Just got the Convoy C8.. Pictures added.

[rikr]

@eebowler

Many people seem to like the convenience of having two groups; one without blinky modes. Yes I agree this is real nice, ( I love my LD 30 driver) however, I completely dislike the level seperations. Low 5, med 50?? high 100. In my opinion, 50 medium is way too high and differs only slightly in visual output compared to high. The level seperation of Low 5, Med 30/35 and high 100% is pretty close to perrfect in my opinion. Again, I must admit that at these prices and quality levels, I will suck it up and purchase a few of these lights :party:

Does anyone else have issues with level seperation or am I one of the very few anal, purist, white-wall hunting, old school flashlight nerds? :face_with_monocle:

I would have to agree that the modes could used to be separated more between med and high.

[rikr]

@blueb8llz

i have one too, and it impressed me as well. quality is very nice and although the c8 is bright, it is still not as bright as the kd c8 and the keygos c8.

I didn’t compare it to those, but I know it won’t be brighter than my UF-980L either but it a very nice light.

[rikr]

@blueb8llz

i have one too, and it impressed me as well. quality is very nice and although the c8 is bright, it is still not as bright as the kd c8 and the keygos c8.

The KE-5 is brighter. I always forget about how awesome they are, if you get a good one…. I had to buy 4 of them to finally get a good one.

[relic38]

@rikr

@eebowler

Many people seem to like the convenience of having two groups; one without blinky modes. Yes I agree this is real nice, ( I love my LD 30 driver) however, I completely dislike the level seperations. Low 5, med 50?? high 100. In my opinion, 50 medium is way too high and differs only slightly in visual output compared to high. The level seperation of Low 5, Med 30/35 and high 100% is pretty close to perrfect in my opinion. Again, I must admit that at these prices and quality levels, I will suck it up and purchase a few of these lights :party:

Does anyone else have issues with level seperation or am I one of the very few anal, purist, white-wall hunting, old school flashlight nerds? :face_with_monocle:

I would have to agree that the modes could used to be separated more between med and high.

I’m a fan of 5, 30, 100. The 50 medium is a little too close to high for me. I’d be OK with a 3% low too.
I need to get into reprogramming my ATTiny based drivers…

[blueb8llz]

funny thing is, i never ever use medium. most of the time, low would be bright enough for the up close work, and high is needed for other stuff. i suppose med can be used, but i dunno, i just dont.

and yea that ke-5 is a winner in my books. and rikr, if you want a warmer tint c8, try that kd c8, it throws even further heheh

[Vectrex]

The 30% medium and the screw-in reflector makes the XinTD still the king of the affordable C8-style lights.

[rikr]

Now I really want the Convoy L2

[BanglaBob]

@eebowler

Does anyone else have issues with level seperation or am I one of the very few anal, purist, white-wall hunting, old school flashlight nerds? :face_with_monocle:

Me too. Like I wrote on my brief description of the Convoy S2, I like everything about it except the level spacing.
Fix that (5 - 30/40 - 100%) and it would be close to perfect

[darkness]

@rikr

…To switch mode group: switch to low mode and wait for 5 seconds. As soon as you notice a quick blink, half press the power switch and mode group is then toggled.

I never would have figured this out on my own, thank you! I went from hating this flashlight (I really dislike the blinking modes) to loving it.

[rikr]

@darkness

@rikr

…To switch mode group: switch to low mode and wait for 5 seconds. As soon as you notice a quick blink, half press the power switch and mode group is then toggled.

I never would have figured this out on my own, thank you! I went from hating this flashlight (I really dislike the blinking modes) to loving it.

That is a really nice feature for such a low priced light.

[Tom_E]

I'm interested in getting the FT C8 as a host but their are these issues:

• Aluminum pill - prefer brass (XinTD), but it will work
• pill has a screw-on cover to hold the driver down - not sure how that works w/Nanjg double sided driver, assuming ok
• OP reflector - very unusual for a C8, I'm sure it kills throw and C8's usually make excellent little throwers
• LED star mount is designed for 16 mm, not 20 mm - again very unusual for a C8
• no SS bezel, like the Keygos KE5 - ashame to have a quality built host but no SS bezel on it, same though as the XinTD
• no AR lens - ok, I'm asking for too much

Upgrades for this host for me would be:

• SMO reflector - this one
• brass pill for 20mm mount star, solderable - this one
• AR lens - this one, though a UCL would be better - don't think the quality of these are that good

The pill and reflector adds about $4.50 - too bad they couldn't just add options/upgrades.

