I got my Convoy S6 in yesterday. I bought the one with the XM-L U2 and 2.8A driver. It is rated at 950 lumens. I pulled it out to play with my SC600 Mk2 figuring they should be pretty close in output and throw. I saw right away that while it seems like nice floody little light it was falling short of the ZL by a fair bit. I need to mention that my SC600 does not put out what it is advertised either. We tested it at 800 OTF which sure as heck is not bad but still 100 lumens shy of where it is supposed to be. That is why I figured they should be close. We put the Convoy on the light box and I was actually surprised at just how off it was. I measured it at 535 OTF after 30 seconds. Next I tested the throw. It got 5200cd at 1 meter. Just to make sure the meter was reading right my brother put his Eagletac TX25C2 on the box and it put out 1080 after 30 seconds which is right where we have tested it a few times. It may vary 20 lumens from test to test but always close. This tells me my Convoy is way over rated. I realize some of the Chinese sellers over rate their lights but I thought that FastTech was a lot closer than this. I am kind of disappointed in these meager numbers.
On a little brighter note, I also received my Solarforce S2200 in from Alan (oRAirwolf) and am pleasantly surprised with it. I put it on the box and it put out 2160 after 30 seconds and got 54.1kcd in throw. A very nice tint also. This is an awesome light. We took it out to play tonight with some very heavy hitters. Brother took his Tom E modded shocker as well as his de-domed super shocker and Vinh modded TN31 and Firefoxes 4. I Took my TK75 and Tom E super shocker (with domes intact). Even with all this muscle shining around it The s2200 still made me smile. Thanks Alan.
I just tested it with my cheapie Harbor Freight MM and the highest I could get was 1.2A on high. I will go down to brothers tomorrow and test it on the Crafstman MM with our custom fat leads. I do not trust my meter but it cant be pulling much more than 2.0 if that. I am a little afraid to take it all apart to check the Led. I tend to mess lights up when I do that. I will let brother try that as well.
You sure it came with the right driver? Since those are built to order they could have thrown in the low current one. Although the 1.2a would be a little high for the 3*.
It's possible to get 535 OTF on those lights. I had the IOS EDC for months (same as Convoy S3) and had a XML U3 on aluminum at 2.8A running in it and got in the mid 500's. That issue turned out to be the plastic alignment piece - it was blocking too much of the output, and after replacing it with a low profile one, I got very close to 800, so the difference was hugh - I was surprised what a difference it made. I built a bunch of EDC's with XML U3's at 2.8A and typically got in the 700's, 1 or 2 I got close to 800 lumens @30 secs. Last S3 I built got 1,142 lumens at 30 secs -- built with XM-L2 U2 1A/Noctigon at 3.5A.
Since this S6 is only an XML U2, you are down a little bit there.
Those Convoy lumens ratings are ridiculous at FT. I wouldn't trust any of them - no better than DX, MF, KD, or AliExpress or eBay. FastTech looks like they are using the emitter ratings from here: http://flashlightwiki.com/Cree, so at 3A the U2 is rated at 975, so they guess or calculate at 950 which of course is unrealistic in a real flashlight for real OTF.
I found that CREE calculator here: http://pct.cree.com/dt/index.html, and yes, the XML U2 shows roughly 900 lumens at 2.8A - pretty ridiculous to use those #'s for spec'ing the output of a flashlight.
Just tested the t/c reading on the craftsman MM but with stock leads and came up with 2.56A so with proper leads it probably would be pretty close to the advertised 2.8. I know it gets pretty warm, pretty fast. We also changed the plastic hold down ring to a lower profile one like Tom suggested and it got about 13 more lumens so it looks like I just got a crappy emitter. No biggie I guess but I will know in the future not to expect any where close to what they claim. I think I may just order an XM-L2 U2 noctigon from IOS and see what that does.
Hhmm, could be a bad reflow of the emitter, or something else, maybe the reflector. I got 2 of those hosts, but before FT had them - the XIAOHI. One I had a XM-L2 T6 3C which I think also got in the 500's at 2.8A, the other host never had time to work on. Boy, got a few EDC hosts here, no time to work on them.
I used to like the S6, but prefer the S4 or S3 now - S3 for a nice flood, S4 is more directed and looks nice, smaller flood. Haven't gotten any the other Convoy EDC's.
The main reason that I picked the S6 was because it is the smaller of the Convoy S series lights. I liked the idea of a smallish pocket rocket. I considered the Roche lights as well but read that they can be picky as to which cells they will work with. I still do not regret this purchase but am a little ok maybe pretty disappointed in it’s out put. Hopefully a different emitter will step it up a little, if not it will still make a good glovebox light for my car. I followed your results on the XIAOHI Tom and was so impressed that I had to have a little tube light for myself. Lol.
