sst-40 vs xpl-hi in C8+

PiercingTheDarkness · 2019-10-30T06:50:57.000Z

[quote=California_Prepper]

kntx:

Or you could slice the dome on the sst40 and increase your throw.

I sliced my SST-40 in my FT03 and only gained 80 meters. Won’t be doing that again.

mns · 2020-04-30T01:16:06.000Z

eggmang:

Yokiamy:

Also remember that all convoy SST40 drivers have thermal management and will never ever give their rated lumen output.
Therefore you have to remove the NTC

If I recall correctly the ‘ramping’ driver that Simon supplies with the SST40 C8+ does not have thermal management. The ‘4-modes’ driver does though :+1:

kevvan:

im gonna buy my first little better flashlight now, and i want a convoy C8+. but i dont know what is best, one with the sst-40 or xpl-hi ?

I have both the “C8 with Biscotti 7135x8 XPL-HI 6500k” and “C8+ with ramping driver and SST40 6500k” and the perceived difference in light output between the two is substantial. The SST40 throws just as far as the XPL-HI does but offers a wider hotspot and more spill. If you do not care for battery life go with the SST40 version. If you prefer better battery life and tighter beam go with the XPL-HI :+1:

just wondering, how comparable is the battery life between the sst40 vs the xpl hi? I ordered the C8+ SST40 5000K and have some samsung 35E 3500mAh batteries for it. Is the battery life reasonable?

PiercingTheDarkness · 2020-04-30T01:18:29.000Z

Which driver are you using?

mns · 2020-04-30T01:30:25.000Z

The 4-mode driver. Hopefully that answers your question. I dont know much about flashlights haha. I ordered that option from banggood.

Sirstinky · 2020-04-30T08:25:31.000Z

35E will give you good runtime. Easily 1 hr. on high mode

PiercingTheDarkness · 2020-04-30T11:30:15.000Z

Sirstinky:

35E will give you good runtime. Easily 1 hr. on high mode

If the driver is 5A then it won’t give 1 hr on Turbo. Well, it might, but not at that Turbo brightness.

Using the 3A biscotti driver with XML2 using a Panasonic 3400mAh battery I got 1 hr 15m until the battery was at something like 3v

BurningPlayd0h · 2020-04-30T23:26:22.000Z

Funtastic:

Sirstinky:

35E will give you good runtime. Easily 1 hr. on high mode

If the driver is 5A then it won’t give 1 hr on Turbo. Well, it might, but not at that Turbo brightness.

Using the 3A biscotti driver with XML2 using a Panasonic 3400mAh battery I got 1 hr 15m until the battery was at something like 3v

High mode on the 4-mode driver is 30% so 2A.

PiercingTheDarkness · 2020-05-01T02:10:10.000Z

BurningPlayd0h:

High mode on the 4-mode driver is 30% so 2A.

It’s only just above 1A for 600 lumens. It’s certainly not ideally spaced levels

High - 600 lumens
Turbo - 1560

That’s a big gap

mns · 2020-05-01T02:21:58.000Z

Funtastic:

BurningPlayd0h:

High mode on the 4-mode driver is 30% so 2A.

It’s only just above 1A for 600 lumens. It’s certainly not ideally spaced levels

High - 600 lumens
Turbo - 1560

That’s a big gap

is it perceived as a big gap though? I thought lumens weren’t really a linear type of relationship in terms of magnitude of lumens and perception of brightness.

PiercingTheDarkness · 2020-05-01T02:27:49.000Z

With the SST40 it appears twice as bright

600 is fine for general use up to 150m

1560 gets 300-350m effective

mns · 2020-05-01T02:31:06.000Z

Funtastic:

With the SST40 it appears twice as bright

600 is fine for general use up to 150m

1560 gets 300-350m effective

oh ya ok, that’s a pretty hefty jump.

sharkman8810 · 2020-05-02T04:38:28.000Z

Uh Oh guys, you got talking about this 4 mode C8+ for the convoy and now I want one. This is the last one I need. I have a C8+ xpl-hi, and I have a 4 mode S2+ that i use as a walk in the park light. I got a FT03 50.2 for the serious throw need, and a Emisar D4V2 on the way for carry. I hear great things about the Sofirn C8’s too……HELP…. I really like the C8 form factor/size.

PiercingTheDarkness · 2020-05-02T04:49:08.000Z

Get a Sofirn C8G but not the C8T/A bad mode spacing with a medium of 400 lumens.

The Convoy C8+ sst40 4 mode is decent but on mine i experienced temp step down at 35 degrees instead of 55. I now remove the resistor so I don’t have to worry about it

eggmang · 2020-05-07T04:27:01.000Z

If you haven’t done so I’d highly recommend the Convoy C8+ with ramping driver. This driver does not have thermal management and both of my ramping C8+ draw a sweet 6.9 amps on the brightest mode. for approx $23USD this light is a champion.

Also, once you get use to the ramping driver firmware it’s actually really cool because for the first two modes you can set whatever brightness you want. I personally didn’t like the 4 mode driver as you cannot turn the memory mode off but it’s up to you.

Get the C8+ from Convoy, the knurling on it is really grippy and in my opinion the C8+ heatsinking ribs look sweet. Go for the desert tan finish for the best grip. Unfortunately my Black C8+ has a bit of a shine to it and is not as grippy in the hand as the desert tan version. My clear finish standard C8’s from Convoy is also shiny and doesn’t grip as well.

