In retrospect and thanks to this forum my flashlight education has gone through 4 phases: Phase 1. Newbie tint snobs: top class CRI & R9 LEDs with great tint and great color rendition. My Convoy and Emisar lights with Nichia LEDs, and lately the Fireflies with super rosy FFL LEDs. discussed here 2. Phase 2 High CRI walk lights: Medium throw lights with wonderful color rendition like Convoy M21E with Getian GT-FC40 LED, and lately the premium quality Firefly X1L and E04Surge discussed here 3. Super Throwers: 800m plus throwers like Wurkkos TS30 and Firefly T9R. Throwy beams are always fun. I donât need one, but I do want one, or ten. discussed here 4. Budget âMonsterâ Lights: Inexpensive 10k plus lumen lights, costing less than $100 because thatâs all I could afford. Just want to experience the âwall of lightâ effect of these lights. discussed here
My latest adventure is with these 14500 +/- AA small lights. Just want to share some measurements and comparisons. I am not a pro reviewer and the equipment is amateur grade so please be patient and correct any errors as needed. The function comparison under real life use wonât start until later when itâs dark during my evening walk.
Measurements Prelim - pls expect SEVERAL edits when new measurements added or corrected. Numberical results are rounded. Although most of my results tend to match pro reviewsâ numbers, they are done with amateur-grade equipment, pls treat accordingly.
Convoy T8 w/ SFT-25R 6500k and Vapcell H10 Battery ANSI Throw @ 30 seconds and 10m distance
14500=565m, Eneloop AA=257m
This Convoy T8 w/ SFT-25R 6500k is a brand new release from Convoy. So new that I couldnât find any pro reviewâs measurements; making me a little nervous LOL, having no one to double check my results against. I chose T8 because among Simonâs T series lights, it has the largest and deepest reflector. Its intention is clear: a deep thrower.
From Convoy listing:
AA/NiMH Driver: Boost constant current, max current output 0.5A.
Li-ion Driver: Buck, max current output 5A
Output: 300 lm (AA/NiMH), 1200 lm (Li-ion)
Illumination Distance: 50-100 meters (what?!)
My prelim measurements (may change with repeated measuring) show a very impressive light, matching or beating the Wurkkos T12/T15 pair in most parameters. (TBF Wurkkos pair have a distinct advantage elsewhere: size.)
Of my trio of SFT-25R tiny throwers, Convoy T8, Wurkkos T12, and Wurkkos T15, the Convoy has not been professionally reviewed (as far as I could tell my numbers above are âhot off the pressâ LOL), but T12 and T15 have. From 2 excellent/trustworthy sites:
Wurkkos T12 reviewed at Zeroair HERE.
Wurkkos T15 reviewed at 1Lumen HERE.
I should also add that the Convoy T8 has throw performance advantage because of its bigger size (bigger/deeper reflector, better heat dissipation), I still love my Wurkkos T12 and T15 for a couple reasons. They are both smaller, and being small is a big deal for me because otherwise I wouldnât be exploring this class of small throwers. Also, they both have USB-C charging and side-switch, which for me are very important (strictly personal preference, no wrong or right).
OTOH the Convoy has an additional important advantage: its SFT-25R LED is available in both 6500k and 5000k, whereas for the Wurkkos pair itâs strictly the ~6500k LED only.
Size of reflector & throw:
Of my three SFT25 lights, by eyeball estimate the Wurkkos TS15 has smallest reflector, and Wurkkos TS12 and Convoy T8 have same diameter, with T8âs being deeper. Perhaps not too surprisingly, throw distance increases in the same order as reflector size and depth.
Convoy T8 has the largest reflector in Convoy T series lights AFAIK, and its throw performance doesnât disappoint.
Wurkkos TS15 trails in throw performance, but⌠for me being small counts a lot in this group, and just that small difference in the head diameter and length vs T8 makes a significance different in how it carries, how it feels in pocket.
AR lenses:
Convoy has green-reflection AR lens (makes Duv roughly 0.0020 points more negative), Wurkkos TS15 has purple-reflection lens, and TS12 has no AR coat. Another thumb up for Convoy.
More negative compared to no AR, or compared to purple AR? Iâve found that green AR has no noticeable effect on duv compared to no AR, having much better anti-reflective performance than purple. Purple AR does make the light noticeably greener.
It looks like our results are consistent. My results from a couple years ago here. At least with the lenses I tested, purple reflection AR lens makes Duv more positive by about 20 points (-0.0120 green vs -0.0100 purple). And NO difference from non AR to green AR.
djozz also tested here. Fairly amazingly (considering my amateur grade equipment, albeit experiment very carefully conducted), his result matches mine numerically and also shows 20 point difference. However, unlike our results, he found green AR also drops Duv vs non AR. I am think because not all coatings are the same, number of layers, how âstrongâ the coating, etc.
Of note, ALL of my eyeglasses have green reflection.
Thank you for confirming and linking djozzâs measurements!
Very good point, even the purple ARâs I get from Convoy have different colors and intensities. The purple sample tested by djozz appears to be one of the better ones.
My green AR lenses from Convoy have barely visible reflections, indicating that the AR performance is very good. My glasses also have green AR, though some âblue blockingâ lenses Iâve owned in the past had very strong blue AR and makes things look tea-colored.
Thank you! For a parameter that is SO tricky to test (my notebook was filled w/ pages of x,y points from repeated runs), itâs fun/satisfying to see other people got the same result.
I hate Opple LM3 not calculating Duv automatically to this day. Knowing Duv instantly with each lens switch would have made life so much easier.
Thanks for the measurements. The Convoy T8 is really impressive. Hopefully itâll be available in a few fun colours soon. Iâd much rather have a bright orange or blue flashlight than the same old black or tan.
