Convoy flashlight opinions?

[Schokokeks]

I ordered a Convoy M21F with XHP70.2 LED and Liitokala 21700 cell at the end of last year. It arrived at the start of this year. The machining is immaculate, the anodising is perfect and it produces a wall of light with incredibly good regulation and runtimes. It doesn't match my Sunwayman, Olight and Jetbeam lights as the anodising is not HA III and the watersealing is mediocre, but in all other respects it's a steal. I asked a question before purchase and the response was prompt and informative.

If I needed a torch to leave in my car glove box, or for poking around in the attic, I would buy Convoy not a name brand. If I needed a torch for long distance walking or running at night, I'd use a name brand. That said, I had two Sunwayman's fail, one was just sitting in a cupboard, one was dropped.


My understanding is that shipping from China is cheap because of an agreement among developed countries to ship from developing countries at low price, in order to encourage their growth. I personally think we should stop doing this with China as they are developed.

One of my Sunwayman torches failed within warranty so I sent it to China at not insignificant expense. It was repaired and returned free of charge. It's not worth it with Convoy. I ordered some fairly small replacement parts for a coffee grinder from Taiwan, the shipping was about £24 or $30.

I'd agree that I think Convoy is kind of the best for casual flashlights. I get a bunch of AA ones to try out CCT's and different emitters, before buying them in more expensive, U.S. made lights. They're perfectly serviceable for around-the-house use, and casual walks. I think I'd agree with you that I wouldn't rely on one, though. I probably wouldn't go hiking in the woods with a Convoy as my only light. I've seen people on the internet talking about carrying a Convoy for "self defense," and that absolutely blows my mind... I think it's fair to say I love Convoy (these days, they're really about the only Chinese brand I tend to buy from).


I think you're describing the situation with The Universal Postal Union, and how China can send small parcels internationally as part of the postal reciprocity, but it costs them less because they're a "developing nation" (as the agreement was last redone in the 60's). They started as a net receiver, but are now a net sender (the opposite was true for the States).

There was a row over this here in the States, so I think things are now different for us (as per usual, haha), and I think that's where I read something about the CCP essentially footing the bill directly to keep it shipping to the U.S. cheap, but they do NOT do so for the reverse (so, shipping TO China from the U.S. is really expensive). For the CCP, it keeps sites like Ali up and running. If shipping for all their small, cheap crap was more normalized, I don't think anyone in the U.S. would be buying from Ali, Temu, or Wish for their "bread and butter," which is cheap Chinese do-dads.

At least in the U.S., part of our issue is often an expectation of free shipping, set by Amazon, though I know that their free shipping has been a big driver of Amazon's struggle with turning a profit on their retail side (most of their profit has historically come from stuff like AWS), so Ali, Temu, and Wish really need free or low cost shipping to get any traffic.

From my limited reading, it seems like the Commonwealth/Eurozone is essentially still in the same situation with the UPU that the States used to be; you guys are essentially subsidizing those shipments from China.

 

[BringMeSunshine]

I think you're describing the situation with The Universal Postal Union, and how China can send small parcels internationally as part of the postal reciprocity, but it costs them less because they're a "developing nation" (as the agreement was last redone in the 60's). They started as a net receiver, but are now a net sender (the opposite was true for the States).

There was a row over this here in the States, so I think things are now different for us (as per usual, haha), and I think that's where I read something about the CCP essentially footing the bill directly to keep it shipping to the U.S. cheap, but they do NOT do so for the reverse (so, shipping TO China from the U.S. is really expensive). For the CCP, it keeps sites like Ali up and running. If shipping for all their small, cheap crap was more normalized, I don't think anyone in the U.S. would be buying from Ali, Temu, or Wish for their "bread and butter," which is cheap Chinese do-dads.

At least in the U.S., part of our issue is often an expectation of free shipping, set by Amazon, though I know that their free shipping has been a big driver of Amazon's struggle with turning a profit on their retail side (most of their profit has historically come from stuff like AWS), so Ali, Temu, and Wish really need free or low cost shipping to get any traffic.

