Sofirn IF19 Long Range Flashlight Review

Sofirn released the IF19, a small long range flashlight. It runs one 18350, has a great e-switch and is very pocketable! Read on!

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Official Specs and Features

Here’s a link to the Sofirn IF19 long range flashlight product page.

Versions

Two versions of the Sofirn IF19 long range flashlight are available. There’s black (seen here) as well as silver. Both are available with or without the 18350 cell.

Price

With the 18350 cell, the Sofirn IF19 long range flashlight price is $28.99. The price goes down by $2 by excluding the cell. The 18350 cell is well worth the $2 additional cost, so definitely buy the package.

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Short Review

The Sofirn IF19 long range flashlight is a great iteration of “small but long range” flashlight. I wouldn’t say there are really any surprised to the light, and that’s good. Sofirn continually makes a good product, and at $29, the IF19 is a great value. I didn’t see the output actually hit 2000 lumens. Throw is still excellent regardless, hitting around 90% of the claim. On a light like this, throw is much more important than total output. This is a great package!

Long Review

The Big Table

Sofirn IF19 Long Range Flashlight
Emitter:	Luminus SST-40 (6000K)
Price in USD at publication time:	$26.99
Cell:	1×18350
Runtime Graphs
LVP?	Yes
Switch Type:	E-Switch
Quiescent Current (mA):	?
On-Board Charging?	Yes
Charge Port Type:	USB-C
Charge Graph
Power off Charge Port	with cell: all modes any other way: no modes
Claimed Lumens (lm)	2000
Measured Lumens (at 30s)	1146 (57.3% of claim)^
Candela per Lumen	35.4
Claimed Throw (m)	461
Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s)	1119lux @ 6.159m = 42447cd
Throw (Calculated) (m)	412.1 (89.4% of claim)^
Claimed CCT	6000K
Measured CCT Range (K)	5900-6500 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 IF19 long range flashlight
• Sofirn 850mAh 18350 Cell
• Charge cable (USB to USB-C)
• Spare o-rings (2)
• Lanyard
• Manual etc

Package and Manual

Sofirn has updated their box lately, and the IF19 gets that new package. It’s nice.

 

Build Quality and Disassembly

For the price, and like other lights such as the Sofirn IF22A, the IF19 long range flashlight has superb build quality.  Really, even for more money, this would be a reasonable light.  Nothing is noteworthily bad regarding the build.  In fact, there are many things to really like here!

The head has a nice bit of knurling.  Maybe this is a weird place for knurling since you won’t need to really unscrew the bezel.  But it’ll help with removing the cell tube (or tailcap). I actually really like the knurling here. Here on the head are some cooling fins.  They’re not incredibly deep, but you wouldn’t expect them to be on a tube light.

Both head and tail are removable, freeing the cell tube entirely.  The threads are square-cut on both ends, anodized, properly lubed, and very smooth.

The tailcap is surprisingly bare aside from the flare that helps with tailstanding.

Size and Comps

85.1mm (length) × 40mm (head diameter)
Weight: 75 grams (without battery)

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 on the left is a new feature light!! Laulima Metal Craft sent this Todai in tumbled aluminum for some size comparison photos like the ones above. Laulima has a  bunch of incredible items. I’ve tested one (the Laulima Metal Craft Hoku) (the official site for Hoku is here) that was a Friend Fund Friday review. I was impressed enough by that Hoku that I bought a Laulima Metal Craft Diamond Slim (also in tumbled aluminum) (review is upcoming!) These lights by Laulima have impeccable build quality and not only that, they’re quite configurable. There are some (great, actually) default configurations, but Joshua Dawson (of Laulima Metal Craft) is open to ideas and emitter options and the like. I haven’t reviewed this Todai, but I have to say, it feels absolutely fantastic and I love it thus far. (Notably, I love how warm and eggy those emitters look through the TIR.) 

Retention and Carry

Probably because the Sofirn IF19 long range flashlight is so short, there’s no pocket clip included. Carrying this light that way would be very unwieldy. What is included, though, is a lanyard. The lanyard attaches through this hole in the tailcap. 

And that’s it! The tailcap does not have a magnet, and nothing else is included.

Power and Runtime

The Sofirn IF19 long range flashlight is a single lithium-ion cell light.  The cell tube is 18350-sized, and that’s the cell that ships in the package.

