Review: Convoy 365nm UV flashlight with Nichia LED inside

LED Flashlights – General Info 18650 Flashlights
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Review: Convoy 365nm UV flashlight with Nichia LED inside

This light was provided for review by Simon from Shenzhen Convoy Electronics Co., Ltd

The Convoy 365 UV flashlight retails for US $54.21 $35.16 and can be purchased here. 20% off UV flashlight for BLF





Product Description

This flashlight runs on protected or unprotected 18650 battery

Notice that battery is not included

Notice that battery is not included

Notice that battery is not included

LED:Nichia 365UV

Driver:7135*2 one mode

Head diameter :32mm

Body diameter:24.5mm

Length:127mm

Flashlight weight: 81g

Product total weight: 195g

Other accessories: Charger connector, USB to micro USB cable, EU adapter

Protection: Battery reverse protection / Low voltage protection function

I’m guessing the LED is the NCSU276A U365
http://www.nichia.co.jp/en/product/uvled.html#NCSU276A

PROS:

Excellent machining and a smooth unblemished black satin finish.
Knurling feels good in the hand.
Integrated switch-direct-rechargeable
Metal Switch Button
Tail Stands
Comes with EU USB charger (if you live in the EU)
Comes well lubricated
Driver is single mode
The Convoy UV flashlight comes in a black gift box

CONS:
Comes with EU USB charger (if you live in the USA)

Contents of the gift box:
Convoy UV flashlight
Charger connector
USB to micro USB cable
EU charger
Lanyard

Here is a family portrait with the Convoy UV alongside it’s ThorFire BD04 cousin. Unlike it’s ThorFire BD04 cousin and Convoy BD04 brother, the Convoy UV only has a AMC7134*2 single mode driver where they have a AMC7135*4 5%Low-30%Mid-100%High-100%Strobe-100%SOS.

The EU charger can receive 100-210 volts 50/60 HZ input so it will work in the USA if you have a gender bender. Or you can use another USB charger that can put out 5 volts and at least 1000mA.

Lucky for me that I own some EU multistandard NTSC/PAL VCR’s and already have a gender bender handy.

The 18650 battery installs backwards with possitive towards the tail. The Convoy website states that the driver has battery reverse protection / Low voltage protection function. That can be a good thing with this setup.

I can’t get a picture of the innards because either the threads were glued or Lou Ferrigno tightened the head down. I guess it is best since I’m as graceful as a bull in a glass shop.

Here’s a look down the business end where you can see the Nichia UV LED.

The Convoy UV has a nice looking metal button. You can see the charging status LED just below it.

Here you can see the charging status LED is red while it is charging.

Now that the battery is fully charged, the LED is now green.

My wife was nice enough to go to the bank on payday and get me the two larger bills I needed for the next part of the review. I’ll stop yapping now and show you the money.

Here is some US currency in almost total darkness (there are 4 peanut nightlight bulbs on in the ceiling light fixture) with just the light from the Convoy UV. The Nichia puts out some visible light but not a whole lot.

Here is the Intl-Outdoors Royalighting RY-3535P 365nm UV. It put’s out a good amount of visible light. It lights up the strip in the $100 bill so it is putting out 365nm.

I saved the worst for last. Here we have a UltraFire 502B that you’ll find on Ebay or Aliexpress that is always claimed to have a “365nm UV Cree” in it. I believe it is a 395nm - 405nm UV LED. Now look and laugh at the purple nurple explosion coming from this turd. :Sp

I asked my wife if she had any amber jewelry that I could borrow for the review, she said no and asked if I would buy her some for the review. Since you don’t see any amber pictures below, you can guess what my reply was to her after had reminded her that I had just bought her a jewel of a ruby Red Convoy S2+. :smiley:

Here’s a couple of pictures the Convoy UV zoomed that shows the image of the die being projected.

Conclusion:
The Convoy UV is a well built light and a great value for the price. You couldn’t build this light for the price that Simon is asking.

I’ve always thought that Convoy flashlights are a high quality and affordable flashlight made for the working man. The Convoy UV is the first of it’s kind. There is no light out there that is like this. Simon took a quality affordable zoomie, put a high end Nichia 365nm UV LED in it and sells it at a price that is still affordable.

