. This new cover is much smaller and I find that I often have to use a separate tool like a screwdriver or the tip of my pocket knife to get it open.

Competition

Here are some lights in the same class and how they compare.

Olight Marauder Mini: The premium option. More expensive, higher build quality, better UI, magnetic charging, weird-size proprietary battery, red/green/blue secondary emitters, zero-spill throw beam, and multiple color options

Noctigon DM1.12: The enthusiast option. Usually more expensive, but on sale at the time of writing. 21700 or 26800 battery, feature-rich Anduril 2 firmware, TIR optics, RGB aux LEDs, RGB switch LED, no battery nor charging included, dozens of emitter options

Wurkkos TS32: Soda can option. (Probably) same reflector, throw LED, and bezel, two switches instead of single rotary switch, three 21700 batteries, separate handle, slightly more expensive, different flood LED options

This section is not comprehensive. If I didn’t include a particular light here, it doesn’t mean it’s bad or doesn’t deserve to be here. I simply cannot list every possible competitor.

Conclusion

This light is a bit of a mixed bag. It’s the cheapest large-ish flooder/thrower combo on the market and it’s also one of the cheapest lights with a rotary brightness control knob. It also has a sub-par UI, sub-par battery, sub-par driver, and mediocre performance as a result. Even though it’s cheap for its class, it’s still on the expensive side of flashlights as a whole. If you’re on a tight budget and want a flood/throw combo light, this may be a good option for you. Personally, I’d rather spend a little extra on the Noctigon or Olight competition.

Thanks to Sofirn for sending me this light for review!