The cell is installed into the Sofirn IF19 flashlight in the usual way – positive end toward the head.

Somewhere up above I said, “more on this later.”  Here’s more on this later.  This cell tube is reversible.  That’s great (or “fine”), actually except for the little cell direction marker.  When reversed, the cell tube also indicates the wrong cell orientation.  It’s not a big deal but does highlight that there are probably better places for this orientation marking. Anyway, since there’s no pocket clip, you probably won’t ever have occasion to reverse the cell tube. But it’s possible. A better place for the battery icon is probably on the tailcap or head.

Below you can see a few runtime tests.

I observed the switch providing a warning of low voltage in all three tests.  In only two tests did the light turn off.

Charging

Built into the Sofirn IF19 long range flashlight is USB-C charging. The charge port is in the head, just opposite the switch.  These two items (switch and charge port cover) are different enough that you’ll not confuse them.

Sofirn includes a charging cable – USB to USB-C.  It’s a surprisingly high-quality cable.  I tested operation with USB-C to USB-C and that works (but looks to just be at 5V).  Still, it works, which is good.

While charging, the indicating switch will be flashing red.  When charging is complete, the switch will turn green.

Modes and Currents

Mode	Mode Claimed Output (lm)	Claimed Runtime	Measured Lumens	Tailcap Amps
Turbo	2000	45m	1146	7.41
High	1000	1h10m	501	2.11
Med	500	1h40m	253	0.80
Low	80	5h30m	44	0.16
Moon	1	200h		(low)

Pulse Width Modulation

We can see PWM on all but the lowest and highest modes.  It’s fast enough to be invisible, though.

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

The Sofirn IF19 long range flashlight is controlled by a single switch.  It’s an e-switch on the side of the head.

This switch also has indicating features – below it’s seen indicating red for low voltage.  Notably, the switch will indicate for 5 seconds after the light is turned on, as follows:

Green: remaining battery power is good
Red: remaining battery power is poor (less than 30%)
Red Flashing: recharge or swap cell immediately.

There’s a surprising amount of travel on this switch.  It’s also quite proud, but seems reliable.

Here’s a UI table!  Note that this user interface is just like the Sofirn SP35, Sofirn SC21, and Sofirn IF22A which I reviewed previously.  Whether Ramping is group 1 or 2 doesn’t really matter, so I’m leaving the UI table as it was for the SP35 and SC21.  Switching between the two is the same, and the indication that groups were switched is the same too…

State	Action	Result
Off	Click	On (Mode Memory)
Off	Hold	Moonlight
On	Hold	Group 1: Mode cycle (Low, Medium, High only) Group 2: Ramp up
Any (except Turbo)	Double Click	Turbo
Turbo or Strobe	Click	Previous state
On	Click	Off
Turbo	Double Click	Moonlight
On	Click 4x	Switch between Group 1 and Group 2
Any	Click 3x	Strobe
Off	Click 4x	Lockout (blinks twice to confirm)
Lockout	Click 4x	Unlock (to mode memory)
Lockout	Click	Main emitter blink 2x to indicate lockout
Lockout	Hold	Momentary Moonlight

Why you’d want to double-click from Turbo to get to Moonlight, I have no idea.

Group 2 (Ramping) is very similar to the above Group 1, except holding the switch will cause the light to ramp up. Loosening then holding the switch again within 1.5s will cause the ramp to switch directions.  So it’s possible to ramp up or down.  Double click still gets Turbo.

LED and Beam

The big deal on the Sofirn IF19 long range flashlight is of course the Luminus SST-40 emitter.  It both has great output and great throw.

Throw from this emitter is aided by the TIR, which is clear and seemingly made for throw emitters.

With the flush bezel, light doesn’t escape when headstanding.

LED Color Report (CRI and CCT)

While the CCT ranges around what you’d probably expect (around 5800-6500), the CRI is a bit lower than I expected, at around 66.

Beamshots

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

• Great deal at under $29.
• Very nice throwy beam profile
• Ramping option if you want it…
• But the stepped group is very smart too
• USB-C charging works great
• PWM is fast enough to be a non-issue
• Good addition to other similar lights, but in a smaller size

What I don’t like

• Ramping is a little bit awkward with ramp speeds

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Notes

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