10% of 88 verified Sofirn SP36owners don't recommend it — based on real owner comments from Reddit, enthusiast forums, and YouTube.
For balance: 77% recommend it. This page collects the complaints so you know what you're signing up for — read the full owner report for both sides. How we score
“I used my sp36 underwater and killed it. Fortunately they sent me a new one free, but I'm only trusting my dive light underwater”— not_gerg on Reddit
“I had a Sp36 then it disappeared. I suspect it rolled away, since the SP36 is just too round and has no retention options.”— Ishidan01 on Reddit
“I've previously owned the SP40, IF25A and SP36 - and the more I used them the more I wished for stable output, ended up selling them and waiting for something new.”— Ok_Height6959 on Reddit
“I also killed my SP36 submerging under a foot of water for about 20 seconds. It fogged up next day and a few days later it died. Sofirn did replace it free also.”— External_Ad350 on Reddit
“My Sp36 pro just burnt up here in TN after a hot summer, plugged charging cable in last night and it started smoking and shorted out my trucks outlet too smh.”— WhitePantherXP on Reddit
“The SP36 is a budget light. It uses a simple and cheap FET driver, which overheats quickly and forces the flashlight to reduce brightness due to the heat.”— Pristinox on Reddit
“I bought a Sofirn SP36 BLF and assumed it would have a lot of light and good runtime. However, when I tried using it on a walk, I realized that it still heats up quickly and doesn’t cool down easily. My 5000 lumen light turned into a giant, heavy 2000 lumen flashlight.”— PoliticalAd_ on Reddit
“I noticed that some very dim LED's on the power button stay lit when the light is off. Has anyone experienced this? How do I turn it off? Can I even turn it off? This was going to go in my truck, but this seems like a dealbreaking design flaw as it will surely drain the cells”— MyUsernameTX on CandlePowerForums
“I returned it. Decided to go for a simpler flashlight”— wonderZoom on Reddit
Not complaints — practical notes from owners that didn't affect the score.
“My 6k lumen sp36 pro can light up a field but it tops out at around 100-200m of meaningful illumination.”— ArCKAngel365 on Reddit
“I have 2 of the lights listed here the ts22 and sp36 blf. I would recommend the ts22 since the sp36 is 3x larger in size. You really dont need a monster size light for indoors.”— 741Q852A963Z on Reddit
“I can tell you that the color difference between 3500K and 3000K isn't enough for me to use my Sofirn SP36 BLF over the D4SV2. The size difference of the D4SV2 means a lot more to me than that 500K difference.”— PrivatelyPublic2 on Reddit
“that's a characteristic of the SP36, every single one of them that has ever been produced, in every single spec, has this beam profile. If you don't like this artifact, you can go for another multi emitter flashlight with more LEDs”— LuzJoao on Reddit
“With my SP36 with diffuser, it could light up the whole room but i could only use it for few mins because it gets so hot.”— eightgrand on Reddit
“I have an sp36 blf and it would definitely light up that area but you would not be able to sustain it for "activities".”— almondreaper on Reddit
“The SP36 I’m still trying to make my mind up on. It gets very hot very quickly on max.”— tfrisinger on Reddit
“I've had a Sofirn SP36 for about a year now and haven't had any problems with it.”— Scrambley on Reddit