Ok, So I asked Gearbest to send me this light to review and they were kind enough to send it to me. I really wanted to review it because there isn’t a ton about the light on the forum, and it looks to have really good mod potential.
Convoy X3 LED flashlight:
http://bit.ly/2ob6Lmf
My Youtube Review:
Construction:
The X3 can take 1-26650, 1-18650, 3xAA. However the AAA battery carrier that I received with the light did not work. there was some rattle with it, so I suspect it was a bit too short to make good contact. It also comes with a sleeve for the 18650 with 2x o rings for a good tight seal, and 2x o rings to go over 26650 batteries to stop rattle. The genius of the system is that with the 18650 sleeve in the flashlight there is ample room to store the 26650 o rings. This makes keeping track of them super easy! I was not able to get NCR18650 batteries to work in the light, so it looks like it may only be able to handle shorter unprotected 18650 batteries. it has springs on both ends, annodized threads at the tailcap for lockout, and the driver is held in with a retaining ring. The bezel was easily removed and the lens was a nice thick AR glass lense. The light utilizes the integrated shelf to hold the LED. The Driver is a 8x 7135 driver with the typically convoy 3/5 mode setup. It utilizes the Cree XML-2 led.
Performance:
My ceiling bounce lumens were very similar with both 18650 and 26650
I had to leave off a few modes in order to make this work for some of the 4 and 5 mode lights, but as you can see as far as brightness it falls in the same range as the competition.
This test here is using a Samsung 30Q battery. The X3 performs right about on par with other 18650 lights. Sorry but I don’t have enough 26650 lights in order to make a good comparison test.
Runtimes:
Liito Kala 26650 - 124 Min @ 2.89V
Samsung 30Q - 94 Min @ 2.89
You can also see here that the LVP is accurate and worked appropriately in my tests.
Beam Shots:
the X3 has a very nicely focused beam with a great hotspot. The beam is very clean with no artifacts, and only the tiniest rings at the outer edge of the spill. They did not show up on camera.
My Thoughts:
I don’t have anything bad to say about the light other than the AA battery carrier didn’t work. I’m a huge fan of 26650 lights that come with a sleeve for 18650. It’s a very versatile combination. The fact that the 28650 sleeve leaves a little room for the extra o rings is such a nice touch. The construction is everything you expect of a convoy and everything is smooth and finished nice. It fits into my collection nicely and makes a nice moderate range thrower.
I fully intend to mod this guy with the mountain electronics FET+7135 driver and an XPL-HI. I think that will turn this thing into a beast. It definitely has the mass to handle the heat, and switching from XML-2 to the XPL-HI should really turn this thing into a nice high lumen thrower.
The only disappointment was the lumens. Only coming in around 700 lumens was a little sad. If you look at the results of my other ceiling bounce tests this light is a little outclassed in the lumen department. My convoy C8 - 1160, Xintd C8 (xp-g2) 941, S2 - 828. So I was a little surprised that even the S2 came up with a higher number. Granted those numbers aren’t perfectly calibrated, but it does show that the X3 was the lowest by far.
The price on the X3 at the time of this review is $26. At that price this is a great light. I think it looks much nicer than the C8, and the added capability for 26650 batteries is worth the extra money. Then add yourself about $15 dollars and you can mod this into a really high lumen thrower.
Knowing what I know now, this is a light I would definitely purchase
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