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, and IF24S

Sofirn sent me this light in exchange for an honest review. Here is the official product page where you can see current pricing. Sofirn provided discount code “SOFIRNIF24” for my readers, which took off $7.80 when I tested it.

What comes in the box?

The box is one of Sofirn’s white retail boxes with a magnetic closure and a nicely printed sleeve. It’s a great “unboxing experience” but it doesn’t convey value for money like their old brown cardboard boxes did.

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

Design & Construction

IF24’s design is excellent. It’s highly functional and Sofirn did a great job making it look good too. I love the frosted (glass?) panel glued into the side and I think it looks more refined than the big aluminum plate they used on IF23.

Build quality is pretty good overall. The anodizing is on the matte/chalky side. My only complaint is that my pre-production sample has some machining imperfections on the tailcap, but Sofirn assured me they solved that issue before the light went into full production.

Size & Measurements

Surefire G2X | Skilhunt MiX-7 | Skilhunt H300 | Sofirn IF24 | Maglite MT2A Pro | Mini Maglite | Olight Warrior 3S | Olight Javelot

Sofirn IF23 | Sofirn IF24 | Wurkkos HD01

Measurement	Measured (mm)
Width	24.1
Thickness	24.9
Maximum Head Diameter	30.2
Length	125.9
Switch Diameter	14.9
Switch Proudness	0.0
Lens Thickness	U/M
Lens Diameter	U/M
Optic Diameter	U/M
Optic Height	U/M
MCPCB Size	U/M
Pocket Clip Slot Width	4.1
Pocket Clip Slot Diameter	22.0
Tailcap Diameter	24.5
Driver Diameter	U/M
Included Battery Length	66.9

Weight without battery: 144g

User Interface

This is the best UI I’ve seen on a light with so many different LEDs and functions. It’s not perfect, but it’s dramatically more intuitive than the previous model and the competition.

The actions are # of presses followed by a hold (H) or a release (C) on the main switch. So, “1C” is one click and release. “2H” is two clicks but you hold down the last one. The UI is the same between both white channels.

State	Action	Result
Off	1C	On (mode memory)
Off	1H	Moonlight (not memorized)
On	1C	Off (usually)
On	1H	Cycle mode (low-med-high)
Any	2C	Turbo
Turbo	2C	Strobe
Strobe	2C	SOS
SOS	2C	Beacon

State	Action	Result
Off	1C	On (usually defaults to red)
On	1C	Return (either off, or exit effects and go back to constant on)
Any	2C	Enter or cycle color effects (shown below)

What they got right:

• Channel switching is on a separate, dedicated switch. My biggest gripe with Sofirn IF23 was that all the functions were crammed into a single switch. That made the UI cluttered and confusing. Separating channel switching into a separate rotary switch is a fabulous solution. Adding Lockout to that separate switch is the icing on the cake!
• 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.
• Most common shortcuts work. Moonlight & Turbo have shortcuts that work like most other lights. They work very well and there’s no learning curve when switching lights. I wish I could say the same for Strobe.
• There are 5 brightness levels, which is just the right amount. Enough options without becoming cumbersome.
• Turbo, Moonlight, and Strobe are not memorized. Each has a dedicated shortcut, so you can access them quickly without overriding your memorized mode.
• 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:

• 1C from Turbo, Strobe, or Color Effects 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. This one is even worse because…
• 2C from Turbo activates Strobe. On many other lights, that returns to the previous mode. Most lights use 3C from anywhere to access Strobe and that works well. I wish Sofirn had stayed more in line with common UI trends here.
• Changing the channel turns it on. I found that it’s a little jarring, especially the side LEDs because they point at your face when changing channels. I found that any time I used the side LEDs I wanted to put it back on the front channel before pocketing it, so I had to rotate the switch and then turn it back off. It also means I have to loosen the tailcap if I want to fidget with the nice rotary switch.

Notes:

• There’s no way to activate both the front and side LEDs. I don’t think that’s a problem because I can’t imagine a situation where I’d want to do that.
• There is no smooth ramping option. Many other Sofirn models let the user choose stepped or smooth, but here you must use stepped modes.

Emitter & Beam

Sofirn chose Luminus SST40 for the front beam. It’s cheap, bright, and efficient so it’s fine for general-purpose use. It doesn’t have particularly impressive throw or color properties though. It sits behind a plastic TIR optic and I can’t tell if there’s a glass lens over top. I didn’t try to remove the bezel because I didn’t want to scratch it. A 3D printed tool just for this bezel would work best, but you may be able to remove it with some snap ring pliers or a camera lens filter wrench.

I don’t know the model of the side LEDs. They’re all domeless; the white ones are 5000K and High CRI. They all sit under the frosted cover that I think is glass. It’s glued in place and can’t be removed.

The front beam is fine for general use. It’s not particularly clean nor pretty, but it works fine. The side beam is extremely diffused and has nicer color properties.

