IF23 Disco

Sofirn IF23 Disco rechargeable LED flashlight. 4,000lm beam + 500lm flood. What loadshedding? Customer reviews

We give all our torches names, so our customers don't have to remember model numbers like "IF23", but the naming of this particular light gave us a bit of a headache.

It's a seriaaas pocket torch with an insanely powerful beam and a crazy bright floodlight on the side. It also has a strong magnet in the tailcap and a full suite of operating modes, so you can use it in countless ways indoors and out, making it the perfect antidote to Eksdom's poison.

The IF23 is crafted to Sofirn's usual bulletproof (and waterproof) standards from military-grade anodised aluminium, stainless steel, toughened mineral glass and polycarbonate, and it has a host of under-the-hood features to serve and protect.

Although it takes a big industry-standard 21700 lithium ion (Li-Ion) rechargeable battery, this torch is still truly pocketable – maybe not in skinny jeans unless you want to be teased, but in any looser garment for sure. It even comes with a clever two-way pocket clip.

So what's our problem? Well, it's simply that the white floodlight also has the ability to ramp through an entire rainbow of coloured light. It's a cute feature, but it makes the torch sound like a gimmick, when it really isn't.

The solution to naming this wonderful torch came from Mrs Torchguy, who instantly decided she wanted one. No, NEEDED one. NOW! For clamping to the fridge during loadshedding, lighting up her work areas even when the power is on, and investigating bumps-in-the-night (believe me, there's no hiding from this beam!)

But when I showed her the rainbow flood she said "Oh, it looks like a disco". Turns out she meant a discotheque (do they even use this word any more?) but I immediately thought of LandRover's classic Discovery, a tough and versatile vehicle, and the IF23 had a name!

As a torch, the Disco produces 4,000 lumens of cool white light from a high-end Cree XHP50B emitter with an ANSI throw of 247 metres, which translates to a real-world range of more than 80 metres. This is A BIG BEAM, a lot like a motorcycle headlight.

As a floodlight, the chip-on-board (COB) array of 20 LEDs on the side of the Disco adds another 500 lumens to the mix – and, yes, you can operate the beam and the flood at the same time if you want to.

Both lights are fully adjustable between "moonlight" levels, for moving about without disturbing anyone, and their blinding "turbo" levels, via a simple single-button interface.

This button has a light that shows the state of the battery while charging and during use, so you're never caught short, while the big 21700 Li-Ion holds up to 5,000mAh of juice giving continuous runtimes on "high" of 2h30 for the main beam and 12h30 for the floodlight. 

The devastating "turbo" settings are even brighter, and hotter, but the torch will turn itself down after a minute or two when the internal temperature reaches 55C, which should give you more than enough time to see why your dogs are barking.

The Disco also has a clever automatic lockout feature, disabling the control button three minutes after it's turned off so it can't be accidentally turned on. A double-click unlocks the torch and returns the light to the last-used setting.

The USB-C charging port not only allows you to charge the battery from any USB-A port (the kind you find on multi-plugs, solar chargers, car dashboards etc.) but also to draw power OFF the torch to charge a cellphone, so it's a powerbank!

And the battery itself is widely available and affordable, so you'll have no difficulty replacing it after 3-5 years when the run-times become noticeably shorter.

There's also a lot going on under the hood – like low-voltage protection, advanced temperature regulation, reverse-polarity protection and more – so it really is the complete package.