I bought an Intl Outdoors EDC a few weeks ago, It arrived with Convoy S3 printed on the side. I got the gold one, and a black empty host to build. The black one is unbranded.
The quality is excellent. As good as any I have seen.
I just ordered an M2 from FastTech. I think the 36 mm spec is a reference to the head diameter. The body tube looks standard 18650. Overall, a similar size to an L2M SolarForce, only much better, I hope.
I really like the selection of Convoy lights, a full range of useable and good looking lights and awesome choice of custom setups. I don’t think there is anything else out there like them at the moment.
If the M2 is as good as the S3, I can see myself adding quite a few more Convoys to the collection.
Vectrex, great work there!
Most seem to be the same host judging by a quick look. Except for L2/E3 comparison. L2 is is much larger, longer and a bit different design…
Cant complain about bang for the buck at fasttech on these lights it seems. Nice hosts, nice drivers and the choice of LEDs, all in one nice and assembled package.
I ordered one of the Convoys just to see for myself what the quality is like.
Hopefully, it’ll pass the BBob test (price/performance), and I’ll be pulling the trigger on some others in their line-up
I think you might be right on the L2 the head seems to be bigger in general. At least they have a great taste in hosts and seem to have picked the right ones. The tech specs on CNQ seems to be more accurate though and one could get the general idea of the construction. The M2 in 3C with the 6x7135=2100 mA is high up on my wishlist. Do we know anything about the driver that they seem to use on all those lights? PWM frequencies on medium/low for example? Is it save to assume this one was used?
If you dont like the driver, just replace it with the type you like.
I believe I will like the ability to change groups though… Not a fan of blinkies, but its nice to make them appear if you want them.
I wonder if XM-L2s will arrive in these lights in the future….
Considering that they seem to have typical “fasttech” components. There could be a high probability that XM-L2 would arrive in these…
I know leds could be be switched out easy. But if they get XM-L2s within a month I would probably regret pulling the trigger.
But its so tempting to just buy one or two of these lights now
If you buy the M2 with everything it is still cheaper than the host at CNC. That is not the case for all the other lights though.
I do see your point since we all would like to buy the perfect light with the perfect parts right away without paying for “spare parts” that we would not use…
2100 and 2800 mA is the maximum output (100%) towards the emitter and medium (50%) and low modes (5%) are in relation to that.
2800 mA means: 2800 mA on high, 1400mA on medium and 140 mA on low
2100 mA means: 2100 mA on high, 1050 mA on medium and 105 mA on low
With this graph from the guy who likes matches, you can roughly estimate the output in Lumen based on a T6 emitter (the U2 curve would be slightly above that - 300 instead of 280 Lumen at 700 mA).
U2-1B is brighter, but T6-3C is a nicer, warmer light color imho.
thanks, i actually prefer the cooler tints so if you say u2 is brighter, than im going with the u2’s.
and if 2800 means the mA on high, why would anyone choose 2100…better cooling and runtimes?
I was about to write something similar, but I have to disagree with you on the M2 the cooling fins on the head are different and so is the tail. Also the dimensions are different, the body tube seems to be thicker compared to the head on the M2, judging from that it is either a 26650-light or the head on the M2 is also smaller what makes it a overall smaller light, but we can’t be sure about these two options because of the fact that the 36mm in the fast-tech description could be the head or the tube’s diameter (the D5 has 46mm head diameter).
Apart from that I really like the M2 and I hope it is a 18650 host, considering the before mentioned, it would be somewhere beetween a P60 host and a C8 size-wise, with a great look for a great price… ohh I’m so tempted… :8)
Now please please fast-tech or convoy do a few hosts in that style with side-clickies!
(though there seem to be problems with the availability of drivers for electronic switches…)
I’ve got to say, from what I’ve seen of the OEM hosts, if that’s what fasttech/convoy is using, and fitting nanjg drivers, all power to them, they seem to be good hosts and good drivers, what’s not to like?
That's why I ordered the M2. It like the aesthetics a lot, because there is no big visual difference in body&head diameter. Taking widely available hosts probably helps keeping the costs down.