So, here are a few convoy lights i have: A bunch of lights and S21G which i forgot to include into that photo.
Yes, i know, waay too many given the issues that kept happening, but each time i hoped that all the trust flashlight community has for convoy must be justified and i am just unlucky…
I’ll start with good(-ish) stuff:
T4 (Ti, 519A) - perhaps one of my favorite lights altogether. Everything works as it should. It is large enough and has low enough output to not overheat, nothing was broken on arrival and the driver seems to work fine so far.
M21H (XHP70.3HI R9050 3000K) - everything good here. Nice beam pattern, charging works, UI is bad as usual, but at least in stepped mode it is usable. This is one of the better lights from convoy i’ve ever had, even though it is a bit too large for EDC.
S21E (B35AM)… works with no issues. It arrived with torn o-ring and no lube, but that’s it. Not a fan of the light though - too throwy to be EDC, not enough output or throw to be a thrower.
UI is… typical (bad) convoy e-switch UI. Ramping is unusable, but stepped is more or less OK. At least this light is large enough to not overheat.
T3 (Ti 519A, 219B, 2x519A) - again, i like this very much. They work, mostly. No overheating, modes are OK, nothing broken apart from (traditionally) torn o-rings and no lube.
There are, however, issues. On all 4 lights drivers do not work properly - memory can not be enabled/disabled. I’ve had some success switching between 1.2v/3.7v cells, but it is annoying. Also no moonlight on li-ion, have to use ni-mh (with lower max output) to get that.
S2+ (519A), both of them are good. They both work as they should and there were no QC issues.
The light itself, however is far from perfect.
I generally like the design, but flat cutout for the branding totally ruins it for me. Good thing copper version has no such cutout, being pretty much a unique variant of S2+. I also have
18350 tubes for both, removing the cutout, but i do prefer 18650…
The biggest issue with this lights is the driver/UI and its lack of thermal throttling. The lights can not sustain 35%, they heat up too much to hold and make me worry about the cell. And 10% is way too dim for the light this size. 20% would be perfect, but then the group which has 20% does not have 0.1% or 35%. I just can not understand why with all the various groups it was not possible to make one which contains all the modes…
So despite being good this lights are both unsafe and only usable either on 10% (too dim), or 20% with no moonlight. With limitations like this they simply make no sense to use at all, given variety of stuff available nowadays, even at the same price point.
S21G (Ti, SFT40 3000K) - this is a beautiful light, being giant T3. It arrived with wrong driver - 5A linear instead of advertised 8A buck. Later i learned that it was intentional to reduce heat, but… my opinion is - swapping components without immediately changing description in store is unacceptable. As well as releasing and advertising lights which melt gaskets during normal use. Also no thermal throttling and still quite capable of overheating - so unsafe and uncomfortable to use.
No lube and torn o-ring too, as expected. Good thing i have a lot of lights so finding compatible o-rings is not hard.
Still looking for non-convoy driver to put in this one, because the host is absolutely beautiful and deserves better than lousy convoy driver…
Good things end here, nothing else works properly or is usable…
S21D (219B 4500K, buck) - the driver is broken. Modes do not worked properly, except sometimes they decide to work. I’ve tried disassembling and just heating up whole driver to solder melting point - did not help. Still looking for replacement driver here too, as it is a fun rosy flooder…
M26D (GT-FC40 1800K, one 26650, one 26800) - unusable. Tailcap springs are way, way too weak, incapable of supporting weight of large cells. Does not work properly when tailstanding - flickers, etc. Does not charge properly unless it is sitting head down. Need replacement springs/tailcaps. For now i just printed 18650 adapters and use 18650 cells, those are light enough to work fine. Apart from that - anodization quality is awful - looking closely there are numerous visible spots of bare aluminum. Charging port cover in unnecessary huge and falls out easily and there are holes in there so that charging LED located somewhere on driver board can be seen at some angles. Horrible solution which looks lousy and lets dust in while charging. Also convoy e-swich UI…
S11 (GT-FC40 1800K) - again - inadequate spring, does not work properly. Here it also causes modes to switch so it cycles through modes randomly on slightest bump. Also has a lot of sharp edges.
M21B (GT-FC40 4500K) - this one kind of works. It has the worst case of egg yolk i’ve ever seen, so horrible that it is unusable. For someone who is kind of OK using $2 unbranded zoomie in some cases. I am convinced that this is not normal and something is wrong with reflector/gasket/etc. Not much more to say about it as i never used it practically.
Conclusion…
IIRC I partly posted about some of this stuff some time ago already, but… i wanted to share just how bad it is. Most of the stuff i got has issues. Some critical some not. Some can easily be fix, other ones require time and effort.
Based on this experience my conclusion is - convoy lights are poorly made cheap lights, plagued by QC issues, build issues and design flaws. They may be good for people who want something to mess around with, modify, etc, but they are not good at all for someone who simply wants a working light. Manufacturer also does not bother solving long standing well known issues like lack of thermal throttling - apparently stuff sells well enough as is. And yes, i know community loves them, but my experience and opinion is what it is…
And… sorry for enormous rant, but i am so pissed at this point that i am contemplating just ripping emitters out of most of this lights and sending them to recycling. Yes, they can be fixed, but i do not have a lot of time for this (and wasted a good deal of it writing this, but i needed to vent) and all they do, at this point, is reminding me of my stupidity (why did i buy this junk?)…