Sofirn HS20 Comparison | SFT40 vs XHP50.2

Intro

As most standard headlamps have a single LED, the Sofirn HS20 has two. Those can be independently operated or both turned on at the same time.

There are 2 versions of this headlamp available. One with the main LED as the XHP50.2 and the other with the SFT40.
The second LED in both versions is the Samsung LH351D.

XHP50.2, LH351D | SFT40, LH351D

Here are my measurments:

LED	Lumens	Throw	Estimated range*	cd/lm**
LH351D	1073lm	95m	30m-50m	2,1
SFT40	1534lm	249m	80m-120m	10,1
XHP50.2	1940lm	158m	50m-80m	3,2
LH351D i SFT40	2040lm	X	X	X
LH351D i XHP50.2	2310lm	X	X	X

* – Explanation

The throw/range of a flashlight is defined by the ANSI FL1 standard. It says that a flashlight’s range is how far it will light up a surface to 0.25lux, which is about as bright as full moon.
This most of the time isn’t bright enough to actually see what you’re shining on, so I added in an estiamte to what you can expect the maximum range of the flashlight to be.

** – Candela/lumen ratio explanation

A good way to determine the beam profile of a flashlight is to divide its candela (cd) by the lumens (lm) it produces. In return, we will get the cd/lm ratio. Here’s an approximate scale of what those values mean:

• 0.1 cd/lm: light bulb
• 1-3: flooder
• 5-15: balanced EDC-style beam
• 30: compact thrower
• 100: dedicated thrower
• 500+: extreme thrower
• 10000: laser

Lumens – Time Graph:

Beamshots

Below there are a beamshot comparison and interactive slides that you can swipe with your finger, to compare beams.

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7m:

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25m:

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45m:

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Overall, I think that the best option here is the SFT40 version, seeing as it offers both a wide and a focused beam. The XHP50.2 version has a wide beam in both channels, which looses the advantage of having 2 different light sources, as they both have a pretty similar beam pattern.