Quick Convoy M1 review - nice light for budget minded!

klmmicro

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Dec 25, 2012
Messages
39
Location
San Diego, CA
Bought a Convoy M1 with XM-L U2 based head and it is a very nice light. Purchased the torch from Fastech for under $20, shipping included. It took about a week to reach me and was in fine condition upon opening the package. No instructions were included and none seem to be present on their site either. Still not too had to figure out.

The tint is a bit warmer than my T5 lights, but not as much as my T6 based torch. It is listed as producing 900lm on high, but I would say that is not quite there. It is brighter than my 750lm bike light, so I am satisfied regardless.

There are 3 primary modes. High is 100%, medium is 40% and low is 5%. I figure medium is about 350lm and find that to be about all is needed for handlebar mounting and trail hiking after dark. The light also has 2 "flash" modes. The first is a strobe mode that is a nauseating frequency in High. The second is SOS, also in high. I thought that the strobe mode might be good for night riding on the streets, but within a few minutes it was just annoying. The light defaults to 5 mode (standard plus flash), but can be set to 3 mode that bypasses the flashing modes.

I have tested it for run times using my green label Panasonic cells. Ran it on HIGH and got over 1.5 hours from a freshly charged cell. At just past 1.5 hours, it started to blink, indicating that the battery was starting to get low on juice, so I stopped the test. The cell registered 2.98 volts on my meter. There is a protection circuit in there that would have shut the light down at 2.9, but I did not want to run it any further. I figure I should get about 3 to 4 hours out of it on medium which is fine as I carry a spare cell anyway.

Had to place it in front of a fan for the whole time on high. The light was warm at about 5 minutes and roasting at about 15. The fan on low and enough to cool it to a point that I was not concerned about damaging the emitter any longer. I would certainly not run it on high for any extended period unless I was moving at a good clip on my bike.

I have been using the light in my work to see how it holds up to continual commercial use. I still prefer my Shining Beam S-Mini for on the job as it is a lot smaller, but I would not hesitate to use this one. I also have a handle bar mount on my touring bike. This allows me to use it for road illumination. My standard bike light is a NiteRider MiNewt 750 Pro. The Convoy is brighter on high, but does not have the battery life that the NR offers.

If anyone requires a bright 18650 based handheld while considering budgetary concerns, I would not hesitate to recommend the Convoy M1.
 
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