From my limited reading, it seems like the Commonwealth/Eurozone is essentially still in the same situation with the UPU that the States used to be; you guys are essentially subsidizing those shipments from China.

Very interesting. Yes I am referring to the UPU. It seems that the US is still a member but sets its own rates to counteract the losses the US postal service was incurring, and to stop unfair competition with US based companies. We - Europe - are still subsidising China and damaging our businesses.

I couldn't find any info on the CCP subsidising shipping to America. Do you have any links ?

 

[Schokokeks]

Very interesting. Yes I am referring to the UPU. It seems that the US is still a member but sets its own rates to counteract the losses the US postal service was incurring, and to stop unfair competition with US based companies. We - Europe - are still subsidising China and damaging our businesses.

I couldn't find any info on the CCP subsidising shipping to America. Do you have any links ?

Yeah, I can't find anything with a cursory search (since all the search engines are now SEO trash these days, and every decent article is paywalled). It may have been something I heard from a Chinese company when dealing with a warranty, too. It was one of those things, where I was like, "Okay, that makes sense," at the time.

I think what also makes it harder is that...China is so open about their anti-competitive policies, hahaha. I don't know if China Post issues reports, but I wouldn't be surprised if they run a deficit for outbound shipping, either.

 

[BringMeSunshine]

Yeah, I can't find anything with a cursory search (since all the search engines are now SEO trash these days, and every decent article is paywalled). It may have been something I heard from a Chinese company when dealing with a warranty, too. It was one of those things, where I was like, "Okay, that makes sense," at the time.

I think what also makes it harder is that...China is so open about their anti-competitive policies, hahaha. I don't know if China Post issues reports, but I wouldn't be surprised if they run a deficit for outbound shipping, either.

It would be par for the course if the Chinese government subsidised postage. They engage in many unfair trading practices such as subsiding steel and solar panel manufacturing. Even though I love the lights I buy direct from China, I oppose the UPU agreement between Europe and China.

 

[Monocrom]

Back in the day, I was specifically told not to discuss this at all on CPF. But things are a bit different now. China blatantly uses Protectionist policies to economically dominate the world. At this point it's so blatantly obvious, they've stop even trying to deny it.

 

[Buff]

Will be interesting to see to see how things may change in the coming months. 😉 😉

 

[Schokokeks]

It would be par for the course if the Chinese government subsidised postage. They engage in many unfair trading practices such as subsiding steel and solar panel manufacturing. Even though I love the lights I buy direct from China, I oppose the UPU agreement between Europe and China.

That was my take on the whole situation. "Oh, that sounds exactly like what I'd expect...their Government undercutting competition with unfair subsidies."

They seem to push a lot of subsidies out into their economy is ways that mask what's going on. Likely easier when companies are all partially owned by the CCP...

That doesn't even get into their IP issues, wherein all external countries MUST partner with the CCP to have production in China, where IP is just categorically stolen. Or, how they'll buy up assets and companies outside of China, but the reverse is kept illegal there.

Thank goodness our politicians haven't made any Faustian bargains with the CCP that enrich themselves at the expense of the long-term health of our nations....wait...

Back in the day, I was specifically told not to discuss this at all on CPF. But things are a bit different now. China blatantly uses Protectionist policies to economically dominate the world. At this point it's so blatantly obvious, they've stop even trying to deny it.

Maybe a decade or go, I remember criticizing China was taken as "racism," and sites policed it HARD. Permabans, weird messages from Mods warning you to not say anything, etc. That was really bad on Social Media like Reddit.

