Clear Convoy S2+ Review

hazard2036

Newly Enlightened
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Aug 17, 2014
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Sydney,Australia
Convoy S2+ Review

Hey folks today we will be reviewing the convoy S2+ clear the latest edition to the Convoy S2+ family. The S2+ was sent to me by Gearbest for review so the usual disclaimer and I will leave a purchase link here.
Clear S2+ (link is external)

I know most of us on CPF already have a few S2+ so we already know what to expect. I my self own 3 other S2+ flashlights. This also leads me to saying I will make this review fairly quick and compare apples to apples.


Build and Size
The new clear Convoy S2+ is amazing it is always awesome to see companies pushing the price to performance boundaries. Price to performance reflects in many different ways not just output! The clear S2+ is built and finished perfect in every way insert up sell here maybe?.
It is better then my older S2+ I am not sure if I just got dud S2+ last time. Not that my old S2+ had any thing wrong with it. These lights are made to a budget and that reflected in some aspects of the light. It still did work and function fine. So this time on the clear S2+ the MCPCB is perfectly flat and the wires are soldered perfect and Convoy even use thicker gauge wire now.

The old saying is true! You get what you pay for! Even on a budget light but budget lights do stretch your dollar further. The clear S2+ has pulled a rabbit out of the hat for sure.
This new S2+ is clear meaning it is none anodized just like its big brother the clear L6 they both are the same colour clear well technically silver. Genius at work here! All seriousness the S2+ is made out of the same aircraft grade aluminum alloy as other lights on the market but it is just not anodized.

The Clear S2+ does feature a clear protective coating which will help resist wear and tear some what but it is not as hard wearing as hard anodizing type 3. Overall hard anodizing is nice but not a necessity on most lights. Just keep In mind if you drop any clear light you will scratch the surface. Also when you drop the clear S2+ the protective surface is fairly easy to scratch so I am going to take mine of. I learn my lesson from my L6 I mean who drops an L6 on the ground? This also applies for removing the clip it will scratch the light.

The clear S2+ is the same as the standard S2+ in design but its a tad stretched out in some spots I will try and get side by side pics. The knurling is the same on both lights. You still get a lanyard hole on the tail cap but you get an upgraded lanyard on the clear S2+.

The new S2+ features a tail cap light that is blue in color and a metal tail cap switch which is illuminated around the edges. It is awesome! It beats the standard style tail cap for sure. Makes me feel like a bought a Ferrari at a budget price. I took the tail cap apart and the set up is top quality its sealed with O-rings to make it waterproof. It appears to be made of aluminum it is none conductive.
It is not the brightest tail cap light but the area that light is aloud to pass thru is small its more subtle then most other tail cap lights. I really do like the feel of the new tail cap set up it feels really good in the hands. Easy to push but not to easy to accidentally activate the light.
This new clear S2+ comes with an IPX8 rating to 2 meters under water. First S2+ with an IPX rating? The standard S2+ has O-rings in all the right places to make it fairly water resistant.

Enough blabbering on!



The clear S2+ is the same size as a standard S2+ for some reason my clear edition is just a tad longer. Not really noticeable still fairly small for an 18650 style flashlight.

I compare all new 18650 style flashlight to my S2+ because they are usually the smallest standard style flashlight I own. Not including headlamps. Plus who doesn't own an S2+?


Clear S2+ size

  • Height: 118mm (4.64inch)

  • Width: 24.1mm (0.94inch)
Standard S2+

  • Height: 116mm

  • Width: 24.1mm
I will add some pics here in the future i forgot to take them.

Maybe I have got the tail cap tighter on my older S2+ its that close. Seriously I thought I was going mad but I am already here lol. To add to this upgraded S2+ it comes with AR coated glass as standard. I have added AR coated glass to all my older S2+ for an ever so slight performance boost. Mostly just a placebo effect I think. You also get an SMO reflector which is of decent size this give the S2+ a throw number of 15000cd. No slouch it should be good for around 250 meters of throw in theory. It does get to my 100 meter tree easy.



