Obviously Convoy lights in general are very popular. However, of all the Convoy lights the BD series are newer and less known. I have seen some posts in different areas about them (also can be found under the “Dipper” name), but no full reviews. So I asked Gearbest to send me a copy to do a review on.
Fit and Finish
First of all, this flashlight looks like if an S3 and an S8 had a lovechild (see the picture of it with my S8), but since the S3 and S8 are cousins it had a birth defect that allows it to charge batteries inside the light. I was honestly expecting the quality to be a bit below what we expect from Convoy, but it isn’t at all. No, it isn’t the super-matte finish of the new C8, but it isn’t the cheap shiny finish either. It feels great in the hand.
The bezel and button are stainless steel, as is the clip. It is an integrated shelf design, and the reflector is OP. There is no driver retaining ring, it is press-fit. This would normally be a bad thing, but in this case the battery tube is not part of the driver circuit, the power is carried through the battery carrier. The tailcap unscrews normally but the battery carrier comes out with it. The battery carrier itself is plastic, with threads that screw into the tailcap. It also serves as the “retaining ring” for the switch/charger board in the tail. The charging circuit is completely separate from the driver.
I have two gripes: The clip isn’t great. As you can see it’s a wire design that is solid out of the box, but I’m not sure if I can trust it to hold it’s shape. However, in the pictures you can see I put a solarforce clip on it that actually seems to work quite well. The other gripe is this: the battery goes in the “wrong” way. Meaning, positive towards the tail. It’s not really a problem, but I think they should have labelled it better. It is marked inside the carrier, but it’s black plastic and hard to see (maybe a sticker would have been better?). Also adding to the confusion, there is still a spring on the rear, so the positive end goes on the spring. The driver has reverse polarity protection, but I’m unsure about the charging circuit. On the good side, the battery carrier does fit long protected cells (although they are harder to get back out than smaller cells).
Operation
This is a 5-mode driver (L-M-H-Strobe-SOS) with a reverse clicky and memory, so most of you are familiar with the way it operates. It is “only” 1.5amps on high, but it was much brighter than I was expecting. I’m used to always having at least 3amps, so the brightness for 1.5amps was very nice. My sample has the 4C tint, which is in almost perfect neutral white.
The specialness is hidden in the tail. The light comes with USB charger and micro-USB cable (just like for a cell-phone) and a little do-hickey that clips on to the metal button to charge the battery. You don’t even have to open any covers or anything to charge. Very Cool. The downside to this system is that you need to be careful to not lose the little adapter. While charging, a red light can be seen on the tail, and it turns green when charging is “complete”. I tested it using a protected Samsung 30B. On mine, the green light turned on at 4.15v. I then waited an hour and it was at 4.2v, waited another 2hours and it was still at 4.2v exactly, so it appears this is a reliable charger.
Also, the light can be used while charging. The adapter that clips on the tail has a pass-through to operate the switch. I think that makes this perfect for biking. You could have the light attached to a USB power bank while riding for extra long run-times. I did a little test to demonstrate. I put in a battery at 3.82v, attached the charger, and turned the light on medium. I left it running for 30min, then checked the voltage. The voltage had gone up to 3.90v, so essentially this could run forever on medium. I tested it again on high this time (battery still at 3.90v). After ten minutes voltage had dropped to 3.85v, after another 20min, it had dropped to 3.75v. The light is actually running off the battery not the charger directly, so on high you’ll eventually run out of juice, but it should extend run-time significantly.
Mod Forecast: Mostly Sunny
Having the charger separate from the driver sounds great, right? Well yes, but remember the driver isn’t normal. It connects to batt- right in the middle and has a contact ring that connects to the battery carrier for batt+. And unfortunately, there isn’t enough room in the pill cavity to stack a new driver. However, it is a 7135 based driver that has a genuine Attiny13A so you can reflash your own modes on the stock driver and there should be enough room to stack 4 more 7135’s for 3amps. This should also work as a host for a triple with some kind of mcpcb spacer.
Conclusion
Pros:
- Typical Convoy quality
- solid construction
- reliable built-in charger
- nice beam pattern
- great tint (4C)
- 1.5amps is perfect for gifts, it will wow them without burning their hands
Cons:
- Stock UI (blinkies)
- Clip isn’t as good as it could be
- battery orientation should be better marked
Final word: Great light overall, perfect for gifts especially.
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Gearbest is offering a coupon code for this light in the different tint offerings.
For 3B, 4C, or 5B tints the price is $21.99 coupon: ConvoyGB
For 1A or 7A tints the price is $20.69 coupon: BD03GB