Then, it turned out Chinese companies were major investors in a lot of those very sites, and/or were trafficked heavily by CCP personnel whose job it is to engage with criticism of China (to be fair...China is not the only country that does this. Both the U.S. and it's "greatest ally" have entire units that engage in the same thing), report it, get people banned. Mods would be either Chinese agents, and/or monetarily enriched by sponsorships, etc. Even less nefariously, I could see a site like this running into issues because if you're a Chinese company that operates here, and the CCP finds out you're on a site where China is being criticized, that can have very serious ramifications for that company and its employees.

There's a bit of a mean-spirited online gaming tactic that was popular a few years back. If you figured out you were playing against Chinese players, and you were losing, you could copy/paste the Chinese characters for Tiananmen Square, which would trigger some scripts on the Chinese ISPs, and immediately kill their internet connection...

I think in the last few years, we've learned that it turns out China has successfully captured so much of Western politics through money. They've also learned from some of our "greatest" allies to play the dual-citizenship game with spies and PACs, too. The sheer amount of money they diffuse into the global political system is crazy. So, legislation that targets their unfair practices is either outright opposed by enriched Western politicians, and/or bills just won't get support (the preferable option, as it draws less attention).

If you want a really good time, track down some of the leaked Chinese documents assessing the U.S. It's surreal. They essentially are well aware that they can deflect all criticism of China with the accusation of racism, so their entire information warfare tactic centers around fracturing the U.S. by stoking racial, cultural, and ethnic tensions (the USSR did the same thing, e.g. the KGB started the rumor that the CIA created AIDS to target minority groups, creating a lot of social tension)...


EDIT: I should specify, too, my disdain for the Chinese government in no way transfers to the Chinese people. I sure wouldn't want someone judging me by the actions of the US Government, so it's always important to remember that governments rarely accurately represent their people (unfortunately).

 

[BringMeSunshine]

…

Nothing to disagree with there, unfortunately. I get depressed when I think about China, and other powerful players in the world.

 

[Schokokeks]

Nothing to disagree with there, unfortunately. I get depressed when I think about China, and other powerful players in the world.

Just take inspiration from Nero, and learn to chuckle in the face of horror

 

[Monocrom]

Just take inspiration from Nero, and learn to chuckle in the face of horror

Or fiddle away as the world burns.

 

[Jean-Luc Descarte]

To steer this thread back on topic:

I'm liking the design of the new T7. A Sofirn-style three stage battery charge indicator, color-coded for extra clarity, and simpler UI with standardized modes from the factory are streamlined simplified elements that could be kitbashed as needed into the drivers of the side-switch lights Simon already, at least until he figures out how to implement improvements to his current interface. We can all agree that the ramping/stepped UI he has now is tolerable at best, for many reasons.

 

[BigusLightus]

I have over one dozen Convoy lights and I like and use them all. Only good vibes about the lights and Simon's cutomer service.

 

[Buff]

My last two Convoys or any other brands lights will be here tomorrow. I had guessed tie 22nd seems they will be a day early.🎉

 

[AMD64Brunette]

What lights did you get?

 

[Buff]

Another T15 in a green emitter and i think a S8 in an orange. Just trying some things that i'm able because the lower price makes it all possible.
And it's a lot of fun.

 

[Jean-Luc Descarte]

Can confirm, orange is one of the nicest ano colors Simon sells. I can also vouch for red.

Heard good things about purple and pink too, but none of the models I plan on buying are finished in those colours.

 

[Buff]

Lol. Mine are black bodies with green and orange "light"emitted out the business end. I was hoping someone would let me know how much they like those colored beams or did like them when they tried them?

 

[wshylw]

I have a giant convoy, it's led is SBT90, it uses three 21700 lithium batteries and it's very bright. Very heavy and not portable, just for fun. Haha.

 

[Buff]

S15 green S8 Orange S15 3000k

 

[PaladinNO]

I have a giant convoy, it's led is SBT90, it uses three 21700 lithium batteries and it's very bright. Very heavy and not portable, just for fun. Haha.
Convoy 3X21D

Could you post a picture of the batteries that light uses? Are they flat-top or button-top?

It got me interested in a couple 3X21[X]