Sofirn Q8 Plus Flashlight Review

The Sofirn Q8 Plus flashlight uses three 21700 cells and has six Cree XHP50.2 emitters. It runs Anduril 2 and has an indicating switch, too!

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Official Specs and Features

Here’s a link to the Sofirn Q8 Plus flashlight product page.

Versions

There are two versions of the Sofirn Q8 Plus flashlight, but they differ only in emitter temperature. There are 6500K (seen here) and 5000K. Either can be had with or without cells.

Price

With cells (as seen in this review), the Sofirn Q8 Plus flashlight sells for $94.99. Without cells saves you a bit (specifically $13), but then you have to find cells…

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Short Review

Well, the output from the Sofirn Q8 Plus flashlight is quite fantastic, first of all. I don’t just love 6500K but that’s what Sofirn sent, and I do appreciate the high output numbers. The user interface is great, of course, because Anduril 2 is great! The e-switch is very nice, and USB-C charging works well, too. I’m disappointed we lost the powerbank feature that the Q8 Pro had, though.

Long Review

The Big Table

Sofirn Q8 Plus flashlight
Emitter:	Cree XHP50B (6) (6500K)
Price in USD at publication time:	$94.99
Cell:	3×21700
Runtime Graphs
LVP?	Yes (Or “switches to low”)
Switch Type:	E-Switch
Quiescent Current (mA):	“default switch brightness (low): 0.22 switch brightness high: 2.5 switch LED off: 0.05”
On-Board Charging?	Yes
Charge Port Type:	USB-C
Charge Graph
Power off Charge Port	Yes, all modes (with cells only)
Claimed Lumens (lm)	16000
Measured Lumens (at 30s)	17397 (108.7% of claim)^
Candela per Lumen	4.7
Claimed Throw (m)	554
Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s)	3200lux @ 5.559m = 98888cd
Throw (Calculated) (m)	628.9 (113.5% of claim)^
Claimed CCT	6500
Measured CCT Range (K)	5900-7500 Kelvin
Item provided for review by:	Sofirn
All my Sofirn reviews!

^ Measurement disclaimer:  Testing flashlights is my hobby. I use hobbyist-level equipment for testing, including some I made myself. Try not to get buried in the details of manufacturer specifications versus measurements recorded here; A certain amount of difference (say, 10 or 15%) is perfectly reasonable.

What’s Included

• Sofirn Q8 Plus flashlight
• Spare o-rings (2)
• Charge cable (USB to USB-C)
• Three 5000mAh button top 21700 cells
• Manual

Package and Manual

Check out how Sofirn has upped their box game!

Build Quality and Disassembly

The build of this light is really great.

Nothing at all is going on in this tailcap.

I will say that compared to the Sofirn Q8 Pro (which I reviewed a year ago yesterday!), the build quality of this Sofirn Q8 Plus is much better. That’s not to say the Q8 Pro is bad (it’s not!) but the edges on this Plus version seem to wear better.

There are cooling fins all down the head, both on the head and neck area (around the switch). They’re bigger and maybe deeper than the previous versions of the Q8.

This version did lose the stainless steel bezel that previous versions have.

Have a look at these threads.  These threads are square-cut, anodized, lubed (maybe excessive lube), and quite long.  All in all, this is a good setup.

Inside the Sofirn Q8 Plus, you can see the body as the cell holder, and brass rings for contact on the head side.  We’ll talk more about this later. The body/cell holder has nice beefy springs for the negative terminal. The cells are surrounded by aluminum very snugly.  This seems like it might be just for holding the cells in place (and it is!) but it also serves to move the heat generated from the cells when the light is in high output directly into a fairly good mass of aluminum for heat management.

Size and Comps

Officially 133mm x 63mm (head) x 54mm (body)
Weight: 492g (without cells)

If the flashlight will headstand, I’ll show it here (usually the third photo).  If the flashlight will tailstand, I’ll also show that (usually in the fourth photo).

Here’s the test light with the venerable Convoy S2+.  Mine’s a custom “baked” edition Nichia 219b triple.  A very nice 18650 light.

Also above is the light beside my custom-engraved TorchLAB BOSS 35, an 18350 light.  I reviewed the aluminum version of that light in both 35 and 70 formats.

Retention and Carry

The main means of retaining this light is with the tripod mount on the body/head, opposite the switch.  There is no pouch or pocket clip or lanyard.  A lanyard could be attached via the tripod mount, of course.

Tripod mounts on lights like this are great!

Power and Runtime

Button top cells are required for the BLF Q8 Plus.  You also want high-drain cells.  These cells are in a parallel configuration, so keeping them married is not as important (as if they were in series) but it’s still a good idea to keep them very similar.  That’s better for the cells and safer for you, so just do it.

The kit includes these great 5000mAh 21700 cells, which are perfectly suitable for the Q8 Plus.

As stated above, they’re in a parallel configuration.  That means the driver is expecting 4.2V maximum.  Parallel means that the voltage input is the same voltage as one cell (4.2V max) but the capacity adds together from the for cells.  The included cells are 5000mAh, so when full, the “battery” (cell holder) is really a 15,000mAh battery.

