Convoy 4X18A Flashlight Review

The Convoy 4X18A Flashlight is a 4-cell can-style light capable of big output with throw.  It’s an interesting light, and has USB-C charging!

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Official Specs and Features

Here’s a link to the Convoy 4X18A Flashlight product page.

Versions

There are four emitter temperature options: 3000K, 4000K (seen here), 5000K (also seen here!), and 6500K.

Also worth noting is that this light is a reformulation of the Roche M170, from years (maybe 7?) ago.  That light had a tripod mount and did not have charging, but as far as I can tell, the build is generally the same.  Nothing at all wrong with that.  (Also, the Roche light was a three-emitter light, whereas this is a single.)

Price and Coupon

These are going for $75.99 on BangGood, who sent this light to me for review.  That’s a tracking link!

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Short Review

This is a fun light!  USB-C charging is neat and works well (over 2A if available, from a USB port (not USB-C).  The output is great and the temperature options are compelling.  This price point ($76 on banggood) is a little above where I’d like to see it but not really because the light lacks in any quality aspects.  What I’d call MSRP – aliexpress official Convoy store – price of $58 is much more compelling.

Long Review

The Big Table

Convoy 4X18A
Emitter:	Cree XHP70.2 (5000K)
Price in USD at publication time:	$75.99
Cell:	4×18650
Turbo Runtime	High Runtime
LVP?	Yes
Switch Type:	E-Switch
Quiescent Current (A):
On-Board Charging?	Yes
Chargetime
Power off Charge Port with no Cell?	2 Modes. With cells: all modes
Claimed Lumens (lm)	4300
Measured Lumens (at 30s)	3971 (92.3% of claim)^
Candela per Lumen	17.1
Claimed Throw (m)	464
Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s)	2630lux @ 5.189m = 70815cd
Throw (Calculated) (m)	532.2 (114.7% of claim)^
All my Convoy reviews!

 

Convoy 4X18A
Emitter:	Cree XHP70.2 (4000K) ^^
Price in USD at publication time:	$75.99
Cell:	4×18650
Turbo Runtime	High Runtime
LVP?	Yes
Switch Type:	E-Switch
Quiescent Current (A):
On-Board Charging?	Yes
Chargetime
Power off Charge Port with no Cell?	2 Modes. With cells: all modes
Claimed Lumens (lm)	4300
Measured Lumens (at 30s)	3538 (82.3% of claim)^
Candela per Lumen	?
Claimed Throw (m)	464
Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s)	0lux @ 0m = 0cd
Throw (Calculated) (m)	0.0 (0% of claim)^
All my Convoy reviews!

^ Measurement disclaimer:  Testing flashlights is my hobby. I use hobbyist-level equipment for testing, including some I made myself. Try not to get buried in the details of manufacturer specifications versus measurements recorded here; A certain amount of difference (say, 10 or 15%) is perfectly reasonable.
^^ This light broke after I performed the runtimes, but before I tested throw etc.  So all the data isn’t available.

What’s Included

• Convoy 4X18A Flashlight
• Flat top cell adapter (seen below)

Package and Manual

There is no manual.

Build Quality and Disassembly

The build quality here is exactly in line with other Convoy lights, if not better. I’m very satisfied with built quality.

The knurling is perfect, and there’s plenty of it.

The tailcap is removable but it’s a dumb tailcap (no electronics) and inside it the cell holder is secured to the cell tube – nothing comes out when removing the tailcap.

(Sorry I’ll have to drop in an at-the-desk cell phone pic of that part here:)

The head has quite a bit of fins for cooling.

The tailcap also has two holes for lanyard attachment.

Included with the package is this interesting little cell cover.  I believe this is intended for use with flat top cells, but it works with these button top 30Q cells, too.  It does not seem necessary with button tops.

The threads on the head/body interface are unanodized, square-cut, and sort of long.  The light can be locked out by breaking the contact here – very tiny twist.

The cells all go in with the positive end facing out of the body (the normal direction).  This means that the cells are in parallel.

