Convoy S21D w/ legendary Nichia 219b :) - Review & comparison w/ Nichia 519a, E21a & other lights with Nichia LEDs incl. Emisar D4V2, Convoy S21F. (Summary & measurements on P. 1)

Great review, lots of very useful details. I don’t see the S21D on the AliExpress Convoy store. I’m guessing it should come back eventually. Will there be an option for domed or de-domed, or do you have to explicitly request it?

Thanks. I think it’s just temporary out of stock - maybe getting too popular because it is such a fantastic light for the give-away cost :slight_smile: ? I’ve just PM’ed Simon to confirm.

I do not know if Convoy offers custom-order de-domed version of LED in the past (does anyone know?); I’ve asked him about this also.

Right now, I don’t think Simon offers dedomed.

And if you are asking about dedomed 519a 4500k, which when dedomed becomes 3500k (? anyone correct me as needed), a fantastic alternative is 219b in 3500k form. Convoy doesn’t have 219b 3500k but Emisar does Emisar D4V2 High Power LED Flashlight. It is a LED with beautiful beam color and world class CRI of R9080, the very highest rating possible. The magenta tint of 219b 4500k could be too much (too magenta’ish lol) and at times I much prefer the color of 219b 3500k. More calming golden so to speak, without any trace of undesirable green. In other words, as “perfect” a 3500k LED as could be imho.

Based on the too many :slight_smile: Nichia comparisons that I’ve done, I suspect whether dedomed 519a 4500k (which I don’t have) is “better” than 219b 3500k will likely come down to personal preference.

Doesn’t dedoming also extend throw and cut back a bit on spill, all things being equal with the same optic?

I enjoy tints that lean rosy, but not too much. A bit more towards golden seems more natural, closer to incandescent. But yeah, the green… I absolutely loathe it. Especially a puke green with yellowish overtones. I’d bought a few lights with tints like that in the deep past, the worst being an Olight M2 Warrior. The artifacts in the beam were also atrocious. Olight has surely come a long way from those days!

From Simon: no dedomed offering for now.

Yes - it is personal preference, there’s no right or wrong (well except for some egregious examples like my copy of Thrunite TT2 w/ green hell Cree NW XHP70.2). Some love the 219b 4500k always, I love it for the stunning color rendering, but NOT always because I find the magenta tint not as relaxing as a more golden hue. Like all hobbies, audio, photography, cars, etc., there are choices for any kind of “toy,” and the lucky ones get to experience all the flavors. Each not necessarily better than another, just different.

Personally were I to start a collection of Nichia, this is what I would like to get IMHO/YMMV:
1. Convoy S21D with Nichia 219b 4500k
2a. Emisar D4V2 with Nichia 219b 3500k. Because it has a warmer CCT that any Nichia hobbyist should experience and is a 219b R9080.
2b. Convoy S21D with Nichia 519a 4500k original, NOT dedomed. Because it has a relaxing “golden” hue and doesn’t cause me to over analyze everything I see :slight_smile: . It “feels” most like the incandescent or warm-white LED light bulbs in my house, ie “normal” lighting.

Hey cannga, I got the metal tail switch that you recommended and I love the function of it. Although, I notice the blue light on the switch is getting dimmer, almost like its failing. Is this normal for you also?

I have too many lights with so many different types of accessory lights so I may not notice when something is off, but no I haven’t noticed any such problem. I’ll check later when I’m home.

I agree, no right or wrong — just about fulfilling a preference. I do have a few different “shades of Nichia” in my collection already, from 219b R9050 sw35 sw30 to R9080 sw45, and 219c sw50. I don’t have any E21 or 519a.

I visit the shop site and saw that the light on the tail switch will go lower in volts as the battery drains down.

I put in a fresh battery and the switch got brighter!

Just curious - your 219b sw35 is R9050? The one I got from Emisar seems to be R9080 https://intl-outdoor.com/emisar-d4v2-high-power-led-flashlight.html .

Yeah, just double-checked. Got it slightly wrong. It’s R9050 sw30. Bought a few from “trailhunter” back in 2019.

Per Simon it appears the shortage of S21D is related to availability of the new driver option. Yep new OPTION. Whereas the original S21D has 8A Buck driver, the next batch of S21D will have new 12A FET driver.

The puzzle is that the old 8A Buck driver will also be available after that next batch with 12A FET.

I quoted my temperature observation above because during my comparison with Emisar D4V2 with max thermal limit reset to 55 C, the S21D with 8A Buck driver was one, among the most toasty of all my lights, and two, maintained excellent brightness during the run down from Turbo, much better than D4V2.

It would be interesting to see how the FET version compares. Personally until some reviewer could do a run time comparison, I would be tempted to wait for the Buck driver version because it maintains brightness so well but of course that means you’ll have to wait.

Interesting. I would be curious what the specs are on that buck driver.

Great - built-in battery level indicator. :+1: :slight_smile:
I’ve just looked at the page myself - below 3V the switch draws less current and becomes dimmer.

Great battery indicator indeed. Starting at 4.2V, I can tell with remarkable accuracy, just from the switch, when the batt drops below 4.0V and 3.7V.

will the new driver cost more?

No announcement of any price change. From what I’ve read if anything a FET driver tends to be less expensive than Buck drivers.

The message I seem to be getting from Simon (he likes to answer my complex question with a short phrase :slight_smile: ) is that if you don’t have any problem with the present Buck driver light, don’t worry about changing the driver.

The saga continues - the on again off again availability of Opple Light Master Pro. For what seemed like an eternity the “Pro” version was not available anywhere, but now seems to be on Aliexpress. Waiting for a bigger sale is too painful so I bought it right away.

Fingers crossed that there’s no shenanigans and it’s the Pro and NOT the cheaper Series 2 that they will send me, but this is THE legit official store and it seems the item is already at transport hub so should be ok. If you’d like to get one, just make sure it’s the item on the right side (in the red square), where under “Color” it will say Pro (please don’t ask me why it’s under “Color” lol ). The other way to tell is of course the Pro is more expensive.

If you have multiple Nichia’s, this of course makes the hobby even more fun, but should be educational to check & compare CRI and DUV of all the light bulbs in the house, etc. also. It’s not going to be super accurate like the $600 meter that Simon uses, but like my usual motto for Convoy lights, at 40 bucks I’m not complaining :innocent: .

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3256803116495145.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.0.0.4f2f18026hLcUc