(NOTE: ~$20USD!)

A heads up on an amazing deal from AliExpress. A pair of flashlights: the Sofrin IF-22A and the IF-19A. These two unusual lights are incredible performers. They’re rated 2200lm and 2000lm respectively and this seems completely legit. They use good quality emitters and come with quite decent lithium cells. I am very impressed (I have both models).

IF-22A (L) and IF-19A (R)​

They are a little odd in form factor because they use TIR reflectors which makes them very compact but also “big headed”. They IF-22A uses a (suppled) 21700 cell (claiming an untested 5000mAh but possible) and the IF-19A runs on its 18350 (850mAh) cell. Both have Type-C charging ports and the 22A will provide 5V@3.5A for charging (no PD, sadly).

The construction is excellent—not with the fit and finish of an OLight or Fenix but very good with nice machining and a decent anodizing. The beam from these things is amazing, very focused spot with enough spill to see the ground, but definitely not a flood. Even the smaller one is a legit searchlight out to at least 200m, possibly longer.

The smaller light is quite small indeed and the prodigious flux it produces is startling. The larger one is still no monster, being about the size of a typical single cell 18650 light, possibly a bit shorter and definitely a bit more hand-filling but not in a bad way.

The thing is, for now at least until they sell out, this seller is asking about 20 bucks US each! If you want a really great thrower for a fantastic price, get one (or more) of one or both while they are in stock. Even at the normal price this would be a good value, at this price its way more than that.

EDITED: corrected 16350 to 18350 for the IF-19A

 

No good memory from 16350 batteries, I usually check housing of flashlights to fit Iphone's battery and charger module for longer illumination.

 

No good memory from 16350 batteries, I usually check housing of flashlights to fit Iphone's battery and charger module for longer illumination.

Sorry—16350 is a typo. The cell is an 18350, still though, at 850mAh.

In this case the 18350 was chosen for compactness—and it is very compact. Although it is only 850mAh, it has good current output and so can produce the 2000lm “turbo” mode output. Typically, a small light like this would not be run for a long time between charges, and if run at the lower settings, it actually has pretty good battery life.

​

Also, the battery tube of the light is threaded on both ends, this means you can swap the 18350 tube for an 18650 length version, which will raise the capacity of the cell from 850mAh to 3000mAh or more—at the cost of a longer light, though still compact.

​

 

An update on the Sofirn IF-22A—or more specifically, the 21700 cell supplied with it. If you check the price difference with and without the cell, it‘s right around two bucks. For those two bucks you are supposedly (according to the numbers on the shrink wrap) buying a 5000mAh cell.

Of course I find this dubious, and cells purchased with “cheap” flashlights have a deserved bad reputation for being junk. I finally made an adapter* for the charger I have that does capacity testing but only handles up to 650mm cells.

I was prepared to be underwhelmed but instead I was pleasantly surprised by a 4737mAh reported capacity at 1A discharge rate. It ran just over 5 hours (which, given the 1A load seems like it should be 5Ah, I don‘t yet understand the source of the discrepancy).

Nonetheless, a (4737mAh) cell with an ESR of around 80mΩ for two bucks? I’ll take it! Only time will tell about service life, I hope they do hold up.

*I feel like it’s a whole new world when you’ve got a 3D printer just waiting to print whatever you might need, and you have thousands of easily customized models of every kind of thing a download away—it kind of snuck up on us, but here it is!