[jacktheclipper]

It seems to me that a SMO reflector is available as an option on this light . ( See the very top of the dropdown menu )

[Tom_E]

@jacktheclipper

It seems to me that a SMO reflector is available as an option on this light . ( See the very top of the dropdown menu )

Yes, but only on the T6 3C tint? Also, not available on the host itself.

[led4power]

AR lenses for C8 from fasttech have very,very thin coat that does almost nothing.

[Bort]

@led4power

AR lenses for C8 from fasttech have very,very thin coat that does almost nothing.

d’oh!
i ordered one, for a c8 type light

[relic38]

@Tom E

I’m interested in getting the FT C8 as a host but their are these issues:

• Aluminum pill - prefer brass (XinTD), but it will work

• pill has a screw-on cover to hold the driver down - not sure how that works w/Nanjg double sided driver, assuming ok

• OP reflector - very unusual for a C8, I’m sure it kills throw and C8’s usually make excellent little throwers

• LED star mount is designed for 16 mm, not 20 mm - again very unusual for a C8

• no SS bezel, like the Keygos KE5 - ashame to have a quality built host but no SS bezel on it, same though as the XinTD

• no AR lens - ok, I’m asking for too much

Upgrades for this host for me would be:

• SMO reflector - this one

• brass pill for 20mm mount star, solderable - this one

• AR lens - this one, though a UCL would be better - don’t think the quality of these are that good

The pill and reflector adds about $4.50 - too bad they couldn’t just add options/upgrades.

You probably have seen my review, here

- The OP reflector probably hurts throw a little, but I got 21kcd which isn’t bad for a C8 with XM-L T6 3C, Edit: mine is a U2 1B, it’s getting hard to keep track these days

- Solderable pill is good, but the retaining ring works perfectly with a NANJG 105C; that’’s what is in it when it comes. If you want to stack chips, put up to four of them on the emitter side of the driver. Also, Aluminum is going to transfer the heat much better, which I think is better than being solderable.

- Of the three C8’s I have, only the brass pill one is 20mm star capable.

- I would like to see it ship with an AR lens too. For under $2, the fix is not too bad.

• Haven’t seen many SS bezel C8 models. Most are black. The KE-5 has quite different styling than the C8. The C8 bezel is too wide for SS IMO.

The Convoy C8 is a great host, IMO. It’s great as-is in fact.
If you are going for a thrower (SMO reflector), you may want to go for the KD C8 instead. I’ve heard good things about it as well and the price is similar (they have XM-L2 versions now as well). Not sure if the pill is brass in it though…

[relic38]

@Tom E

@jacktheclipper

It seems to me that a SMO reflector is available as an option on this light . ( See the very top of the dropdown menu )

Yes, but only on the T6 3C tint? Also, not available on the host itself.

I do think they should add an SMO host option.

[Ubehebe]

I am a big fan of Fasttech and the convoy line, having an s3, m2 and s2. The S3 is a regular EDC for me.

But something seems to be holding back the brightness of the convoy c8. Almost every one of my c8s (or c8 clone like the c10 and ke-5) are ALL brighter than the convoy c8. Did I get a dud? Is it the orange-peel reflector?

And not just slightly brighter. I would say most outshine it by as much as 15%. Really noticeable.

I just got the convoy c8 yesterday, so haven’t really played with it for an extended period, so these are very prelimlinary findings. GREAT build quality, but just not great brightness — so far. Maybe I need to play around with the reflector positioning or something. Hmmmmm.

[Tom_E]

Darn - totally missed your review! Your pics explain it all. For C8's, I got/worked on XinTD's, LightMalls UF C8, TMART C8 w/SS bezel, and a couple of other styles, all had a 20mm star - weird. Now I need to order a couple of these hosts... Couple of weeks away for Nitro's 16mm SinkPAD's, close enough. Yes, the throw is impressive for an OP. I just got 49 kcd measured on a XinTD mod: XM-L2 T6 0D/SinkPAD, 3.8A (3.75A measured on a Samsung INR 2000), so think that's close to top-end for C8 XML's without dedoming.

[relic38]

Great results with a C8 and XM-L2. I just got one today and it is going in an HD 2010.