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 and Amazon page where you can see current pricing.

What comes in the box?

The box is one of Sofirn’s classic, plain cardboard boxes. It’s a great way to keep costs down and adequately protect the light. Inside the box is:

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

Design & Construction

SP60 is big and heavy like an old-school Maglite. This will do the trick if you need a light that can double as a baton.

Build quality is good. It doesn’t quite have the same premium feeling as lights from higher-end brands, but I can find no faults and it feels well-made.

Size & Measurements

Olight Warrior 3S | Sofirn/BLF LT1 | Sofirn SP60 | Wuben X1 | Mini Maglite

Measurement	Measured (mm)
Bezel Diameter	70.0
Maximum Head Diameter	70.0
Length	258
Switch Diameter	13
Lens Thickness	2.0
Lens Diameter	65.7
Reflector Hole Diameter	12
Reflector Diameter	65.7
Reflector Height	65
MCPCB Size	U/M
Body Tube Diameter	30.0
Tailcap Diameter	34.8
Tailcap Length	30.1
Driver Diameter	U/M
Included Battery Length	70.9

Weight with included battery: 551g

User Interface

This user interface is fine except for the auto lockout. I think it’s better than most lights in this class though, because everything is controlled by a single switch.

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.

State	Action	Result
Locked	1H	Momentary Moonlight
Locked	2C	Unlock & On (mode memory)
On	1C	Off (usually)
On	1H	Cycle brightness (Eco-Low-Med-High or smooth ramping)
On	4C	Toggle stepped or smooth ramping
Off (unlocked)	1C	On (mode memory)
Off (unlocked)	1H	Moonlight
Off (unlocked)	4C	Lockout
Off (unlocked)	do nothing for ~1 minute	Lockout
Any (unlocked)	2C	Turbo
Any (unlocked)	3C	Strobe
Strobe	2C	SOS
SOS	2C	Beacon
Turbo or Strobe	1C	Return to the previous mode/state

What they got right (all while unlocked):

• Clicking turns the light on/off, and holding the button changes modes. That’s the way almost all e-switch flashlights should work. It’s intuitive and quick.
• The common shortcuts work. Moonlight, Turbo, and Strobe all have shortcuts that work the same way as most other lights. They work very well and there’s no learning curve when switching lights.
• Turbo, Moonlight, and Strobe are not memorized. They’re also not included in the main mode rotation. Each has a dedicated shortcut, so you can access them quickly without overriding your memorized mode or cycling through all the other modes to get to them.
• 1H from Moonlight goes to Low. That means you can get to Low mode without having to go through brighter modes if you don’t have it memorized.

What they got wrong:

• The automatic lockout here is annoying and it can’t be disabled. This “feature” makes the light more complicated and inconsistent to turn on even when you want to. They’ve learned from this mistake on other models and are allowing it to be disabled, but that change hasn’t come to SP60. This is still better than using your other hand to actuate a separate switch on the tailcap though.
• 1C from Turbo or Strobe returns to the previous state/mode. 1C from anywhere should turn the light off every time. 2C from Turbo is the best way to return to the previous mode. Almost every Sofirn model has this weird “return to previous state” behavior and I wish they would change it.
• Unlocking causes two bright flashes. Every time you unlock the light, it will flash twice at Medium/High brightness. Since you must unlock the light almost every time you turn it on, that flashing gets annoying quickly. This would not be a problem if it didn’t have auto lockout.
• The smooth ramp isn’t visually linear. At the low end of the brightness scale, the brightness changes quickly and dramatically. At the high end of the brightness scale, the brightness changes so slowly 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.
• There are 6 stepped levels. 5 is the right number, especially on a light where users can switch to smooth ramping if they want more options.

Emitter & Beam

SP60 uses a Cree XHP70.3-HI LED with a cool white color temperature and standard color rendering. It’s a great choice for throw and high output. It’s also available in warmer color temperatures and higher CRI bins if you want to do an emitter swap. I was able to unscrew the bezel without too much trouble.

The beam is relatively narrow and is geared more for throw. The hotspot is narrow and soft thanks to the deep, orange-peel reflector. The spill is also narrow but it has a hard edge. That will limit peripheral illumination but make it much easier to keep the beam out of people’s eyes. This is a great beam for a general-purpose, big, bright flashlight.

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

Above are the official specs, followed by my own measurements below.

Level	Lumens	Candela	Throw (Meters)	CRI (Ra)	Color Temp. (K)	DUV (Tint)
Turbo	5000	200000	894	75	8480	-0.0039
High	2300	92000	607	74	7920	-0.0022
Medium	780	31200	353	73	7610	-0.0012
Low	310	12400	223	73	7220	-0.0003
Eco	49	1960	89	72	6720	0.0011
Moonlight	1.6	N/M	N/M	N/M	N/M	N/M

Runtime

The performance is about what I expected. It’s not great but it’s not bad either. Sustained output is around 1000 lumens depending on the charge level. Turbo lasts a respectable time before stepdown. Total runtime is good. Every mode dims some as you use it because the driver is unregulated, but it’s not as bad as I expected.

