Convoy S2+ Clear Review

Convoy S2+ Review

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Hey folks today we will be reviewing the convoy S2+ clear the latest edition to the Convoy S2+ family. The S2+ was sent to me by Gearbest for review so the usual disclaimer and I will leave a purchase link here.
Clear S2+

I know all of us on BLF already have a few S2+ so we already know what to expect. I my self own 3 other S2+ flashlights. This also leads me to saying I will make this review fairly quick and compare apples to apples.

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Build and Size
The new clear Convoy S2+ is amazing it is always awesome to see companies pushing the price to performance boundaries. Price to performance reflects in many different ways not just output! The clear S2+ is built and finished perfect in every way insert up sell here maybe?.
It is better then my older S2+ I am not sure if I just got dud S2+ last time. Not that my old S2+ had any thing wrong with it. These lights are made to a budget and that reflected in some aspects of the light. It still did work and function fine. So this time on the clear S2+ the MCPCB is perfectly flat and the wires are soldered perfect and Convoy even use thicker gauge wire now.

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The old saying is true! You get what you pay for! Even on a budget light but budget lights do stretch your dollar further. The clear S2+ has pulled a rabbit out of the hat for sure.
This new S2+ is clear meaning it is none anodized just like its big brother the clear L6 they both are the same colour clear well technically silver. Genius at work here! All seriousness the S2+ is made out of the same aircraft grade aluminum alloy as other lights on the market but it is just not anodized.

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The Clear S2+ does feature a clear protective coating which will help resist wear and tear some what but it is not as hard wearing as hard anodizing type 3. Overall hard anodizing is nice but not a necessity on most lights. Just keep In mind if you drop any clear light you will scratch the surface. Also when you drop the clear S2+ the protective surface is fairly easy to scratch so I am going to take mine of. I learn my lesson from my L6 I mean who drops an L6 on the ground? This also applies for removing the clip it will scratch the light.

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The clear S2+ is the same as the standard S2+ in design but its a tad stretched out in some spots I will try and get side by side pics. The knurling is the same on both lights. You still get a lanyard hole on the tail cap but you get an upgraded lanyard on the clear S2+.

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The new S2+ features a tail cap light that is blue in color and a metal tail cap switch which is illuminated around the edges. It is awesome! It beats the standard style tail cap for sure. Makes me feel like a bought a Ferrari at a budget price. I took the tail cap apart and the set up is top quality its sealed with O-rings to make it waterproof. It appears to be made of aluminum it is none conductive.
It is not the brightest tail cap light but the area that light is aloud to pass thru is small its more subtle then most other tail cap lights. I really do like the feel of the new tail cap set up it feels really good in the hands. Easy to push but not to easy to accidentally activate the light.

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This new clear S2+ comes with an IPX8 rating to 2 meters under water. First S2+ with an IPX rating? The standard S2+ has O-rings in all the right places to make it fairly water resistant.

Enough blabbering on!

The clear S2+ is the same size as a standard S2+ for some reason my clear edition is just a tad longer. Not really noticeable still fairly small for an 18650 style flashlight.
I compare all new 18650 style flashlight to my S2+ because they are usually the smallest standard style flashlight I own. Not including headlamps. Plus who doesn’t own an S2+?

Clear S2+ size

  • Height: 118mm (4.64inch)
  • Width: 24.1mm (0.94inch)

Standard S2+

  • Height: 116mm
  • Width: 24.1mm

I will add some pics here in the future i forgot to take them.

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Maybe I have got the tail cap tighter on my older S2+ its that close. Seriously I thought I was going mad but I am already here lol.

To add to this upgraded S2+ it comes with AR coated glass as standard. I have added AR coated glass to all my older S2+ for an ever so slight performance boost. Mostly just a placebo effect I think. You also get an SMO reflector which is of decent size this give the S2+ a throw number of 15000cd. No slouch it should be good for around 250 meters of throw in theory. It does get to my 100 meter tree easy.

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Throw numbers

15000cd at 250m

One last thing you can also get a shorty tube for the clear S2+ so you can use this light with a 18350 this makes for an even better EDC option.

Also note the clip is reversible.

Performance and features
The new clear S2+ is amazing Simon done an awesome job getting it to work so well together. The beam profile is perfect. I have seen other companies trying to pull of an SMO reflector and XPLHI in a small light and it doesn’t work so well. I my self have tried this and it ended up mediocre lol.

S2+ left and my BLF A6 with SMO reflector on the right
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So the S2+ is using a XPL-HI teamed with an SMO reflector for extra goodness. The beam pattern is comparable to the Rofis TR20 I also have a BLF A6 with an SMO reflector and de-domed XPL so we will get some good beam shots.

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The S2+ is now using a Cree XPL-HI on a copper MCPCB for extra performance gains. I know i already said this lol the MCPCB is good quality and fairly thick and is 16mm in diameter. I am not sure if its direct thermal path but I have not tested the board yet. My version is the V2-1A so its a cold white tint but still looks good the XPL-HI are not to cold in a CW tint like a XPG2.

You do have a choice of different tints raining from 4000k-6500k so the choice is yours.

  • XPL-HI V2-1A 6500-7000K
  • XPL- HI U6-3A 5000-5200K
  • XPL-HI U6-4C 4200-4500K

How many other lights give you 3 tint options? For reference the V2-1A should give the best output performance its the top bin LED. I did test the S2+ for output it goes good it managed to get 986 lumens. I am using the 8 times 7135 so that sounds about right I guess. Close enough to 1000 lumens for me its a technical pass.