You may have read into what I wrote above and already considered this, but one cell will also work just fine in the Q8 Plus (as seen above)!  You’ll be driving a single cell quite hard doing this, and maybe I’d recommend avoiding Turbo, but the light will certainly work absolutely fine on lower modes this way.  (Any number of cells will work fine, too!)

Now for a few runtimes.  Performance looks good!

Charging

The Sofirn Q8 Plus flashlight has a charge port on the head near the switch.  Sofirn used a USB-C charge port, and the cover is a simple press-in silicone cover.

An appropriate cable is included – USB to USB-C.

Here are a couple of charge graphs.  I tested with USB to USB-C (as intended by Sofirn based on the cable they included.)  I also tested with USB-C to USB-C, and that works a bit better I think.

Powerbank

The Q8 Plus can also be used as a powerbank, according to the manual.

Modes and Currents

Mode	Mode Claimed Output (lm)	Claimed Runtime	Measured Lumens	Tailcap Amps
9	16,000	–	19223 (0s) 17397 (30s)	>18
8 (Highest of Stepped)	–	–	9290 (0s) 8590 (30s)	8.85
7	–	–	4641	4.75
6	–	–	1940	3.81
5	–	–	468	1.05
4	–	–	184	0.41
3	–	–	40	0.10
2 (Lowest of Stepped)	–	–	3.7	11.75mA
1 (Lowest of Ramping)	–	–	0.6	3.32mA

Pulse Width Modulation

We do see PWM on most of the modes here.  I’d only really consider it visible on the very lowest mode.  In all these series photos below, the order is as follows:  Lowest is the lowest when in ramping mode.  Next are all the stepped modes.  Finally (the right-most) is the output when the switch is double-clicked with the light on.

Here you can see a “baseline” – a chart with almost no light hitting the sensor.

Then there’s the Ultrafire WF-602C flashlight, which has some of the worst PWM I’ve seen. It’s so bad that I used a post about it to explain PWM! Here are multiple timescales (10ms, 5ms, 2ms, 1ms, 0.5ms, 0.2ms) to make comparing this “worst” PWM light to the test light easier. That post also explains why I didn’t test the WF-602C at the usual 50us scale.

User Interface and Operation

There’s a single indicating side e-switch on this Sofirn Q8 Plus flashlight.  It’s a responsive and clicky button.  The indicating aspect is quite nice, and also configurable.

Unlike the Sofirn Q8 which has NarsilM, but like the Q8 Pro, this Q8 Plus has the Andúril2 user interface.

In stock configuration, the switch emitters will be green when the light is off.

The switch is configurable, according to the manual.  You will need to be in Advanced user interface to configure the switch!

The light ships with Andúril2!  I love it, I think it’s an improvement over the first iteration(s).  There are some things some users might not love about it, but I think overall it’s much more approachable.  I will note though that the nomenclature might be a bit confusing – the light (all lights with Andúril2) ships in Simple UI.  This is not Muggle Mode.  You may think “well duh” and by now you’ve already seen the blistering runtime on turbo of Simple, so you get it.  But just be aware, don’t hand this light to the uninitiated thinking they won’t set their hand on fire while using Simple UI.  Here is where I’d tell you how to switch to muggle mode.  There is no muggle mode.

Here’s a user interface table!  This table is directly from ToyKeeper’s Andúril2 manual, which you can view here:

http://toykeeper.net/torches/fsm/anduril2/anduril-manual.txt

I am putting this in a table here with ToyKeeper’s permission.  Thanks, TK!  This is so much better than me writing it because it’s more reliable, and I completely trust its accuracy (at least, if I can paste it accurately).  I’m breaking it up a little differently than ToyKeeper did, though I certainly understand why it was done her way originally.

First, the table for Either User Interface.  These actions work whether you’re in Simple or Advanced UI.

State	Action	Result
Off	1C	On (ramp mode, memorized level)
Off	1H	On (ramp mode, floor level)
Off	2C	On (ramp mode, ceiling level)
Off	3C	Battcheck mode
Off	4C	Lockout mode
Off	13H	Factory reset (on some lights)
Off	15+C	Version check
Ramp	1C	Off
Ramp	1H	Ramp (up, with reversing)
Ramp	2H	Ramp (down)
Ramp	3H	Tint ramping (on some lights)
Ramp	3H	Momentary turbo (on lights without tint ramping)
Ramp	4C	Lockout mode
Lockout	1C/1H	Momentary moon (lowest floor)
Lockout	2C/2H	Momentary moon (highest floor, or manual mem level)
Lockout	4C	On (ramp mode, memorized level)
Lockout	4H	On (ramp mode, floor level)
Lockout	5C	On (ramp mode, ceiling level)
Batt check	1C	Off

A table for only Simple User Interface:

State	Action	Result
Off	2H	On (momentary ceiling level)
Off	10H	Disable Simple UI
Ramp	2C	Go to/from ceiling

