1

Hello everyone.

I saw a great deal on a Convoy S2+ from gearbest, so ordered one.

It arrived in a flimsy cardboard tube, with no display box, and some things seem off to my older Convoy S2+ lights, such as the lanyard.

These could be normal changes, just would be great if someone could let me know.

All the best, Conan.

2

All my Convoy lights came in such a white cardboard tube box. Unless you order a gift box version or have access to some special inventory through one of our sellers or Simon himself, I assume they all come in that box?

Which things seem off? The logo?

3

I have received both packaging types in the past: One style is a simple tube box with some plastic(bubble wrap?) on a bare host and at least one complete light. Another is the (white or brown) “premium” or “gift” box with foam inserts. Maybe the latter were some “special inventory” but were not advertised as “gift sets” or anything and the packaging is nothing spectacular, just a typical “retail box” normally found on many slightly more expensive while still affordable items.

A lanyard change is to be expected on a product like the S2+ that remains available for a very long time. IIRC mine have had at least two kinds, the most typical simple black loop which I think is pretty good most of the time, and an adjustable type that isn’t any good IMO. I guess the latter variation was included with a red shorty light. These were all bought between 2014 and 2016, so I’m not updated on the recent changes.

No idea about the pill markings, none of mine had any that I noticed but I never dismantled a couple, and one has a soldered on driver board. I believe all my 6 or so examples were bought from BG and GB and none from Simon Store.

It’s alarming to realize having gone for two(2) years without buying a S2+, gotta rectify this pretty soon. :smiley:

4

Some "special" lights like the color S2+ with the metal tailswitch or the S9 came with the display box, while the "normal" S2+ and T2 came with the cardboard tube and buble wrap.

5

realised pictures will help-

here is the box- https://i.imgur.com/KG1ko5l.jpg[/img]
Imgur

Here is the lanyard-

Here is the bottom button inside-

Here is the top and pill- I was shaky here so apologise-

Thank you all for your help, and sorry they are small, if you click the first link it makes them larger.

6

Yeah, think this is the case (no pun intended).

All my lights with the metal switch, whether from GB or FT, have all been in the nice “gift box”. All those with the rubber buttons, even the pricey UV ones) have been in the generic Cheap White Boxes.

7

Ahh, I see! My mistake then, I thought they all come with the nicer box for some reason, and the ‘convoy’ printed on the pill was something I hadn’t noticed before- used to be 105C or 105D.

I feel better now, even though it wouldn’t of been much that I lost and the flashlight works, just knowing it is genuine is nicer.

Thank you all for your help.

8

The drivers were essentially 105s anyway, right down to the damned blink-on-low thing, but did have Convoy branding on ’em. At least those I looked at.

9

A few years ago, were they 105’s? As I am sure two older S2’s (now lost) had those- I do have memory issues though so could be remembering incorrectly.

10

The nice box would cost more than the light from Simon’s end

11

They were the Ds (no stars, hence the blink-on-low). Same µC, same board/traces, same… everything).

12

The drivers used to be nanjg105c’s, later Simon made the same driver himself with the 7135 chips a bit more to the middle so a retaining ring would fit, later even only if the light was bought from the Convoy store, the driver had new software written by ToyKeeper (biscotti).

13

Convoy actually sent me 105D drivers for Biscotti development, and I calibrated it for those… but the production hardware was something else. FX-12 I think, by some other company. Very similar design, but with different components and pin 5 grounded. And some things didn’t work right.

FWIW, the 105D drivers had the worst 7135 chips I’ve ever used. So I’m glad those aren’t what he’s using now. The older 105C was much better, and the newer FX-12 is mostly better too. But the new drivers seem to randomly have different numbers of capacitors, and the grounded pin is an issue, and I hear people may still be getting the initial bad version sometimes… so I’ve been meaning to find out what’s up with that.

I’m kind of getting off topic though. It’s possible that the Gearbest product isn’t legit. It wouldn’t be the first time Gearbest has sold fake Convoy lights. But from what I hear, they usually have the real thing, I think, so it’s probably fine.

