Been lurking here a while, I enjoy reading technical discussions and learning about modding despite not having much time to actually do much other than tinker with the odd led upgrade on occasion.
Mostly interested in flashlights from a practical perspective (camping, hiking, bushcraft, car and home use mostly) rather than a collector (although I totally get collectors and could easily go down that rabbit hole given more disposable income).
I guess I’m a bit of a Convoy fan since recently deciding to kit myself with a selection of lights for different purposes. Besides their excellent value for money I love their bare bones approach, simple and generally elegant design as well as their ease of repair/modding.
I love a good interest based forum and have learnt a lot from reading discussions here. I look forward to now being able to at least thank those people who are generous with their knowledge and dipping my toe into the odd discussions here and there.
Ha ha, yes I’m definitely at the edge of a very slippery slope!
I really like the S11, in fact I’m considering getting another as I’ve decided I want something hosting a GT FC40; M3c is also a strong contender (and perhaps more suitable?), I wish it was available in something other than black though.
My S11 has a GT FC40, the tint is very nice!
FYI: A flat top 26650 battery is a little too short for this host/driver combination.
I typically run a 21700 battery with orings in this light.
Welcome to BLF, Halflight. BTW forget your careful planning. You’re plain and simple doomed to enter the rabbit hole. It starts with a calculated “I need this and that”. Soon it will become “I want that too”. At a given point you compose a list of all the thing you bought with a special purpose. Then you think “really?”. Stage four is “Just one more of those …” That’s when you start to think the curve has finally reached its apex. Sorry, but it is NEVER going to be horizontal.
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
A flashaholic is somebody who bought his/her second flashlight.
Does the 21700 battery fit well or does it force the springs too much on the S11?
I like the S11 I always liked its design but not the use of 26650 batteries.
I asked Simon if there is an extension tube for the S11 and he replied to look at the S21B option.
That is the same design but with 21700 battery, the bad thing is that it is narrower less focus is the same as a S21A and mounts smaller drivers than the S11.
You have more possibilities to mount any driver in the future.
Could you confirm if the 21700 fits well in the S11?
The 21700 fits well in the S11 with the GT FC40 driver.
The GT FC40 driver has a post instead of a spring and 65mm batteries barely make contact with the tail spring and the post at the same time.
The Orings Simon sells are 3mm so fitting the 21700 in the tube is a bit of a challenge because a 21mm wide battery with 3mm of Oring around it is 27mm.
I would look for a 2.5mm Oring to avoid this if you plan to switch out batteries fairly often.
Thank you, here speaks a voice of experience; you have perfectly outlined the fate that awaits me. Funny the internal dialogue we use to justify our simple reward mechanisms.
You asked, and I answered this in another thread. Yes they fit. Now I am talking about the standard flat top cell with no protection circuit and no USB recharging. I have used Samsung 50G/S cells as well as the Molicell P42A and P45B cells. Of course the spring is compressed more than with the 26650 cells. But they work fine. I can’t say anything about long term compression of the spring causing it to lose length. But so far I have seen no problems.
My S11 uses an XHP 70.2 with a brass post on the driver end.
BTW, a light coating of something like a Teflon dry lube on those O-Rings that convoy has for adapting the 26650 to 21700 cells makes changing batteries much easier. Just don’t overdo it and let anything you use dry fully before using the O-rings.
Thanks for sharing this information, nice to know the S11 is so versatile when it comes to batteries. Having already got plenty of 18650 batteries and some 26650s it was an easy decision to make, knowing it will also take 21700s eases my reluctancy to buy into yet another battery format (see, I’m already using this to justify torches I previously wouldn’t consider ).
I have a 70.2 in mine too, I did get a 70.3 HI to replace it but now the high CRI versions are surfacing I’m considering a 70.3 GT - I like my S11 as floody as possible.
Acknowledgement is the first step to recovery, apparently.
).