New Convoy C8 – Clearly better

LED Flashlights – General Info 18650 Flashlights
268

Wellp, I grex about scratchy tailcaps all the time, just touch them and you can see the flicker in the beam… :stuck_out_tongue:

But some drivers have a hold-up cap (1µF or so) to keep the ’13 alive just long enough to sense a quick tap (and act accordingly). Some people like the no-star-select 105Ds so they can use the stars as solder-pads for additional components like that if needed.

This YN-20-5 driver on my ’98 (and the –3 version others have in some threads here and/or on CPF, forgot where), is incredibly cheap… yet clever. A 3-pin chip provides the brains for the driver. A bunch of parallelled low-ohm resistors limits current to an otherwise DD driver, and like 1 R and 1 C to do the hold-up. Nothing else on the board.

Granted, that cap won’t be an addition to the new C8s or anywhere that you don’t want to touch the hardware, but it’s definitely possible on a non-E-switch driver.

Oh, that’s also used to go from on-time to off-time mode-changes, or verse-vica. Never really played with The Other Mode, so am not quite sure of the difference in practice.

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No purse to speak of, but in my just-as-bad bag, I was carrying (yes, at the same time :stuck_out_tongue: ) a ’501 MOP, a ’98, a 3buk 1-AA light that wrings the last bits of juice and pulp from “dead” AAs (my own firefly mode), and for a while, yes, a C8, allll in addition to my belt-holstered ’502 SMO. Oddly, I used most of them one time or another except the C8. Kinda retarded, and after leaving home the C8 and having taken apart my ’98 and mostly using the ’501 MOP in its stead, I’m finally carrying a little lighter. Does nothing about all the cables, chargers, multi-tool, and the other 19lbs of crap I carry, though.

Point being, there are so many different beams and uses that I got tired of having to compromise. My SMO gives me better throw than a blurred MOP (to alleviate the “Cree Rainbow”, and for a little more spread), but for close-in needs, they’re both too hot, so I’d use my ’98 for a nice even flood. But I absolutely HATE the lumen-loss of zoomies when zoomed, so that’s why I tried carrying the MOP for a little more spread while keeping the lumens.

Def keeping the SMO and the 1-AA light, and would love to retire the rest, or maybe replace them with a floody Match-Mod (60° or 90° TIR). That should get me down to under 1lb of flashlights…

Having some nice modes in the driver(s) would make any candidate light that much EDC-able, though.

Ah, well…

269

Thanks, but I “borrowed” it from Parker. :smiley:

270

Just ordered one using the method described above to get the BLF discount and use PayPal. The transaction was smooth and Simon is quite responsive and patient.
For a non modding kind of guy this light is nearly perfect for a mid-range thrower. Some of its use will be for a bike light and the 50% biking strobe is a stroke of genius.
All this in a package just over $20.00 delivered? We live in amazing times.
Thank you to ToyKeeper, J-Dub74 and Simon.
Ed

271

Simon says no to stacking some extra chips
Offered the discount though, which is nice :slight_smile:

I am holding off, have to get so much reviews done I can’t play with it anyways :smiley:

But this one is Nr 1 on the to buy list do when the urge gets to me an order will be placed :wink:

272

So a C8 with firefly mode? Well that’s the one thing I felt it missed to be a true GP light! Excelent.

Now, I wonder if I could get a variant from Simon with a fixed mode 2 for the UI (no offense to our magnificent ToyKeeper, but I don’t want to use a torch that I need a flowchart to navigate, I already feel lost and in need to check a guide just to adjust the treadmill’s belt at home and that’s only a matter of which of the two screws to turn in what direction :person_facepalming: )

Nice work guys, I’m an engineer and this makes my brain hurt just from looking at it! :confounded:

273

Jack just look at the flowchart to set it up in the modes ypi want and be done with it :wink:

274

So about $20 even with 15% discount for an XPL-HI equipped C8, with AR lens, emitter on copper? Uh, SOLD. Can’t believe some people are wanting more $$$ off… just buy the dang light. If $20 vs $17 kills ya… well… I don’t know what to tell you. Sorry man.

If anyone needs to put things in perspective, head over to CPF and check out their supporting vendors/manufacturers, and when you get tired of paying $80-100 MINIMUM for some of those custom-request lights… maybe then a $3 difference up to $20 for a good GP light will seem like “budget” again.