In the beamshots below, the trees in the center are about 50 meters 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 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	1400	17000	261	65	5890	0.0082
High	580	7043	168	66	5910	0.0081
Medium	120	1457	76	65	5930	0.0081
Low	10	121	22	64	5820	0.0098
Moonlight	1.1	13.27	7.29	61	5410	0.0149

Level	Lumens	Candela	Throw (Meters)	CRI (Ra)	Color Temp. (K)	DUV (Tint)
Turbo	490	260	32	97	5120	0.0040
High	180	96	20	97	5100	0.0052
Medium	82	44	13	97	5090	0.0054
Low	16	8	6	97	5000	0.0047
Moonlight	0.5	N/M	N/M	99	4940	0.0033

Mode Spacing is good. There are no weirdly small or large jumps.

Runtime

Performance is OK. The regulation is pretty poor so the brightness continually drops with battery voltage. The front LED does stay around 500 lumens for about an hour on Turbo and High modes though, which is decent. Total runtime is respectable.

Thermal regulation: This light appears to have a timed Turbo stepdown only. That’s unusual for Sofirn because they typically have active thermal regulation that continually balances brightness and heat. Perhaps the upcoming IF24S will have active thermal regulation.

LVP (Low Voltage Protection) is present. When the battery is effectively empty, the light will shut itself off to protect the battery. The light can be temporarily re-activated in an emergency.

Driver & Regulation

IF24 has a FET driver. FET drivers have poor regulation and efficiency, but they’re inexpensive and can provide a lot of current. Sofirn’s upcoming IF24S model appears to come with a superior Buck driver.

Regulation is relatively poor, as expected. Every mode is affected by cell voltage. Turbo stays surprisingly bright down to ~25% charge. I’ve tested much more expensive lights with “better” drivers with worse Turbo regulation performance than this.

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 (unless plugged in without a battery). My phone camera can pick up some flickering on Medium and High modes. There’s an audible whine on High and Low modes when the light is plugged in and turned on without a battery.

Parasitic Drain: 60 microamps. That will take 5-6 years to drain the included battery.

Switch

IF24’s switch is the biggest improvement over IF23. Not only does it have a main e-switch for on/off and brightness changes, but there’s now a 4-position rotary switch to switch among the 3 different channels and lockout. That makes it dramatically more intuitive to use.

That rotary switch has raised points for grip and detents so it snaps into place. The e-switch is clicky and has a nice action. Both switches are placed so they’re easy to access when holding the light. This is an excellent switch setup.

Carry & Ergonomics

Ergonomics are good. The light fits well in the hand and my thumb rests nicely on the button. Turning the rotary selector is pretty easy but I don’t think it will get rotated by accident. A forward grip is the only grip that works on this light.

This clip seems a little small to me, but it works. I’m glad it only goes in one direction. The bidirectional clips that let you clip a light to your hat can be handy, but they snag on things more easily. This light is too big and heavy to clip to a hat anyway. The clip sometimes gets hung up early on that sharp corner where it attaches to the light. I would have liked to see that rounded off.

A magnet inside the tailcap is strong enough to hold the light securely on a vertical surface. Handy!

Batteries & Charging

Battery: IF24 uses a single 18650 battery. Sofirn optionally includes their standard 3000mah, unprotected, button-top cell, which works fine. Unprotected flat tops work great too. I fit a protected button top from Skilhunt (69.2mm), but just barely. I don’t think a battery with a USB port on it would fit. IF23 used a larger 21700 battery, so going down to an 18650 is a notable change. It does make the light a little thinner.

Charging is facilitated by a USB-C port with a rubber cover. Both A-to-C and C-to-C cables work fine. There is no powerbank function here like there was on IF23. The light is fully functional while charging with the battery connected. If you remove the battery (or just unscrew the tailcap) while it’s plugged in, you lose Turbo mode, the mode rotation reverses (High-Med-Low), and there’s an audible whine on High and Low modes. The RGB UI is unaffected.

There’s a charging indicator next to the charging port. When plugged in, red means charging, and green means fully charged. When unplugged, the indicator will activate for a few seconds after you turn on the light. In that case, green means 50-100% charge, red means 10-50% charge, and blinking red means <10% charge.

Competition

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

Sofirn IF23:

• marginally lower price
• marginally shorter and wider
• single switch only (no rotary knob)
• higher brightness
• larger battery
• dramatically worse user interface
• powerbank function
• fewer RGB functions
• XHP50.2 LED & reflector
• large bidirectional clip (might get snagged on stuff, too heavy to clip to a hat)

Sofirn IF24S:

• identical to IF24 EXCEPT:
• SFT40 5000K LED (more throw, warmer temp, better tint but looks ringy in this video)
• Buck driver (more efficient and better regulated)
• More expensive
• Unreleased (at the time of writing)

Wurkkos HD01:

• marginally higher price
• flat shape
• built-in battery
• green laser
• dual buttons instead of one button and a rotary switch

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

When I reviewed Sofirn IF23, I concluded that buyers would be better off with a regular flashlight and one of those RGBW photo light panels. That’s not so with IF24. Sofirn has done a fabulous job combining a traditional flashlight, a side floodlight, and addressable RGB LEDs into an EDC-size package. There’s even an enthusiast-oriented version coming called IF24S that will have a better driver and different main LED.

Thanks to Sofirn for sending me this light for review!