[Review] Convoy T2 : AA flashlight (200-400 lumens)

Too bad about the visible PMW. I am wondering what is stopping them to use say 1-2kHz frequency (no need for ultra high freqs, just keep it high enough for it to be not visible flicker), it’s already nearly 2019.

The T2 could been a great AA flashlight but there’s simply too many downsides. Low PWM and no LVP+RBP. The mode changes if you turn on quick also feels just like those $3 fake cree sk68 clones where if you turn it on repeatedly, it starts from brightest>low>strobe.

For those still thinking of getting the T2, get from their Taobao store instead. https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z10.1-c.w4004-16307498356.2.7c0b2cc50oiNEg&id=576076762624

Taobao Description:
(2) Low voltage protection: When the battery voltage is between 2.9 and 3.1V, the flashlight will alarm, showing a weak brightness with 2 flashes per second.
(3) Reverse battery protection: the battery will not light up, but there will be no abnormalities, no need to worry about burning the battery or circuit

It has low voltage protection and reverse battery protection while the one on Aliexpress store doesn’t have them. Pretty disappointing as the Aliexpress store is direct from Convoy. Anyone contacted Simon about this?

Absolutely!
I’ve heard cost as a factor regarding low PWM frequency, but how much could it be?
There’s plenty of budget lights with high PWM freq, I’d love to buy this one but visible PWM is just unacceptable.

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Taobao says it has low voltage protection and reverse battery protection ... who knows if that's true. Might as well be copy/past from an other flashlight or anything like that.

Does anyone have one from Taobao and can verify ? (good pictures from the driver would be enough to see if it's the same)

I don't trust the Taobao description at all. For 1 single reason: it's an AA flashlight, how would it be possible to have a Low voltage warning at 2.9V :)

But I do believe it's made of the best orange noodles!

Hahaha.. ;)

“Orange noodles”…… nice!! :+1:

It must be a survival flashlight…… when the batteries die, you can eat it if your hungry. :wink:

Hmm. If you peel an orange, or other fruit, the peelings kind of resemble noodles, or worms.

Orange peel translated into orange noodles……. heh.

And with a Duracell battery:

Yesterday I did one with a Duracell battery. After I stopped the runtime test because it was so dim compared to before. my phone measured no Lux anymore, but in reality it was still doing about 2 lumens according to my integrating sphere.. I let the light on, and when I checked the light today, it isstill running on 2 lumens. This didnt happen with the Eneloop, A Force and Panasonic for that long... just with the Duracell. And it's still running on 2 lumens, even more than 16 hours later.

So, do I recommend using Duracell?

... oh boy oh boy.. No. I don't :p
For 2-3 duracell battteries you can buy 1 eneloop (at least in the Netherlands) so it makes no sense buying duracells.. and no alkaline in general... especially not for the long run.

Oh yes, i remember purposely saving up and running depleted alkalines in my Xeno E03 lights just for the super low firefly modes. :smiley:

Yep, the good old Xeno E03...

I bought a new version of T2 a month ago. Really nice little light for the price, and very practical. 4 modes (1-10-35-100%) are spaced nicely. No strobe modes. Nichia 219c 4000k is a tad cooler than Zebralight`s H53c Xp-L2 4000k, and CRI seems to be a bit lower, but in general it`s very nice tint. Beam quality/geometry is also nice, I mean it can be used both for close and medium-range tasks. Nice throw for this size. I use it with NiMh. An ideal light for everyday use at your home/garden. I`ve never used my S2+ since I got T2.
P.S.I had Fenix LD10 almost 10 years ago and consider T2 as a happy reincarnation of that beloved little light with then fantastic 100 lumen from one AA (and CRI about 50 I think). So now T2 has about 200Lm on max, and for me this is absolutely enough for light of this size.

Did you check for PWM in all modes?

No, I didn`t.

I got both the older Convoy T2 (XP-G2) and the newer Convoy T2 (Nichia 219C)

The older Convoy T2 has 3 brightness levels + strobe mode (quick double-press).
Slow PWM on non-max brightness level.

The new Convoy T2 has 4 brightness levels only, no strobe mode.

Per my testing (I use "shine light through small fan blades" method), the new Convoy T2:
- when using AA battery, there is No PWM on all brightness levels.
- when using Li-Ion battery, there is No PWM on Lowest and Max brightness level. The middle 2 levels have "very fast" PWM (I have to look very closely at the light shining on the fan blades to detect the "PWM" pattern). Unlike on the older Convoy T2, where the PWM is easily noticeable when on non-max brightness level.

Another thing is that I believe the current is well-regulated for the new Convoy T2:
- when I used a Vapcell P1418A (1.5v Li-Ion AA battery), I measure 1 Amp tailcap current on Max brightness level.

If I use the same Vapcell P1418A 1.5v Li-Ion AA on the older Convoy T2, the protection circuit will trigger, tailcap current is higher than 2+ Amps. (seems like the P1418A battery will trigger shut off if it detects power consumption higher than about 2 Amps for more than a few seconds).

Hmmm... I seem to have missed this light.

I'm a hopeless 1xAA junkie.

A 4000K 219C T2 is now a 'Happy Fall Equinox' gift to myself.

slmjim

Where is a good place to get it? What size is the driver? I wouldn’t mind a spare driver.

Convoy Store at AliExpress, directly from Simon :wink: