Q8+ Hex

Sofirn Q8 Plus Hex rechargeable LED flashlight, 16,000 lumens, 554 ANSI metres. The best just got better! Customer Reviews

I know, it's such a cliché when advertisers say "the best just got better", but what else can you say about this torch? For years Sofirn's Q8 series has defined the state-of-the-art in the "soda-can" class of torches – powerful lights about the size of a can of energy drink. 

The original Q8 was born out of a discussion on one of the biggest torch forums, BudgetLightForum.Com, about building the perfect soda-can flashlight. Since then, Sofirn progressively upgraded the Q8 as new components and software became available, to keep its place at the pinnacle of compact portable lighting. 

And now (tara tara) they've done it again with the Q8+ which delivers 45% more light over a 30% greater distance than its already formidable predecessor, the Q8 Pro. Better yet, they've done it without an increase in size and only a very small bump in price!

To put this power in perspective, a quartz-halogen headlight on a car delivers around 1,200 lumens, so we're talking more than a dozen headlights, on high-beam, in your hand! This feat has been achieved by squeezing six of Cree's benchmark neutral white XHP50B chips and three high-capacity 21700 lithium ion cells in parallel into a waterproof, impact resistant aerospace-grade aluminium tube. 

I called the previous version of the Q8 the "Quad" because it had four LEDs – the latest version has six, so I'm calling it the "Hex", which fits nicely because the power of this thing is just... bewitching! It's a tad too chunky to call it a pocket torch but you can certainly carry it in a jacket pocket or in the cup-holder of your vehicle, to light up anything your headlights can't reach. It sits solidly on its tail to light up a room, or on your bedside table to investigate bumps in the night.

Like its most recent predecessor, the Hex comes with a built-in USB-C charging port, so you can top it up in your car or from any standard USB-A port, and it has Version 2.0 of Andúril's programmable user interface which can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be.

I also stock a diffuser to transform this light into a versatile all-weather lantern, which works particularly well with Andúril's advanced mode to deliver features like a candlelight flicker and a "sunset" function which turns the light off after a pre-set interval of your choice.

It's important to note that all high-lumen torches get hot very quickly at full power, and the Q8+ is no exception. This heat has the potential to damage the electronics in a lesser torch, but the Hex handles this more skilfully than most lights. First, it uses a built-in thermostat to measure internal heat, and it turns itself down (almost imperceptibly) when it reaches a preset temperature which you can adjust. And then, when the Hex has regained its cool, it turns itself back up again to your chosen level!

The use of a thermostat rather than a timer means this torch will run longer at full power if you're holding it out the window of your vehicle on a game-drive or neighbourhood watch patrol, where the air movement will cool it down. And you can program the thermostat to step down sooner, for longer component life, or later, for longer run-times at peak output. 

Other headline features include:

- A choice of "stepped" or "smooth" adjustment of brightness, all the way from "moonlight" (5 lumens) to "turbo" (16,000lm). 

- An 1,800lm "medium" setting delivers 10 hours without dimming, while the 200lm "low" runs for more than a day and "moonlight" is good for more than a month of continuous use.

- Three (optional) industry-standard, unprotected, high-drain rechargeable Li-Ions have a total capacity of 15,000 mAh and an estimated service life of 3-5 years, and are easily replaced when the time comes. 

- A powerbank feature allows you to draw on this energy to charge another device, although you may need to buy a USB-C to USB-C cable if you don't already have one.

- A standard tripod screw-mount means you can attach the torch to a tripod or other accessory like a pistol grip, window clamp or screw-mount camera strap.

- Andúril can give a readout of the exact charge of your batteries, while the multi-colour indicator light in the control button shows their state at a glance and makes it easy to find your torch in the dark (unless you turn it off). 

The Q8+ Hex is 133mm long, 63mm across the head, 54mm across the battery tube and, according to my kitchen scale, weighs 703g with a set of batteries.