Thanks for the review. I now have a Convoy C8 on it’s way to my mailbox. 
While waiting impatiently for my Convoy C8s to arrive, I’m wondering how much the LED of these lights can be driven in stock version.
I also ordered AMC7135 350mA Current Regulators (10-pack) together with the two C8s. If I leave the heat sinking set-up of the Convoy C8 as it is, would adding 2 AMC7135s to the driver (3.5 Amps total) be OK?
From my testing, heatsinking is very good. Increasing the current should not be an issue.
You will have to add the chips on the inside of the driver, due to the pill design. The retention ring will probably not handle more chips on the battery side.
Thank You Relic38. :bigsmile:
What’s the highest current possible? Can it handle 3.85 Amps or 4.2 Amps?
On a standard star, 3.8A will reach the point of diminishing returns. On a copper sinkpad star, you could go to 5A.
Hi,
Apparently, Shiningbeam is now carrying the Convoy C8:
http://www.shiningbeam.com/servlet/the-270/****NEW****—Convoy-C8/Detail
It has an XM-L2, and says 2.8 amps on high, and smooth reflector, but it’s more expensive ($31), but then I assume it’ll ship from U.S.
Thanx Relic. Just finished reading the test results posted by Match in his thread. Those copper sinkpads are my next target.
Noctigon and SinkPad seem to perform virtually the same. I do not have my Noctigon ones yet, but reviews of them put them as good or better than SinkPad.
I will be putting an XM-L2 On Noctigon in one of my Convoy C8’s. I just happen to have MT-G2 Nocticons on the way too; can’t wait 
Do all the parts from this lego with the parts of the XinTD C8?
Someone else will have to answer that for certain (I do not have the XinTD), but I believe the reflector of the XinTD is a screw-in type. Also, the pill threads may be different.
I just assembled a Convoy C8 host with an XM-L T4-7C emitter and 8*7135 driver. I love the tint and beam and will use more of that emitter and this excellent host from now on, and I’ve noted the points here about the advantages of using a copper emitter. I have one question about the pill. I noticed the retaining ring is Alu, so a solder bond for ground is out. When I tightened the retaining ring I found it hard to stop the driver from twisting as the ring was tightened and that of course will snap your wires off the emitter. Eventually I was able to arrest the driver’s circular motion by holding it down with the point on a small hole punch and get the retaining ring tight enough to ground it.
Just wondering if there is a better method for dealing with this retaining ring in this model?
I noticed the turning as well, however I doubt you will twist off the wires. There is only about 1/2 turn or so after the driver starts to be pressed down by the ring.
I think the electrical contact is adequate for the ground ring, as long as the ring is tightened down well.
I have not used a 7C tint yet, I might order a couple of those in the future. Seems warm, but might work well.
At the same time I put an XM-L T6-4C into a Convoy M1 host with the same 2.8A driver. Shining them both into the woods at the same time I seemed to see further with the C8 than the M1, but the tint of the T4 made the T6 look very bluish by comparison. It’s probably just me, but the T4 did not look overly yellow to me, and it’s the only one I’ve got experience with.
The C8 will smoke the M1 in throw regardless of emitter tint. You really have picked some great tints there. I might have gone the other way though, 4C in the C8 and 7C in the M1. Just, me I like WW in a flooder, NW in a thrower.
Thanks Relic,
I suspected that what you said about the M1 vs C8 may be true, thanks for confirming it. My choices in what emitters go into what hosts is shamefully arbitrary I must admit. So what drove my decision to put that one into the C8 was subjectively based on recent activities that had me in the woods every night on patrol and swapping out SD cards on IR surveillance cameras: in support of investigations into a cougar that had allegedly attacked someone (you may have seen it on the news as I recall the Toronto Star even joined into the media frenzy regarding this event). Before I would turn my back on the world to swap out the SD cards, I would scan the trees for the presence of a lurking cat. I scanned the trees with a Convoy M2 with a V10+ driver that had gone into single mode, and the tailcap was reading 4.4A. I can’t remember what emitter it had, but it was a T6 of some sort, it may even be that XM-L2 that FT is selling. However, although I got lots of illumination, I recall thinking it was too blue for what I was doing, looking through the vegetation to try and see if anything was lurking. It also got real hot, but in those circumstances, I didn’t need long to search the trees, and then the Spark headlamp was sufficient to travel to the next camera. So maybe that T4 is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but it may be a good candidate for certain purpose built applications such as what I was doing at that time.
I guess you could call it next-mode memory. It has the NANJG style of memory, which records the next mode while on, instead of off.
I usually do not associate that with next-mode memory. To me, next-mode memory will ALWAYS start in the next mode, regardless of the power on or off duration.
Sorry for any confusion there.
That sucks. They come with a NANJG driver. That would be the first time I’ve seen one do that.
Try this:
- Turn the light on for at least five seconds, note the mode it is in.
- Turn it off for five seconds.
- Turn the light back on.
Did the light change modes?
If it did, can you take a pic of the driver (just remove the battery tube, no need to open up the head)? I’d like to know if they have changed the driver.
OK, good, that sounds like normal operation for a NANJG driver. Whew. I thought for a minute Convoy were silently changing drivers.
The NANJG style of mode switching is not as good as the short off cycle method, but I have gotten used to it.
Great review! i was looking for something small for my dad, must be very compact like this!
I guess this is the best pick for the money?
How many ANSI lumens would this be ? 500? at least a guess?
C8 vs M2 vs M2? which one offer most output? thanks.
Thanks to your excellent review I decided to buy the C8 convoy, and I’m very happy with it.
Great quality plus the price is great.
Recently bought an ultrafire C8 T6 with Smooth Reflector for a change and comparison.