Teach me about Convoy S2

LED Flashlights – General Info 18650 Flashlights
1

Look, I realise I’ve missed a trick here, and am looking into yet another rabbit hole, so bear with me.

I understand the lego/mule aspect from brief reading, but modding isn’t really for me. I did the Solarforce/Surefire P60 lego thing a while back and thoroughly enjoyed trying out different options and buying the drop-ins, eventually leading to the inevitable Malkoff Designs.

Apologies for not reading it all, but this thing just has so many guises I could only start reading before drowning if you know what I mean? :wink:

Looking through the threads here I see how incredibly popular the S2 and S2+ are, with a ton of led and reflector options. As a start, I’ve ordered a S2 with a T6 4C(7135x8) just to see the S2 format with a reflector and a mid tint led. It’s in classic black ano, and looks like a proper 18650 hard working torch should IMO. :sunglasses:

I’ll be ordering a S2+ at some point. Do they have mirrored conical reflectors or are they TIR?

What I’d like more info about is the difference between S2 and S2+. Size? The S2 looks shorter in the head and offers TIR honeycomb and frosted lenses amongst others.

What is 7135x6 or x8, is it number of modes or is it to do with brightness/output? (8 seems to be recommended here so I went with that).

Info on the 18350 tubes, some have square threads, some trapezoidal. How do I know which thread the S2+ body has? 18350 tube is going to be a must have for me, I run my FW3C almost all the time in 18350 mode.

What is Biscotti? I see it crop up among emitter options, it looks like a solid copper biscuit for good heat sink?

Anyone producing Turboglow gaskets or tail caps for the TIR reflectors? I’ve got them in the FW3C and find them not only good bling, but really useful at night.

2

The biggest difference between the S2 and the S2+ is the size of the reflector. The S2 is much deeper than the S2+, so depending on the LED, the S2 can throw farther. You can get either reflector in orange peel (OP) or smooth.

7135 refers to driver chips. More of them give more current. This is usually listed on the Convoy site with flashlights that have 7135 options:

  • 7135*3 output current 1050mA
  • 7135*4 output current 1400mA
  • 7135*6 output current 2100mA
  • 7135*8 output current 2800mA

Biscotti is driver firmware.

3

:+1: Thanks

Excuse my non math brain regarding output current, but does this mean that a 7135*3 is actually drawing less from the cell than *8, giving longer runtimes? I’m liking the S2 having good throw, but a long runner on the short tube with a floody beam would make a tidy edc.

4

Runtime will depend on the number of 7135 chips and the mode the flashlight is in. If in high mode, more chips will be brighter and have less runtime. And in contrast, a flashlight with 8 chips in low mode will last longer than one with 3 chips in high.

So essentially the number of 7135 chips depends on how bright you want the flashlight to be in high. But also be aware that an 8 chip S2/S2+ will get hot very fast in high mode.

5

All very helpful, thank you.

6

Here’s a comp showing the difference in runtime/brightness between 7135*8 and 7135*6 for 18650 and 18350. Both are good, just different.


7

An S2 with a smooth reflector is quite an impressive light, with a much more distinct ‘hot spot’ while still keeping a completely adequate peripheral spill.

I also have an S2+ (and several others of the Convoy ‘S’ series), and I suspect the “+” sign causes shoppers to think it’s superior in some way. It’s not. The S2/smooth is my favourite of the bunch.

By the way, Simon offers spare reflectors for dirt cheap - order an orange peel at the same time and see which you prefer. It takes about 2 minutes to swap them out.

8

Also, I should note that the S2+ can accept TIR optics, the S2 can’t.