Thermal regulation is present. My Turbo Cooled test (desk fan blowing directly on the light) shows that SP60 stayed at peak output for longer and sustained a bit higher output than my Turbo test. I’m glad there’s no oscillation because that’ was a’s been a problem on some Sofirn models for a long time (example).

LVP (Low Voltage Protection) is present and works fine. The cells were usually around 2.75V each, give or take 0.1V when I ended my runtime tests. The light can be re-activated in an emergency after a low voltage cutoff.

Driver & Regulation

The body tube and head appear glued together, so I couldn’t access the driver. Notice how it has a brass contact ring around the spring. That’s for the battery carrier balance tube thing. More on that in the battery section. A driver swap might be possible, but you’d lose the integrated charging.

I expected this light to have poor regulation performance because it uses a FET driver, but I’m pleasantly surprised. While every mode is technically unregulated, they all produce ~2/3 of their peak output even at 25% charge. That means you won’t notice any performance difference until the battery is virtually empty. This Turbo performance is particularly impressive because many well-regulated lights I’ve tested have much worse Turbo regulation than this. Good work, Sofirn!

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: My phone camera can pick up flickering on Low, Medium, and High modes, though I can’t see or hear it.

Parasitic Drain: 95 microamps. That will take 6 years to drain the included batteries.

Switch

SP60 has one switch. It’s an e-switch on the side of the head with a red/green backlight and a rubber boot. It’s a good switch that’s clicky and easy to find by feel. I’m glad there’s only one switch here. Most other lights this size/shape have a tail switch for on/off and a side switch for mode changes. That setup is cumbersome, but this single switch is easy to use.

The backlight behind the switch comes on for ~5 seconds after you turn on the light to indicate battery status. Green means “remaining battery power is good”. Red means it’s poor. Blinking red means it’s less than 30%. No other lights in this class (that I’m aware of) have a battery indicator, so this is great. In future versions, I’d love for more granularity like 20-25% increments instead of just “good” and “poor”.

Carry & Ergonomics

Ergonomics are excellent. The balance is perfect. The switch location is perfect. It’s a delight to carry and use. I like it a lot better than most other lights this size/shape that have a side switch and a tail switch. I also prefer it to the “soda can” style. It’s comfortable to use in a forward grip or a neck grip.

The only carry method included is a lanyard that attaches to the tail and works fine.

Batteries & Charging

Battery: Sofirn optionally includes two 5000mah flat-top cells with this light. They seem to work fine, but their “50A” claim on the wrapper seems far-fetched. They sit inside a unique battery carrier/sleeve with a contact plate in the middle. That sleeve allows the integrated charging to work and it’s a clever solution. I’ve never seen one of these long, thin lights with multiple cells have integrated charging before because the cells can become imbalanced. With this sleeve design, the charging circuit can (ostensibly) balance the cells while charging!

Charging is facilitated by a USB-C port on the side of the head. It’s slow, but it works. It’s covered by Sofirn’s classic rubber flap they’ve been using for years on all their large lights. It seals well and it’s very secure unless you deliberately try to open it. This is the best rubber port cover I’ve used.

I found a report of this model over-charging batteries, which can be dangerous. Fortunately, my sample always terminated charging between 4.19 and 4.21V, which is acceptable. The cells weren’t always perfectly balanced after a charge, which surprised me because it has the balancing tube thing. They were never wildly imbalanced though so I’m not too worried about it.

Both A-to-C and C-to-C cables work fine. The light works while charging, but only on Moonlight and Eco modes. There’s a powerbank function so you can charge other devices from the flashlight and that’s pretty handy.

Competition

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

Convoy L6:

• similar price
• better driver
• larger and heavier
• 2×26650 batteries instead of 2×21700
• no integrated charging
• more LED options (including the same one)
• worse switch setup (tail for on/off and side for mode changes)

Convoy 4X18A: the soup-can option

• short, fat, soup-can shape
• more LED options (including the same one)
• similar price (if you get the one with batteries included)
• less throw (I think. It’s not advertised.)
• four 18650 batteries instead of two 21700s
• similar UI with no auto lockout but it does have other quirks
• my review of the SBT90.2 version here

Convoy M21G:

• similar size and shape with the same 2×21700 batteries
• significantly less expensive (even with batteries included)
• worse switch setup (tail for on/off and side for mode changes)
• more LED options (including the same one)
• no integrated charging
• better driver

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

SP60 was a pleasant surprise. The regulation and ergonomics are better than I expected and the auto-lockout doesn’t bother me like I thought it would. It feels well made and the integrated charging and single switch make it dramatically more convenient than any other similar light I’ve tried. The brightness and beam are excellent and the powerbank feature is the icing on the cake. Sofirn did an excellent job putting together a complete and affordable package that can also double as a baton if needed.

Thanks to Sofirn for sending me this light for review!