I have a budget to stay on, but am willing to stretch if it's worth it. I also believe in carrying a backup light. Hence, I bought two: a Convoy C8+, and the Malkoff M61HOT MD2. For the Convoy, it's the shipping time. For the Malkoff, it's the price.
Before all of this, I sent a lot of messages on Facebook to Malkoff asking for details about different models of lights. It took time, but they were all answered thoroughly.
The whole purchase of the M61HOT took three days, from July 7th to today, when I receive it. Unboxing wise, the light itself was inside a zip lock bag. The zip lock bag was inside a bubble-wrapping bag. The bubble wrapping bag was placed in the USPS box, and was secured to minimize shock.
Build impression
Both lights are well built, in my opinion. However, there is something about the Malkoff that's missing in the C8+, most noticeably when I picked it up. The M61HOT is about half an inch shorter than the C8+, and more compact since the head diameter is smaller. When I held the C8+ two days ago, it didn't feel as awesome as when I just did the M61HOT. The tricap prevents the Malkoff from rolling, and it simply makes the Malkoff looks way cooler.
I paid for the Hi/Lo ring, but I'm not sure how it works, as I turn the head, the light turns off. I'm waiting for a reply from the company.
The M61HOT has momentary switch, the C8+ does not.
Initial beam profile impression
The C8+ has 12 group modes with a total of 55 modes. I choose 100% output and leave it so.
I turned on both lights in my room. In my opinion, the C8+ is noticeably brighter than the M61HOT. It is expected, because the C8+ is rated at 1100lm while the M61HOT is only at 740lm.
I still have to drain the battery down to see how each performs, and look at the night time beam.
Current thoughts
I may have overspent for my needs. The Malkoff surely feels much greater in the hand, and looks much cooler. Besides those, lego-ability, top-notch quality, and great customer service (as many have discussed. I haven't been through an exchange, or warranty case, so I can't tell yet). However, the C8+ is decent in the hand, may be not as well built, but purchasing four C8+'s would somewhat relieve me from quality, and customer service issues. Furtheremore, four C8+'s still cost less than one M61HOT MD2 with Hi/Lo ring. For my current use, I can't see how I can go wrong with four C8+'s.
As mentioned, I'll check the brightness output on both and the runtime on the C8+ and update it here.
Please let me know what I'm missing.
Before all of this, I sent a lot of messages on Facebook to Malkoff asking for details about different models of lights. It took time, but they were all answered thoroughly.
The whole purchase of the M61HOT took three days, from July 7th to today, when I receive it. Unboxing wise, the light itself was inside a zip lock bag. The zip lock bag was inside a bubble-wrapping bag. The bubble wrapping bag was placed in the USPS box, and was secured to minimize shock.
Build impression
Both lights are well built, in my opinion. However, there is something about the Malkoff that's missing in the C8+, most noticeably when I picked it up. The M61HOT is about half an inch shorter than the C8+, and more compact since the head diameter is smaller. When I held the C8+ two days ago, it didn't feel as awesome as when I just did the M61HOT. The tricap prevents the Malkoff from rolling, and it simply makes the Malkoff looks way cooler.
I paid for the Hi/Lo ring, but I'm not sure how it works, as I turn the head, the light turns off. I'm waiting for a reply from the company.
The M61HOT has momentary switch, the C8+ does not.
Initial beam profile impression
The C8+ has 12 group modes with a total of 55 modes. I choose 100% output and leave it so.
I turned on both lights in my room. In my opinion, the C8+ is noticeably brighter than the M61HOT. It is expected, because the C8+ is rated at 1100lm while the M61HOT is only at 740lm.
I still have to drain the battery down to see how each performs, and look at the night time beam.
Current thoughts
I may have overspent for my needs. The Malkoff surely feels much greater in the hand, and looks much cooler. Besides those, lego-ability, top-notch quality, and great customer service (as many have discussed. I haven't been through an exchange, or warranty case, so I can't tell yet). However, the C8+ is decent in the hand, may be not as well built, but purchasing four C8+'s would somewhat relieve me from quality, and customer service issues. Furtheremore, four C8+'s still cost less than one M61HOT MD2 with Hi/Lo ring. For my current use, I can't see how I can go wrong with four C8+'s.
As mentioned, I'll check the brightness output on both and the runtime on the C8+ and update it here.
Please let me know what I'm missing.