Convoy S2+

Yeh, if you want one of the most reliable lights out there, get a S2+ with 1-mode driver, simple on/off, at 1.4A, 2.1A, or whatever you want that’s sustainable. Nothing to break, almost.

That's one of the things I love about Simon and everything he offers. I actually wanted that exact same thing but he wasn't willing to do it for me when I asked a few years ago. So I bought hosts and stuff and made my own, put more money in his pocket (which I'm happy to do, honestly), and ended up with something I liked better anyway. Made a second with the SST 365nm in the violet body and gifted that one to a coworker for scorpion finding.

Have a bunch of unprotected. Maybe 50 or so, & only 2-4 protected Ultrafire cells. It was partially the fault of another certain forum I was on years back. :wink:

Well, that & the fact the worst issues I had so far were from protected cells oozing in the charger. Maybe protected is better these days?

I’m interested in the quality of the Ipx8 rating. Ipx7 lights usually die at some point for me.
Some of the Ipx8 ones die as well, usually over time from wet batteries which I try to minimize, but yeah. If the battery is damp, sometimes it still has to go in the light.
It’s embarrassing, but I’ve torture tested a few cells in the wash…luckily no lights yet.
On the plus side, Panasonic unprotected 18650 cells still work after going through the wash.

Pop in a pill, get a driver & you’re on your way?

Why is the S2+ so much better/more popular than the S11?

The S2+ has been around a long time. The S11 is newer. The S2+ is pocketable and has a bazillion different options to customize it. TIRs, reflectors, short tube, pocket clips, easy triple mods. The S11 is a much larger light and I’m sure it does what it does pretty well, but it’s not as interesting.

Take them with a grain of salt. To start with there are really no standardized procedures or equipment for IPx testing and everything is just voluntary. I'll leave it at that, but just know that some products are great and meet their respective requirements and some fall short of them, and some are just marketing bunk that has been regurgitated by copying bullet points or design ideas from others' products without really doing any proper testing at all, or sometimes not understanding the design aspects and missing something important. In our lights, if the correct o-rings are used and things like side switches don't get forgotten about, and if the o-rings are kept in good condition, most lights will stay waterproof to a meaningful degree. Sitting at the bottom of a lake...some survive and some don't.

Chucking an Osram red in it would have provided 15 minutes of good output until dropping to 60% due to it having 2.5 forward voltage. It burns off the extra voltage as heat and drops the battery down to something it can use.

I still have a couple Keeppower protected that fit fine in all of my lights (Convoy or otherwise). The cells can vary a little bit in thickness due to the added wraps, etc., and some brands double wrap them. Tolerances on battery tubes can vary, too. Some time back I had two lights that were underbored by the factory and I ended up buying a cheap 18mm ball hone on Aliexpress for like $4. The same thing from BRM available in the US costs around $27 usually. Worked a treat...chucked it in a drill and used it carefully and before too long just enough metal was removed to make things right. That size is generally used only on hydraulics so sometimes they're sold by that name rather than "ball" or "engine", etc. Just an idea...but that $4 could almost buy you a new battery that fits better.

For this light, does "metal switch" equal "electronic switch" and "rubber switch" = "mechanical switch"?

Yes many options (although not my best choice which would be 1%-20%100%-Strobe), but after trying Anduril I wish the S2+ had this incredibly versatile UI.

I agree. BTW, I see on AE there is also a "Convoy Lighting Store": is this one also run by Simon?

The S2+ is by far the best generalist light you can get, at least in the budget category. It’s small, sturdy, and among the choices of reflectors, emitters and TIRs, you can build yours however you want.

I took my sweet time to purchase my first one because of being averse to hype. Now I have two (one Nichia w/ reflector and one SST20 warm white w/ 30° TIR) and plan on buying at least one more with a LH351D.

That’s disturbingly accurate.

No. Both are mechanical. The usual models have rubber over the button. Some of the older colored models do not. They have a little metal clicky button. The tailcap is slightly different on those and for whatever reason, they tend to not work well (or at all) with protected button-tops.

My S2+ and C8+ lights from Convoy, with rubber on the button and purchased within the last two years, all seem to work well with protected button-tops. Honestly though, I wish I could go back in time and not buy that kind of 18650. The flat-tops sold by Convoy cost a lot less, work at least as well, and should at least theoretically have a more stable connection in the battery compartment.

The thing I never understood is why the range in price for the s2+. The low end is $9.5, the high end is $25. That’s huge.

The other issue is how much extra for the colors. Typically if a light comes in a few different colors, the price is the same. For the s2+, you will pay 60% more for a color other than black. Makes no sense.

[quote]

Porchlight wrote:
Too bad the H1 isn’t regulated. I could have Simon put a red LED in it instead of modding another headlamp myself just to get deep red. Can’t wait for the light to come from his store so I can test it & see if Convoy can survive my use. (I destroy lights)

Chucking an Osram red in it would have provided 15 minutes of good output until dropping to 60% due to it having 2.5 forward voltage. It burns off the extra voltage as heat and drops the battery down to something it can use.[
/quote]

I think Simon has a driver in store for low Vf red Osrams.

Y'know, if you'd like to you can remove the protection circuit and be done with it, just need to rewrap it afterwards. I only have a few protected cells, some that came with lights and a couple that I like to put in if I let someone borrow a light who isn't lithium-savvy. My 18650s are Keepower and they fit fine in my S2 and S2+.

Older S2 body with XML and early driver designs is on the low end...S2+ ranges by emitter and whether it has the metal switch or not (I don't think he's changed pricing based on driver, that I ever noticed anyway). Plus hosts. With the "newer" S2+ models they also have the nicer gift-quality box and a few goodies, which does add to the cost as originally introduced and which aren't included on the lowest price options. Sometimes you might find the same model selling for less at a retailer than you will on Simon's ali site (he wholesales to lots of vendors and I assume quantity pricing breaks are similar to our Western business systems), but if there's a slight premium buying directly from Simon that also includes his great willingness to customize, provide parts and freebies, and ability to answer tech questions about his products. I don't know if tariffs are at play with flashlights right now, or if so whether vendors may be absorbing costs to keep the price points competitive.

Dunno if it accounts for all the difference, but the flashlights-of-color both a) come with the metal clickyswitch vs the rubber-boot switch, and b) come in the fancy presentation box vs the CWC (cheap white cardboard) box.

The $25 S2+ version is an UV flashlight with an expensive emitter, you can’t compare it to the rest. Others in the high range include the battery. Some LEDs are more expensive than others, an XP-L HI is more expensive than an SST20.

You beat me to it, well said. :white_check_mark:

The increased cost covers the overhead of producing those batches of extra colors, and the fact that they may not sell well. I’m sure Simon has TONS of stock of the black, grey, etc. hosts but didn’t have any of the fun colors until they were specifically made. Color matching of anodizing is very easy for black as well, whereas with other parts they must all be done at the same time and more care must be given to ensure that matched color.

Those other lights with all colors costing the same is because they were all produced at the same time and if anything the black versions are simply made a bit more expensive to have price parity with the other models (whereas Simon can give the absolute lowest price for highly stocked items without worrying about being stuck with only funky colors that might not be popular because of that).