Funtastic:

The Convoy C8+ sst40 4 mode is decent but on mine i experienced temp step down at 35 degrees instead of 55. I now remove the resistor so I don’t have to worry about it

Interesting, I would assume that most users wouldn’t see this step down with a C8+ body given it’s quite good at drawing heat from the emitter PCB and would keep it at a comfortable temperature for a while but I guess the heat transfer may not be as fast as one would hope.

Thanks for the heads up about removing the resistor to delete the thermal step down :+1:

beam0 · 2020-05-09T21:44:15.000Z

eggmang:

If you haven’t done so I’d highly recommend the Convoy C8+ with ramping driver. This driver does not have thermal management and both of my ramping C8+ draw a sweet 6.9 amps on the brightest mode. for approx $23USD this light is a champion.

Also, once you get use to the ramping driver firmware it’s actually really cool because for the first two modes you can set whatever brightness you want. I personally didn’t like the 4 mode driver as you cannot turn the memory mode off but it’s up to you.

Get the C8+ from Convoy, the knurling on it is really grippy and in my opinion the C8+ heatsinking ribs look sweet. Go for the desert tan finish for the best grip. Unfortunately my Black C8+ has a bit of a shine to it and is not as grippy in the hand as the desert tan version. My clear finish standard C8’s from Convoy is also shiny and doesn’t grip as well.

Thanks for this detailed info! A few things you mentioned sway me to buy this light now in sand color.

“The knurling on it is really grippy”
“Go for the desert tan finish for the best grip”
“Black C8+ has a bit of a shine to it and is not as grippy in the hand as the desert tan version”

But it looks like the C8+ Desert Sand is only available with 12-Group driver, also there’s no SST40 option for the sand color, only for black version.
Probably could order it custom from Simon/Convoy shop.

There is a tan host so I may just build it myself, I already have a few of the ramping driver inbound from BG, I’m hoping they’re 17mm (the listing didn’t specify, but the photos show a 17mm).

From what I can tell it’s not really a “Ramping” UI?
Looks like the ramping is only used in the setup menu to set the desired levels for the 1st and 2nd modes.

Things I like about this driver:

Up to 8A output
No Temp control
No memory

eggmang · 2020-05-22T00:51:20.000Z

beam0:

eggmang:

If you haven’t done so I’d highly recommend the Convoy C8+ with ramping driver. This driver does not have thermal management and both of my ramping C8+ draw a sweet 6.9 amps on the brightest mode. for approx $23USD this light is a champion.

Also, once you get use to the ramping driver firmware it’s actually really cool because for the first two modes you can set whatever brightness you want. I personally didn’t like the 4 mode driver as you cannot turn the memory mode off but it’s up to you.

Get the C8+ from Convoy, the knurling on it is really grippy and in my opinion the C8+ heatsinking ribs look sweet. Go for the desert tan finish for the best grip. Unfortunately my Black C8+ has a bit of a shine to it and is not as grippy in the hand as the desert tan version. My clear finish standard C8’s from Convoy is also shiny and doesn’t grip as well.

Thanks for this detailed info! A few things you mentioned sway me to buy this light now in sand color.

“The knurling on it is really grippy”
“Go for the desert tan finish for the best grip”
“Black C8+ has a bit of a shine to it and is not as grippy in the hand as the desert tan version”

But it looks like the C8+ Desert Sand is only available with 12-Group driver, also there’s no SST40 option for the sand color, only for black version.
Probably could order it custom from Simon/Convoy shop.

There is a tan host so I may just build it myself, I already have a few of the ramping driver inbound from BG, I’m hoping they’re 17mm (the listing didn’t specify, but the photos show a 17mm).

From what I can tell it’s not really a “Ramping” UI?
Looks like the ramping is only used in the setup menu to set the desired levels for the 1st and 2nd modes.

Things I like about this driver:

Up to 8A output
No Temp control
No memory

Yes that’s right the ramping is only present during the setting menu.

If you can’t find the desert tan SST40 C8+ in Simon’s shop then I probably got a customer order from him and he should be able to do the same for you.

Scallywag · 2020-05-22T02:26:51.000Z

AdrianM:

I don’t have numbers, but I have the sst-40 in my two Convoy C8+ lights, and throw is great - slightly better than xpl-hi.

I’d love to see measured numbers to support this, as I have a feeling it is false.

BurningPlayd0h · 2020-05-22T03:57:55.000Z

Scallywag:

AdrianM:

I don’t have numbers, but I have the sst-40 in my two Convoy C8+ lights, and throw is great - slightly better than xpl-hi.

I’d love to see measured numbers to support this, as I have a feeling it is false.

SST-40 appears to out-throw it in the few reviews with comparisons I’ve seen here with sheer brute force of output. Dedomed/sliced SST-40 will do so easily, it becomes significantly throwier.

Rusty_Joe · 2020-05-22T05:15:42.000Z

SST-40 or SST-20. XP-L HI doesn’t focus right in C8s, as I see it.

eggmang · 2020-06-02T05:46:36.000Z

Rusty Joe:

SST-40 or SST-20. XP-L HI doesn’t focus right in C8s, as I see it.

I found that my C8’s with XPL-HI emitters produce a very tight hotspot and narrow beam, is this what you mean?