275

There’s no way to do that with this setup that I’m aware of. I totally understand being intimidated by the UI and it’s description but it really is easier than it looks on paper. I’ve been using the new Convoy (Biscotti) firmware for several days now and I’m very happy with it.

When I ordered my first BLF A6 I was so intimidated by the UI that I didn’t try touching the programming side of it for a month. I just left it in the mode group it shipped in because I was afraid I would mess it up. Once I took a few minutes to read the instructions and try programming it, I found it was much easier than I thought it would be.

Keep in mind you’ll only have to program it once to get the mode group you want.

In your case, with group 2 being your favorite, this is all you have to do:

  1. Turn the light on.
  2. Tap (half-press) the switch 10+ times in quick succession until it stops flashing. After several seconds it will flash once followed by a “flickering”.
  3. Tap it again now during this “flickering” following the single flash. Now it will flash once followed by maybe a 3 second pause then it will flash twice and pause again.
  4. Fully click the switch now during this pause after two flashes.

That’s it. All done. Your light is now set in mode group 2. You can keep it that way forever if you like. Of course once you’ve successfully set your chosen mode you’ll probably find that you want to see what the other groups are like. :slight_smile:

276

Exactly Jack, what J-Dub74 says!
I had the exact same thing with the Kronos set.
But now after setting them up how I like I do not need to enter config mode at all.

277

Someone should find and link Dale’s demo video of bistro. Seeing it actually happen really shows how simple it is and inspires confidence.

278

there are a few lights out there that have a “mode lock”, but as far as I know that is a physical lock, i.e. soldering a bridge after setting a group. so it would either be such a driver or a firmware with only the designated group?

Have been using Biscotti since release now and I never accidentally got into another mode group - so that should be fine for now. Toykeeper did an amazing job here.

279

Good idea PD. It helped me a lot and as Bistro is also written by ToyKeeper there are plenty of similarities.

Here you go:

Dale’s Bistro UI video

280

Hah, very convincing argument :crown:

Thanks, everyone!

281

J-Dub74…is Simon going to release the clear C8 in host form?

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That’s pretty simple.

283

Ish. Not really. The 0.1% mode is generally around a lumen, while a true firefly mode is typically under 0.1 lumens. It’s bright enough I wouldn’t call it a firefly mode and wouldn’t really call it a moon mode either. It’s just a “low low”.

Sorry, I didn’t make a flowchart this time because the UI is so simple it’s hard to put in chart form. The important part is mostly just the table of mode groups.

It’s similar to bistro, but simpler. So, here’s the UI for bistro…

For biscotti, remove the green part. Remove the dotted lines. Remove the middle section going down from “Lvl 1”. Remove all but two menu items (mode group and mode memory, in that order). Then add a table of 12 mode groups. So, in the end, it’s a circle with arrows pointing only one way. Plus a spiral, a very short menu, and a list of mode groups. But after the initial setup it’s basically just a circle (with the option to shortcut back to the first mode at any time with a long press). Because entering config mode requires going around the circle fast enough to break out, and that’s unlikely to happen during regular use.

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And just when I thought I understood it to be simple.

Is there a video?

285

LOL, TK, whachoobeendrinking?

It’s easy. I can do it. If I can do it, it’s gotta be easy, right?

286

Odd I didn’t see this sooner.

The UI appears to be closer to the A6 firmware from what I can tell, except with reverse modes removed and more mode groups?

287

It’s much easier than it looks.

Normal usage:

  • Fully click and release the button to turn the light on or off.
  • Give the button a quick light tap to go to the next mode.

If you have memory turned off (which is default), you can also do this:

  • Do a longer press to go back to the first mode.

That’s all.

If you want to change the configuration, it’s like J-Dub74 described.

  1. Give the button several quick light taps in a row (10+ times) until the light stops turning on.
  2. Wait a moment. The light should blink once, then “buzz”. Then it should blink twice then “buzz”.
  3. Click during the first buzz if you want to change the mode group. Or click during the second buzz to turn memory on or off.
  4. If you told it to change the mode group, it will come on in a special mode where it blinks 12 times very slowly, representing the 12 mode groups. Click after the number you want. For example, to select group 5, wait for it to blink 5 times then turn it off.

For most people, after setting it up the first time you can forget about all the config stuff. Then just treat it as a pretty normal light with your choice of modes.

The defaults (mode group 1, no memory) are probably best on a smaller EDC light. Since the C8 is more of a thrower though, I expect a lot of people will probably want to enable memory, or use a high-to-low mode group, or disable the lowest mode.