I own a few nice C8's made by Lumintop and Nitecore. I thought these C8's were nice and bright. Then I received a C8A from Sofirn to do a review. The Sofirn C8A turns out to be the brightest single emitter flashlight I own now. One of the things I like about it is that has a good amount of side spill. Without this feature it would be rather useless to use on a walk. I was a bit skeptical when I read that high output for the Sofirn C8A was rated at 1800 lumens. It is that bright.
I downloaded a few apps to read Lux. All the apps read the same amount of light. It is all relative. I used freshly charged Samsung 30Q batteries for the non Sofirn flashlights and the supplied Sofirn battery for the C8A. The flashlights were all placed on a dining room table in the same spot next to my cell phone. All the flashlights were about six feet from the ceiling. I took the reading within the first 30 seconds of run time. I tested ceiling bounce lumens. The C8A was 113 lux brighter in ceiling bounce compared to my Nitecore P30. Wow that is a lot. If you need or want a super bright flashlight but do not want to mod or build your own flashlight then the Sofirn C8A is for you. It is wicked bright.
I charged the supplied Sofirn battery three times with the Sofirn charger before doing the low mode run time test. I used the flashlight in between charges. First charge time: 3 hours and 26 minutes. The manual stated that low mode will last 10 hours 30 minutes. Well my flashlight and battery did much better than that. Low mode lasted for 15 hours and 33 minutes. That is very impressive. I stopped the test when the flashlight started blinking the low voltage warning of 2.80vdc. I believe but have no conclusive proof that the supplied Sofirn battery is actually a Samsung 30Q battery. I would get identical lux readings when comparing both batteries in the flashlight. I am not taking the battery apart to find out for certain about its manufacture. I am scared of lithium ion batteries.
Now let's talk changing the mode group. It took me more than a few tries to master 3 fast clicks to change from group 1 to group 2 and back. I was either too fast or slow. Once mastered it is very easy to change mode groups. The moonlight mode is just great for getting around the house at night without disturbing your significant other. The tint of my flashlight is neutral with just a tad to the cool side. I recommend this flashlight to anyone wanting to buy a bright and durable C8 style flashlight.
:wave:
I downloaded a few apps to read Lux. All the apps read the same amount of light. It is all relative. I used freshly charged Samsung 30Q batteries for the non Sofirn flashlights and the supplied Sofirn battery for the C8A. The flashlights were all placed on a dining room table in the same spot next to my cell phone. All the flashlights were about six feet from the ceiling. I took the reading within the first 30 seconds of run time. I tested ceiling bounce lumens. The C8A was 113 lux brighter in ceiling bounce compared to my Nitecore P30. Wow that is a lot. If you need or want a super bright flashlight but do not want to mod or build your own flashlight then the Sofirn C8A is for you. It is wicked bright.
I charged the supplied Sofirn battery three times with the Sofirn charger before doing the low mode run time test. I used the flashlight in between charges. First charge time: 3 hours and 26 minutes. The manual stated that low mode will last 10 hours 30 minutes. Well my flashlight and battery did much better than that. Low mode lasted for 15 hours and 33 minutes. That is very impressive. I stopped the test when the flashlight started blinking the low voltage warning of 2.80vdc. I believe but have no conclusive proof that the supplied Sofirn battery is actually a Samsung 30Q battery. I would get identical lux readings when comparing both batteries in the flashlight. I am not taking the battery apart to find out for certain about its manufacture. I am scared of lithium ion batteries.
Now let's talk changing the mode group. It took me more than a few tries to master 3 fast clicks to change from group 1 to group 2 and back. I was either too fast or slow. Once mastered it is very easy to change mode groups. The moonlight mode is just great for getting around the house at night without disturbing your significant other. The tint of my flashlight is neutral with just a tad to the cool side. I recommend this flashlight to anyone wanting to buy a bright and durable C8 style flashlight.
:wave:
