After I saw a random "omg I love my convoy flashlight" (think it was about the zoomable Z1) I hung around this sub for sometime and after having multipe convoy tabs open for some time I ordered a M21K (LHP73B 3000k) about a week ago.
But since then I see convoys being bashed for their button (slowlyness?!) and quality and other things. Was it a mistake? Order posted im comments..
Edit: I am far from a lot of enthusiasts here. I had a wuben for my car which I still like and 2 LedLenser which are seen as expensive crap in here I think. So I would say I like flashlights a lot but never cared to buy several until recently haha.
I really did dislike my convoys initially and it was purely ui driven. I have 3 now and looking at a couple more. I still prefer other uis but the price for testing different tints etc is perfect.
It’s not terrible just didn’t feel as intuitive, I was going from more expensive lights to cheaper and had figured out Anduril before buying convoy. I just noted it was the ui that caused me to continue buying other brands over convoy. It’s a personal preference nothing against the brand.
I guess I'm the opposite. The thing I like about the Convoy UI is that I can set it to just be different brightness levels and hide all the extra nonsense. It's a big part of the reason why I like Convoys so much.
Some people like to bash convoy because they are very cost effective, i think. Like, they bought one of those zebralights or whatever and now they feel they have to put down Convoy because else they "overpaid"...
I will admit that i generally prefer convoy's back switches, but the m21k is an amazing light and i quite like the 3000k lhp73b even despite it's not technically high cri. Very pleasant tint imho.
If there is a delay in the e-switch it is too short for me to notice (mine is m26e but the head is the same).
It's a real light cannon, a great value light (price/performance) and i think you will enjoy it very much :)
You know, the turbo on maerxu lights does have some delay now you mention it. Even there, it's noticeable but not, like, an issue or whatever...
I like both Convoy and Zebralight, they offer different things. A Zebralight offers durability and reliability that cavers rely on, and drivers tuned more for efficiency than output. With the SC65 they also offer an 18650 light that's as small as a lot of 14500 ones. Convoy offers pretty much whatever you want, easy modding / repairability and Simon will look after you if you have a problem.
From what I've read Convoy's side switch UI is a bit janky, so all my Convoys have the mechanical tail switches and I can't fault them. I do wish that they had an easily-accessible battery check, but that's something a lot of lights don't have. For example Acebeam's green is 20% or more is absolutely useless.
Sorry i didn't mean to shoot strays at zebralight in particular... they're perfectly fine as you say; just they also tend to attract a certain type of person sometimes, if that makes sense. The "i paid more, so mine must be objectively better" kind of guys...
I think they default to the 20A driver for lhp73b, no?
Edit: yes seems it's always the 20A driver. Make sure to get a nice high-drain cell!
Edit2: like the reliance :)
High cri is mostly important if you have to do anything color sensitive. On many lights i consider it more like a nice to have than an essential.
The tint is for me more important, some flashlights will be a little bit greenish for example, that can cause flesh tints to look very unpleasant. Especially on indoors lights i can't bear that.
The lhp73b generally is quite tint neutral, so that means not especially green or pink, but also not high cri so colors will look different compared to natural sunlight.
By all means try some for yourself to see what you like! Some famous high-cri emitters that also have good tint are the nichia 519a and b35am.
The sft40 is also high cri but only the 3000k.
When we talk about 3000k,5000k this is the cct (correlated color temperature).
5700k is like midday sunlight, anything lowe will be warmer (3000k for me is like incandescent flashlight), 6500k is very cool white.
For outdoors i quite like cooler white (5000-5700k, 6500k can become a little harsh to my eyes), for indoors i like warmer tint like 3000, 2700k...
I also thought my eyes appreciated cooler light more outdoors (only use it outdoors) but then people said they loved the 3000K of the lhp73b so much that it became their fav.
Let's see, tbh I hope not to end up with dozens of lamps 🤭🤣
It’s because cooler cct have more lumens and candela. With smaller lights and weaker emitters they are alot brighter. Which is fine for a thrower or a light you might use in the day to see inside an engine bay. Daylight washes out warm light. To overcome the daylight you need a really intense light or higher cct. The lhp73b is a monster in intensity and lumens. That’s why in warmer cct it’s great. If it reflects off nearby objects it’s less harshness to your eyes.
Great explanation!! I’m an electrician so I usually see cct rating on led products. 3000k is equivalent to or compared to a halogen light. 2700k is equivalent to an incandescent light bulb. Milwaukee was the first led light that I used that had high cri. At first I was stunned by it because it was like 3700 to 4k. This is crucial for electrical because the wires are color coded. My old led headlamp had a blueish 7000k emitter. Yellow did not look like yellow. It looked brown.
It's all there to select on the page. I had to use AI to tell me what all the drivers mean etc... Gemini helped me pick what I needed for a good flood light. Otherwise I wouldn't have had a clue what to select.
The only problem is his side switch ui is not as perfect as it could be. Yes the mode changing can be slow compared to other better ui options, but not deal breakers. There are some oddities like turbo being in the mode cycling, and you can't hold to cycle from moonlight to low you have to shut it off and turn back on again to get out of moonlight. I have many lights that I would argue are perfect angels compared to convoy's side switch ui, and yet I still absolutely love my m21k lhp73b 4000k, it is a power house that I have no regrets about. Yeah, lights like Olight or Acebeam may have a much higher degree of quality and durability, but there is NO shot you get a light from them that is as capable as an m21k for a price on the same level, you need an elevator to get to their price range from Convoys.
The people who dislike convoys tend to have more expensive taste, shall we say.
Convoys aren’t truly exceptional or “perfect” in any way, the ui is average, the build quality is average, the button is average. What they are though, is amazing value for money. You get a really good torch for not a lot of money at all.
Huh? I mean it's still a budget brand, make no mistake about that, but I have both mechanical switch and e-button Convoys and any negatives they have are far outweighed by their price point.
I generally see nothing but praise for their lights around here. I dot own any personally, but have considered it. Their prices and options seem a lot better than most companies. I imagine you'll be happy with it.
nah... if i regret buying any light it would be myself that i didn't research enough like "oh it have a shitty ui", or "oh it have known issue they haven't fix and i should postpone buying that one", etc
how is it good or not should be from your own opinions. comparison is a thief of joy.
Convoy is the best value for turning dollars into lumens. The only real complaint I see around here is that he doesn’t do fancy looking bodies for his lights. Plus he’ll make pretty much any combination you could want, it’ll just be a tube style body.
Side switch convoys ui are realy crap. Can not turn off mode memory. So when turbo was the last used level, and later you turn it on it's gonna blast, for example when you need low. And you can't ramp up from moonlight either... This behavior is a fatal flaw. That's why I have just one side switch convoy..
(Since your new, I'll explain what I mean: I prefer the LEDs and UI of my lights in the $80+ range, but I EDC'd an S6 SFT40 3000K 18350 tube for almost 2 years. The only issue I had with it, again not the brand's fault, was that because it had no USB C, it was dead at the time I had an accident, that was unfortunate. Only kept it in my pocket for a year for that moment).
I love my Convoy lights so much they are the ones I use the most, the fact that you can customize almost everything is what makes them fun to buy, am currently thinking about buying 6 more flashlights from them and I don't think they will be the last. :)
The button on my Z1 can be a little wonky but it’s not an expensive light. I also like that certain push button M21 tail caps will fit certain Wurkkos models. I put one on a TS22.
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u/FrequentFractionator 21h ago
I hated my first Convoy so much that I bought (about) 20 more. No regrets.