Throw numbers
15000cd at 250m


One last thing you can also get a shorty tube for the clear S2+ so you can use this light with a 18350 this makes for an even better EDC option.

Also note the clip is reversible.


Performance and features
The new clear S2+ is amazing Simon done an awesome job getting it to work so well together. The beam profile is perfect. I have seen other companies trying to pull of an SMO reflector and XPLHI in a small light and it doesn't work so well. I my self have tried this and it ended up mediocre lol.
S2+ left and my BLF A6 with SMO reflector on the right

So the S2+ is using a XPL-HI teamed with an SMO reflector for extra goodness. The beam pattern is comparable to the Rofis TR20 I also have a BLF A6 with an SMO reflector and de-domed XPL so we will get some good beam shots.

The S2+ is now using a Cree XPL-HI on a copper MCPCB for extra performance gains. I know i already said this lol the MCPCB is good quality and fairly thick and is 16mm in diameter. I am not sure if its direct thermal path but I have not tested the board yet. My version is the V2-1A so its a cold white tint but still looks good the XPL-HI are not to cold in a CW tint like a XPG2.
You do have a choice of different tints raining from 4000k-6500k so the choice is yours.



  • XPL-HI V2-1A 6500-7000K

  • XPL- HI U6-3A 5000-5200K

  • XPL-HI U6-4C 4200-4500K
How many other lights give you 3 tint options? For reference the V2-1A should give the best output performance its the top bin LED. I did test the S2+ for output it goes good it managed to get 986 lumens. I am using the 8 times 7135 so that sounds about right I guess. Close enough to 1000 lumens for me its a technical pass.
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The driver in the clear S2+ has stayed the same its a 7135 based constant current driver. It is marked Convoy on the back so its not a Nanjg driver but still uses the 2 mode group select. My older S2+ drivers are marked 105D so I would assume they where Nanjg but I could be wrong. One upgrade given to this driver is a larger spring which I think is good the spring looks gold plated.

  • 17mm driver

  • 16mm MCPCB
The driver has the usual Nangj/AMC7135 features.

  • Low voltage protection

  • Reverse polarity protection

  • Memory mode function

It would be awesome to see the Biscotti upgrade makes its way to the clear S2+. I am sure if you ask Simon he could make you one with the Biscotti firmware. I want to add I done spring bypass to the front and back springs and I saw no performance increase from this mod at all.

Left S2+ and Right is my BLF A6 With some quick soldering you could change the tail cap colour easily!

Output numbers and modes
Two mode selects on this driver
Group 1 (output estimate)

  • Low: 50 lumens

  • Medium: 400 lumens

  • High: 1000 lumens
Group 2


  • Low

  • Medium

  • High

  • Strobe

  • SOS
You do also have option for how many 7135 chips you want in your driver if you do not want a 1000 lumens light and want a longer run time. You can choose less 7135s and you will get better run times plus it will stay cooler for longer. This also work the other way around you can stack more 7135 chips and get monster output of you want. This new S2+ hardly heats up with the 8 7135s so there is room for some extra juice.

What is included in the package?

  • Convoy S2+ clear

  • Clip ( Even included in the Gearbest package)

  • Plush lanyard (beats the old one)


Overall the new clear S2+ is great I don't need to tell you because you probably already own one right? It gives you premium features at a price that is super easy to swallow. You get stellar performance and build quality in a neat package. Plus the beam profile is awesome!


All these pics are taken at ISO800
Low mode

Medium mode

High mode

100 meters to the far tree

70 meters to these trees

Left S2+ and Right BLF A6

Left Clear S2+ and Right is a standard S2+

Left S2+ and Right is Rofis TR20

One last tail cap pic but its extremely over exposed.

Thanks for taking the time to read the review i hope you enjoyed it!
Regards Chris
 
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