Edit: The “pill” is a piece of brass. It has other stuff inside, or attached to it. Generally a circuit board called a driver, some wires, and a solid metal board with LEDs on top, called the MCPCB (metal core printed circuit board). And some sort of reflector or optic on top, to focus the light, but it’s usually just sandwiched in there without being attached to anything.

14

The first red Convoy S2+ lights with metal switches I bought to put UV-emitters in, came with AK-47A drivers with 3*AMC7135. And with an adjustable lanyard in a nice white box with foam.

15

My ConvoyC8+ from Bangood came in a (white paper bag almost) thin white “cardboard” inside a plastic bag. No Spare bits. No Lanyard. No Nuttin’.
Just the torch. At $34.60 del I was a little disappointed.
Specially when the advertised “Sand” colour I rec.d,
was a Dark chocolate brown and no reply’s to email after first one.

The torches are WELL worth the money, and more. but the packaging sucks.
Although I must admit that. over the yrs I’ve been dealing with these China dealers. the only damage I’ve had on anything. was the nozzle cap on a tube of thermal grease.Yrs ago.
It came in a grey thin plastic bag with NO gas filled packing inside. Just the 2 x tubes.

16

I apologise if I am getting confused, but the new pills are called FX-12 then?

I am quite a newbie when it comes to flashlights/torches (Torch here, as I’m in the UK). It is getting darker earlier and earlier, and I got a dog around a month ago, so looked for my frankenS2± I had a grey one that I broke trying to mod, and a black one that worked but I dropped and scratched up the middle tube quite bad. I took the top end and tailcap from the black one, and used the unscratched grey tube.

Couldn’t find the thing anywhere, and saw gearbest had them on flash sale for silly money-about £9, so ordered from there.

It doesn’t have the firmware you designed, just the standard Lo-Mid-Hi-SOS-Strobe, but I switched off the SOS and strobe by changing the mode- people would probably wonder why someone is having a rave in a Rugby field or Golf course if I kept them on lol.

17

From what i have seen on the recent ones i have :

  • if you order a 3/5 modes S2+ you will get the green pcb with only Convoy written on the spring side. This version can be reprogramed to run Biscotti (also called sometimes "new firmware", if i understand correctly this is the one TK is talking about) but you have to cut the wire that connects the pin 5 to ground on pcb to be bale to reprogram the AtTiny13A mcu and the 7135s may not work well in the lower mode.
  • If you order an S2+ with Biscotti (or "new firmware") already installed you will get the red pcb with FX-12 written on the spring side.
18

@conan, you are mixed up in terminology. I’ll try to explain things a bit using the picture below.

Both items are the internal organs from a Convoy tube shaped flashlight (or torch, if you wish)

On the left you see the short brass pill and the long reflector from a Convoy S2.
This one has a faily long spring mounted on a nanjg AK-47A driver with 3*AMC7135 regulators.
I know this because the are no AMC7135 visible, and there is max of 4 AMC7135 per side.
So the AMC7135 are all mounted on the downside of the driver, inside the pill.
Under the pill you can (barely) see the “wing” of a butterfly shaped ring to center the led.
It’s normally not as visible as here, but this one has already a UV led, mounted on a thicker MCPCB.
Under that you can see the reflector (smooth, in this case).

On the right you see the long brass pill and the short reflector from a Convoy S2+.
It has a nanjg 105d driver with 8*AMC7135 regulators. I you look sharp, you can see some of them.
Insiders recognise this configuration because this model is known for its short (stiff) spring.
This one has still the standard XM-L2 led, mounted on the original thin aluminum PCB (led-board)
Under that you can see the reflector (orange peel, in this case).

The FX-12 you’ve read about, is another (newer) version of a 17mm driver used for this type of flashlight.
The pill’s are the bronze cyilindrical objects with a led-board on one side and a driver on the other side.