The Convoy UV answers the question of why Simon would quit selling the Convoy S2 with the Chinese 365nm LED .

Now that Simon has came out with the Blue Convoy S2+, other than having the multiple XM-L2 and 7135 options, it would be nice to have a Nichia 365nm and 7135*2 single mode option. If you are reading this Simon, Hint! Hint!

I’m proud to say that I’m a Convoy fanboy. I like my flashlights to be well built, affordable, more Spartan and less blingy. I dream of the day when Simon decides to build a monster of a Convoy XHP70 flashlight that other than, being able to beam the Bat Signal on the clouds, you can brain a zombie with it. Are you reading this Simon? HINT! HINT! I’m sure that some members of the forum will be glad to give you some ideas on the flashlight host and driver design. All you got to do is ask. :slight_smile:

EDIT:

The price of the Nichia UV emitter has dropped considerably. Because of this, Simon has lowered the price of the Convoy BD04 UV accordingly.

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Does the “zoom” slide or does it twist?

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It slide zooms.

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It looks really nice, but $55? Damn! Is this Convoy or Surefire?

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You can get the flashlight for under $30, it’s the emitter that’s expensive. Quality UV isn’t cheap.

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It’s a awesome deal when you consider the cost of the LED 37.90€ (US $42.76 + DHL shipping) and host US $22.67 if you were to make one yourself. You would also need to remove 2 of the 4 AMC7135 chips from the BDO4 driver too.

US$42.76 + US$22.67 = $66.43 + shipping + Your time and labor

Or just buy the Convoy UV from Simon for US $54.21

Like I said, you can’t build it for what Simon is selling it for.

Edit:
Here’s another place that has the Nichia LED cheaper. :open_mouth:

http://www.ledrise.com/product_info.php?info=p3484_Nichia-SMD-LED-UV-NCSU276A-365nm-780mW-365nm—1-9W-Emitter.html
29,61 USD Sub-Total:
29,15 USD Global Parcel Mail, Tracking:
58,76 USD Total:

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Nice review, Jubeldum. Looks like a good deal.

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I would like to see if I can duplicate your results with my light, I will pay shipping if you will mail me the materials you used in the photograph.

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The wife used up all of the materials.

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I bet she did. :smiley:

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Nice review. Thanks

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Simon contacted me and told me to tell you guys that “20% off UV flashlight for BLF”.

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Ooo, thanks Simon!

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Nice review, this flashlight is an incredible deal, the best (affordable) led around in a great quality host for a good price.

The only drawback I find is that the host for this led is too big, I like my flashlights as small as is reasonable. At 700mA this led can be easily build into a smaller host. I have this same led in a tiny tube-style 16340 host, with 3 modes and an hour runtime. It does not have the throw of this zoomie, but if you do not need your UV at the other side of the park that is no problem.

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Throw might be useful if your scanning for scorpions? And some minerals glow nicely.

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I like the zoomie because the UV light can fanned out smoothly over and area where the reflector will have a hot spot with some spill.

As for the size, It’s not too bad. Here’s a picture of it’s ThorFire BD04 cousin next to a Zeusray. It’s also the same length as a S2+ but has a wider head. The host that I used in the review for the Int-Outdoors 365nm UV LED was the crappy counterfeit red S2+ with a Int-Outdoors 20mm AR lens. It was hard to get it at the right angle so it would cover all of the money, where the Convoy UV fanned out and covered the money with ease.

I think a zoomie would be better for amber and scorpion hunting because it can fan out the UV light evenly instead of a concentrated hotspot unless you zoom it.

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Is this good for finding scorpions?

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Other members here have used UV lights on scorpions. This should b e better since it doesn’t put out much visible light like the cheap 395 nm purple lights.

Hunting Scorpions with a UV light!

§corpion! UV pic§ in po§t #20

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Just got this in the mail last week. I tried it on a Canadian $20 and was scratching my head over nothing happening, was it broken? Then I pulled out a American $20 and it worked great. It turns out the newer Canadian Polymer bills don’t have much or anything for the UV light to scan.

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Has anyone found a source for the UV-transmitting/visible light blocking filters that fit as replacements for various standard flashlight lenses?