I like these tubes with a 4c or warmer emitter tbh, I carry an edc 18650 host with ld25 driver and xm-l 4c daily, its no pocket rocket but its useful enough to me.
I got one of the good xiozhi’s, its been totally untouched and now it gets loaned to friends to determine if they want a little flooder or something more throwy before I build them something……
I bought two s4 hosts, to try a few new idea’s out for a new edc, that bloody xiozhi has now sold both of those hosts before they even got to see an emitter, going to have to sort out my PayPal and order some more now :~
cant complain though, one is for my bosses wife, one is part of an order my stepson’s scout leader has put in, he wants a tube host, cells and charger for himself and two zy-t08’s with cells and chargers for the scout group.
he doesn’t know it, but the zy-t08’s will be coming seriously modded, with Panasonic ncr18650pd cells, dedomed copper xm-l2 u2’s and 4a qlites, I also wont be charging the scout group for them, I dont mind a little charity where scouts are concerned.
That’s a very cool thing you are doing Graham. I am sure his troop will be the envy of their peers for sure. I really do not mind a 500-550 lumen tube light or even a more nuetral tint. Its just that I checket all the boxes for a little pocket rocket and they did not deliver as advertised. It is a nice floody little light for carrying in a jacket pochet and I will use it.
it suprising, but my tubes are all memory low tbh, unless luke or James get hold of them lol.
the zy-t08’s, they actually borrowed my xintd x3 (80cri version), flex asgard, xiozhi and fit 40s (7*xm-l t6 toilet plunger) to assess what would suit them best.
They picked the asgard, I didn’t show them the programmable set up, they just got moon low high profile, so they were looking at a 2.8 - 3 amp xm-l2 cw, I’m kind of pleased because the zy-t08 is a great format of light and I can supply them with holsters to make them easy to carry, plus their parallel configured, I intend to supply them with eight cells and two xtar wp2 ii chargers, plus the scout leaders personal light which will mimic my own edc (xm-l 4c and ld25 driver).
I agree, the first time they use them on a district event may see other groups clamouring for more of the same, I guess till they hear the actual price lol.
Ok - you got me bugged now - back on March 7th, I noted I had my Xiaozhi at 3.15A with an XM-L2 T6 3C doing 782 lumens @30 secs, so I know this light can do it if it got that high on a T6 3C. Of course even though the host body is the same, the Convoy may be different with the LED mount and reflector. I'll have to fix this Xiaoxhi up, maybe take it to 3.5A, and ship it out to you with the 2 other lights, if/when I get them done.... It is a nice EDC... Just let me know what tint. Think I have an AR lens in it also. What I've been doing with these EDC's is getting a copper disc in the pill, then piggybacking the 7135's on the spring side - work ok as long as you use unprotected cells.
+1 - That's real nice to do for the scouts - the T08's are nice. Only issue I've seen/had is the SS bezel barely screws in, and can pop out easy. Now maybe I saw this with the UCL/p lens in it, but for scouts, they may get some abuse. The HD2010 is maybe a better host for abusing, but it's only close to equal in runtime if you can use a 26650, and that's an odd size to charge, but then again it's simpler in that's it's just one cell. Tough call - I'm always flip-flopping between these 2 lights .
My plan was to build one up with a copper mounted dedomed xp-g2 and a qlite driver with a couple of extra 7135’s, I still intend to do this at some point, its an idea inspired by my trustfire t2, despite that being hamstung by an xp-g 4c at 1.7a, its suprisingly throwy for what it is and with the lower output nanjg it has a useful low mode, coupled with an xpower holster from fasttech and an enlan folder its a nice little gentleman’s edc set up that I use when not in my work gear.
The next logical step is one of those 3up xp-g noctigon boards for another t2, but that’s in the future.
Yes - I got that X Power holster - nice fit for these EDC's, and for some reason I don't have the Niwalker - gotta buy a couple in my next FT order. I got 3 HD2010's and 1 T08 - no time to mod them all though...
I had a holster buying blitz a couple of months back, the xpower holsters are great. The niwalker one seems to be real good quality, I use the cell pouch to carry my edc knife on both holsters, I really didn’t like the idea of an 18650 cell sitting in there but a knife fits fine.
Thanks Tom . That sounds great but rather than you having to send your trusty Xiaoxhi (I know you are very fond of this light) I could just send you the Convoy. That way you could compare the hosts and possibly switch parts (if interchangeable) and find the culprit. Really though you don’t have to. I am not trying to pile more work on your already overloaded mod list. Lol. As for the the cells needing to be unprotected, that isn’t a problem because that’s all I own.
It is a nice EDC... Just let me know what tint. Think I have an AR lens in it also. What I've been doing with these EDC's is getting a copper disc in the pill, then piggybacking the 7135's on the spring side - work ok as long as you use unprotected cells.