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The driver in the clear S2+ has stayed the same its a 7135 based constant current driver. It is marked Convoy on the back so its not a Nanjg driver but still uses the 2 mode group select. My older S2+ drivers are marked 105D so I would assume they where Nanjg but I could be wrong. One upgrade given to this driver is a larger spring which I think is good the spring looks gold plated.

  • 17mm driver
  • 16mm MCPCB

The driver has the usual Nangj/AMC7135 features.

  • Low voltage protection
  • Reverse polarity protection
  • Memory mode function

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It would be awesome to see the Biscotti upgrade makes its way to the clear S2+. I am sure if you ask Simon he could make you one with the Biscotti firmware. I want to add I done spring bypass to the front and back springs and I saw no performance increase from this mod at all.

Left S2+ and Right is my BLF A6 With some quick soldering you could change the tail cap colour easily!
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Output numbers and modes

Two mode selects on this driver
Group 1 (output estimate)

  • Low: 50 lumens
  • Medium: 400 lumens
  • High: 1000 lumens

Group 2

  • Low
  • Medium
  • High
  • Strobe
  • SOS

You do also have option for how many 7135 chips you want in your driver if you do not want a 1000 lumens light and want a longer run time. You can choose less 7135s and you will get better run times plus it will stay cooler for longer. This also work the other way around you can stack more 7135 chips and get monster output of you want. This new S2+ hardly heats up with the 8 7135s so there is room for some extra juice.

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What is included in the package?

  • Convoy S2+ clear
  • Clip ( Even included in the Gearbest package)
  • Plush lanyard (beats the old one)

Overall the new clear S2+ is great I don’t need to tell you because you probably already own one right? It gives you premium features at a price that is super easy to swallow. You get stellar performance and build quality in a neat package. Plus the beam profile is awesome!

Video review is here its been up for about a month now actually 3 weeks so this written review is far behind

All these pics are taken at ISO800

Low mode
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Medium mode
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High mode
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100 meters to the far tree
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70 meters to these trees
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Left S2+ and Right BLF A6
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Left Clear S2+ and Right is a standard S2+
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Left S2+ and Right is Rofis TR20
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One last tail cap pic but its extremely over exposed.
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Thanks for taking the time to read the review i hope you enjoyed it!

Regards Chris

Updated one pic and i forgot the other lol.

Good review, light comparisons in real-life beamshots are always nice to have.

I seem to recall that Biscotti drivers have trouble with lit tailcaps, so I’d advise you to check before getting that setup made specially.

Nice review, got a few from a couple of years back, but thinking about getting a couple of these, like the colour and the lighted tail switch :slight_smile:

Nice review everydaysurvivalgear!

I received my 2nd clear S2+ yesterday, and i really would like to have the lighted tailcap brighter.

So i thought it is just a matter of a resistor change, now its 330Ω, so probably 220Ω will do

What kind of SMT resistors should i use ? 0805, or 1206?
thanks in advance

Hey mate the resistors on the tail cap are 603 in size i have not had a look at the driver to see what is going there mine is soldered in place.

I pulled of the switch cover and took pics without it and its actually fairly bright i am not sure how much more light you can get thru that small space.

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Thanks for the information!

I can’t open it right now, don’t have the right tools at the moment.
Will open it tonight to see if mine has the same resistor values, otherwise it might be bettter just to skip the lighted part on the metal switch and exchange it with the tailswitch assembly from a regular S2+ and get a clear rubber tailcap for that one.

Nice review. Isn’t that XPL-HI smooth reflector combo nice? :+1: I was pleasantly surprised how well it turned out. Simon nailed it once again.
Oh and yes, the new MCPCB is a DTP board. We’re moving towards that across all the Convoy line-up slowly. One little note though. This isn’t the latest in the S2+ line-up…that would be the desert tan version. :wink: :stuck_out_tongue: The clear and desert tan versions are the first in the S2+ family that are all using DTP copper boards and AR glass and pocket clip as standard equipment. :student: Cheers!

Everydaysurvivalgear, i opened up my clear s2+ and they use both the same resistors.

It probably is caused by the black switch i replaced by a metal switch

Where are my manners thanks for the kind words lads!

That is a big difference between both switches. I would like my switch to be brighter also I’ll see what I can figure out.

Has the driver on the clear S2+ with lighted tail cap been modified with a bleeder resistor?

I’d like to know whether the lighted tail cap PCB could be a simple drop-in replacements for other models.

I am not sure because my driver is soldered in place so i did not bother taking it apart.

Some drivers do not need to be modded i think this may be one of them.

Hi EDSG
Thanks for the review
Funny that the S2+ has always escaped me yet it was one of the first lights I put on my must buy list when I first joined but those irresistible BLF group buys in recent times just keep popping up instead.

For as far as i know, the driver with the standard convoy firmware (3/5 mode) that comes with the clear S2+ is the standard unmodified driver. (which is the version you get from BG or GB)

If you order the clear S2+ from Simon’s official convoy store, you won’t get a lighted tailcap, since the lighted tailcap does interfere with the biscotti firmware.
When you want biscotti with a lighted tailcap you need to add a bleeding resistor on the driver.

I can confirm the biscotti driver does not work with a lighted switch

Also, are you sure it is not anodized (just without pigment)? Wouldn’t physical lockout not work if the threads weren’t anodized?

Great review, thankyou! A quick question: in the beamshot photo titled “Left Clear S2+ and Right is a standard S2+”, is the right hand side light fitted with a XM-L2? Or are they both with XP-L LEDs?

Necro-bumping another great S2+ review: Thank you!

(just bought an SST40 5K 12-group 5000mA)