[Review] Sofirn HS45: NEW Headlamp and right-angle flashlight with active cooling (fan) 3200 lumens and efficient driver!

This is the Sofirn HS45 a new headlamp/right-angle flashlight made by Sofirn; it has a special feature that usually is not seen on headlamps: Active cooling. It also features a constant current boost driver, a "HP50.1"? 6500K LED and comes with the new Sofirn 5500mAh battery!

• Box contents [8th picture]

• Price: The price of this flashlight is currently $47.29 on Sofirn official Aliexpress store and $49.99 on Sofirn official website (non-affiliate links)

• Coupons:

– Aliexpress: HS45004 and ABR3

• Body and build quality

– HS45

– 21700 5500mAh Li-ion cell

– Headband

– Lanyard

– USB-C charging cable

– 2x spare O-rings

– Instructions manual

Colors/Material Options: It's only available in black anodized aluminum.

Material: The HS45 main body is made of 6061 aluminum alloy, the anodizing is very similar to other Sofirn flashlights, seems durable. The bezel is made of stainless-steel.

Optic/Reflector: It has an OP (Orange Peel) reflector.

Active Cooling (fan): The fan does not seem to be capable of cooling the flashlight efficiently on “turbo”, for “high” it seems to handle the heat and make it able for the flashlight to sustain the brightness without dropping for a long time, I tested 20 minutes without visibly dropping brightness. The main problem seems to be that the fan is too small and there is just a tiny amount of aluminum for the heat to go near the LED, like the fan part takes away almost half of the volume of aluminum where the LED and driver could throw the heat into. The fan would be way more useful and efficient if the LED had more mass of metal to dissipate the heat. [9th and 10th picture]

The fan seems to be more useful for cooling down the flashlight when you cycle to a lower mode after using “turbo” or “high” for some time.

The fan can bother you a little if you use it on the headband near your head, but it´s not too loud in my opinion. It has kind of tiny little O-rings to prevent vibrations and louder sound.

Threads: Squared anodized threads.

Clip: You can attach a black stainless-steel clip on the same spaces that the headband is attached, you can only use one at a time. There are 2 positions to attach the clip.

Headband: The headband does not seem to be high quality; it could be better as the flashlight build quality is kind of nice. The headband is kind of common, it attatches to the flashlight by 2 plastic rings.

Magnet: There is a magnet located on the tail cap for attaching it to metal surfaces. I tested that it can’t hold the flashlight sideways on most surfaces, however it holds it upside down.

AUX lights: No AUX lights other than the battery indicator.

Buttons: The main switch is an electronic switch with battery indicator covered by a silicone button.

Bezel: Stainless Steel bezel.

Water Resistance: This flashlight is advertised as being IPX6 water resistance, I take this with a grain of salt, because as you can see with the fan disassembled from the body, the fan is not waterproofed and the hole on the body from where the fan's wires pass through is only covered with hot glue, this doesn't make it water resistant enough in my honest opinion.

Here is a size comparison with 2 other flashlights, [11th Picture]

• Weight and size

Weight: 94.9g (without battery – measured on scale by me)

Size: 125mm (length) x 29.3mm (head diameter) x 27.4mm (tail diameter)

• Battery, runtime, temperature regulation and charging

Battery: This flashlight comes with the new Sofirn 21700 5500mAh Li-ion battery, an improvement from the previous 5000mAh battery! This battery is around 5g heavier than previous versions. [12th picture]

Battery Indicator: The button has LEDs that serve as a battery indicator, changing from green, blinking green, red and blinking red.

Temperature Regulation: On “Turbo” the flashlight heats up pretty fast, even with the fan working, and lasts around 1 minute before dropping brightness. On “high” it can sustain the brightness for a long time, but still heats a lot with time. Be careful, especially on turbo, the flashlight gets really hot. It doesn´t seem to heat at all on other modes.

Charging: The flashlight features USB-C charging on the body, the USB-C port is right below the fan, this makes the flashlight easier to use for camping and outdoor activities, as you can easily recharge it, but also makes it less water resistant. [13th picture]

• Modes, Runtimes, Throw, Candela:

Modes:

(Advertised data)

Throw: The LED has a floody beam but still manages to throw light far, it is advertised by Sofirn it reaches 223m on turbo. I tested and it reaches 100m to 150m easily!

• Emitter, reflector and CRI:

Emitter: On the box it is stated that the LED is a “HP50.1” in 6500K, I assume it is actually a Cree XHP50.3 by the design and being dome-less, but I am not sure. I do not like this trend of Sofirn not stating correctly which LEDs they are using on their flashlights, I don´t know if this HP50.1 LED actually exists, please correct me if I am wrong. The tint is a little green on lower modes, on high and turbo the green is way less visible. It´s not a perfect tint, I would prefer if this light had a 5000K option or even high CRI, but for efficiency this LED is very good. [14th and 15th picture]

Lens: Glass lens with anti-reflexive coating.

Reflector/TIR: It has an OP (Orange Peel) reflector for a floody and uniform beam.

CRI: The Cree XHP50.3 in 6500K has low CRI, around 70 CRI.

• Beamshots Camera settings:

– 24mm lens 2" F4 ISO200

– (The trees at the back are at a distance of around 100m)

1st beamshot [16th Picture]: Turbo (3200 lumens advertised)

2nd beamshot [17th Picture]: High (1500 lumens advertised)

3rd beamshot [18th Picture]: Medium (500 lumens advertised)

*Sorry for the lights on the background

I always try to match what my eyes can see on the beamshots, so camera settings may vary.

• Driver and UI

Driver: It has a boost constant current driver, Sofirn does not state it, but I measured myself the Voltage and current and the LED receives 6V on turbo. Nice to get another efficient driver on a Sofirn flashlight!

UI: The UI is very simple, I made a simple fluxogram to show it. [18th picture]

Low Voltage Warning: Yes, if the voltage is below 2.8V the flashlight turns off.

Reverse Polarity Protection: Yes.

Thermal Regulation: Yes, the active cooling is actually good when the flashlight is off, it helps the flashlight to cool down way faster.

Lockout: Yes, this flashlight has lockout mode. You can press the main button 3 times and it will enter lockout mode, same for unlocking. On lockout mode you can hold the button to access momentary “Eco” mode of 15 lumens.

Turbo: Very bright Turbo mode, 3200 lumens. You can double click the main button to access it. It gets hot very, VERY fast.

Moonlight: Sadly, no real moonlight. The closest this flashlight has is the “Eco” mode of 15 lumens, which is way brighter than what I consider a useful moonlight mode. “Eco” mode is still good for using when you want less brightness.

Blinkies: No blinkies. If you click the main button while the flashlight is locked it will blink 2 times to indicate it´s locked.

• Conclusion:

The flashlight has a lot of good features, but the fan active cooling doesn´t seem to be applied properly, it works but it would probably work a lot better if the LED had more aluminum mass to disspate the heat. Also the water resistance needs improvement, the threads are very well sealed, but the fan part doesn´t seem water resistant at all, even for splashes as the IPX6 says. The fan can make a annoying noise when using the flashlight next to your head, but it´s not really bad. The flashlight is very bright and useful, and has a lot of awesome features like the boost driver, battery indicator and USB-C charging.

• Pros:

– Very bright

– Good quality build

– Efficient Driver

– Battery indicator

• Cons:

– Low water resistance

– Fan part is partially exposed to water

– Fan can be a little loud when using with headband

– Gets hot pretty fast

– Headband does not seem good quality

A special thanks to Sofirn for sending this flashlight for me to review!

*I am not being paid to do this review, everything here is my honest opinion.

Thank you for reading my review <3