A table for only Advanced (aka “Full”) User Interface:

State	Action	Result
Off	2H	On (momentary turbo)
Off	3H	Strobe mode (whichever was used last)
Off	5C	Momentary mode
Off	7C	Aux LEDs: Next pattern Switch LEDs: Next option
Off	7H	Aux LEDs: Next color
Off	10C	Enable Simple UI
Off	10H	Simple user interface ramp config menu (1: floor, 2: ceiling, [3: steps])
Ramp	2C	Go to/from ceiling (or turbo if at ceil already)
Ramp	3C	Change ramp style (smooth / stepped)
Ramp	5C	Momentary mode
Ramp	5H	Sunset timer on, and add 5 minutes
Ramp	7H	Ramp config menu (1: floor, 2: ceiling, [3: steps])
Ramp	10C	Turn on manual memory and save current brightness
Ramp	10H	Manual memory config menu (1: off, 2: set timeout)
Lockout	7C	Aux LEDs: Next pattern
Lockout	7H	Aux LEDs: Next color
Lockout	10H	Auto-lock config menu (1: set timeout)
Strobe (any)	1C	Off
Strobe (any)	2C	Next strobe mode
Strobe (any)	3H	Tint ramping (on some lights)
Strobe (any)	5C	Momentary mode (using current strobe)
Candle	1H/2H	Brighter / dimmer
Candle	5H	Sunset timer on, add 5 minutes
Party strobe	1H/2H	Faster / slower
Tactical strobe	1H/2H	Faster / slower
Biking	1H/2H	Brighter / dimmer
Lightning	1H	Interrupt current flash or start new one
Batt check	2C	Next blinky mode (Temp check, Beacon, SOS)
Batt check	7H	Voltage config menu
Temp check	1C	Off
Temp check	2C	Next blinky mode (Beacon, SOS, Batt check)
Temp check	7H	Thermal config menu
Beacon	1C	Off
Beacon	1H	Configure beacon timing
Beacon	2C	Next blinky mode (SOS, Batt check, Temp check)
SOS	1C	Off
SOS	2C	Next blinky mode (Batt check, Temp check, Beacon)
Momentary	Any	On (until button is released)
Momentary	Disconnect power	Exit Momentary mode
Config menus	Hold	Skip current item with no changes
Config menus	Release	Configure current item
Number entry	Click	Add 1 to value for current item

To be completely honest, I’m not entirely sure yet what’s the best way to tell if you’re in Simple user interface or Advanced UI.  Based on what I see here and with the light in hand, I think the fewest-clicks way will be 3 clicks from on (technically “Ramp” in the table, but I think “On” is accurate.)  This action – 3C from Ramp – in Advanced user interface will iterate smooth or stepped.  In Simple UI, this action will do nothing.  There are other ways, though.  For example, double-clicking from the top of the ramp will either do nothing or go to Turbo.  If it does nothing, then you’re in Simple.  If it goes to 11, then you’re in Advanced.  One more reliable way to check between Simple and Advanced is to enter Batt Check (3C from off) then see what 2C does.  In Simple, the light will just turn off.  In Advanced, the light will go to the temperature check.
Another great way to tell, thanks to a reader is to see what the lowest level of ramping is.  Advanced user interface has a quite low low.  Simple user interface has a much higher “lowest level.”

LED and Beam

Sofirn has used six Cree XHP50B emitters in the Q8 Plus.  Mine are 6500K, but there is at least one other option (5000K, I believe).

Each emitter has its own orange peel reflector.

LED Color Report (CRI and CCT)

In all these series photos below, the order is as follows:  Lowest is the lowest when in ramping mode.  Next are all the stepped modes.  Finally (the right-most) is the output when the switch is double-clicked with the light on.

While we do see the CCT creep up as the output increase (which we expect), it does at least start under 6000K. By the highest level, though, it’s around 7500K. That’s very cool. CRI is low, at around 70.

Beamshots

In all these series photos below, the order is as follows:  Lowest is the lowest when in ramping mode.  Next are all the stepped modes.  Finally (the right-most) is the output when the switch is double-clicked with the light on.

These beamshots always have the following settings:  f8, ISO100, 0.3s shutter, and manual 5000K exposure. These photos are taken at floor level, and the beam hits the ceiling around 9 feet away.

Tint vs BLF-348 (KillzoneFlashlights.com 219b version) (affiliate link)

I keep the test flashlight on the left and the BLF-348 reference flashlight on the right.

I compare everything to the KillzoneFlashlights.com 219b BLF-348 because it’s inexpensive and has the best tint!

Conclusion

What I like

• Fantastic (that is: high) output!
• C to C charging works well
• The package includes three high-quality 21700 cells
• 5000K is available
• Runs the versatile Andúril2 user interface
• Has a tripod mount
• Switch brightness can be changed (and it’s too bright by default)

What I don’t like

• Does not function as a powerbank (and this is actually a loss of functionality from the Q8 Pro, for example)

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Notes

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