The tail end has springs, and the head is just a thick brass ring.

The bezel is easily removable and the metal reflector falls right out.

Size and Comps

Officially:

Head diameter: 69mm
Battery tube diameter: 50mm
Flashlight length: 153mm
Product weight: 458g

The light seen below is the 4000K version.

It’s not really a can light, but feels like one in hand.

The emitter seen at right below is the 4000K version.

Retention and Carry

The lanyard attachment point is the only means for retaining the light.  No pouch, and nothing else.

The lanyard attachment point is very nice, though.

Power and Runtime

This light needs high quality 18650 cells to operate.  They’re in parallel though, so it’s conceivable that a high enough quality cell could run all modes of this light.

To be honest I was about to test this, opened the light, only to find out that one of those 30Q cells that you see above had vented.  I don’t know if it’s the fault of the light, or the fault of the cell, so I’ll reserve judgement.  There was nothing extraneous about how I was using the light to have caused it, though.

If you wish to use flat top cells, you should use the provided cap.  This is a clever thing to include, and works well.  It’s not needed with button tops, but still seems to fit in there ok (it was not in place when the above mentioned vent happened.)

Output doesn’t hit the claimed 4300 lumens, but that’s likely a rating for the 6500K emitter anyway.  The output does hold steady for a few minutes though, which is respectable.

4000K light runtimes:

High is very steady for the duration.  Steady ~1500 lumens is nothing to sneeze at!!

5000K light runtimes:

As you’d expect, the 5000K emitter has slightly higher output.  It’s nice to see the setup tested in this way (two different Kelvins) and that the cooler temperature does in fact output more (and my setup tests it that way, too).

Charging

The 4X18A also has built-in charging.  It’s a USB-C port and it’s opposite the power button.  I didn’t test this with PD charging – only USB to USB-C.

The charge port cover presses in and fits very securely.

4000K light chargetime:

5000K light chargetime:

Charging looks about the same over the two lights, as you’d expect.

Modes and Currents

Mode	Mode Claimed Output (lm)	Claimed Runtime	Measured Lumens 4000K/5000K	Tailcap Amps
Highest	100%	–	3538/3971	8.01
Middle	40%	–	1483/1693	2.21
Middle	10%	–	454	0.56
Lowest	1%	–	16	0.02

Pulse Width Modulation

No PWM!

Here you can see a “baseline” – a chart with almost no light hitting the sensor.

Then there’s the Ultrafire WF-602C flashlight, which has some of the worst PWM I’ve seen. It’s so bad that I used a post about it to explain PWM! Here are multiple timescales (10ms, 5ms, 2ms, 1ms, 0.5ms, 0.2ms) to make comparing this “worst” PWM light to the test light easier. That post also explains why I didn’t test the WF-602C at the usual 50us scale.

User Interface and Operation

There’s a single switch on this light.  It’s an e-switch (or so it feels; I’ve been wrong on Convoy lights before).

It looks like it might be an indicating switch, but it’s not.  It’s big and plenty easy to find without looking, though.

Here’s a user interface table!

State	Action	Result
Off	Click	On (Mode Memory)
On	Click	Off
On	Hold	Mode Advance (LMHT)
Off	Hold	Low
Any	Double Click	Turbo

LED and Beam

4000K emitter shot:

5000K emitter shot:

Notice how much more egg-yolky the 4000K looks than the 5000K.

LED Color Report (CRI and CCT)

Beamshots

These beamshots always have the following settings:  f8, ISO100, 0.3s shutter, and manual 5000K exposure. These photos are taken at floor level, and the beam hits the ceiling around 9 feet away.

4000K light beamshots:

5000K light beamshots:

Tint vs BLF-348 (KillzoneFlashlights.com 219b version) (affiliate link)

4000K light (left):

5000K light (left):

I compare everything to the Killzone 219b BLF-348 because it’s inexpensive and has the best tint!

Conclusion

What I like

• Nice output
• Very good throw for a can light
• Easy UI
• Good Convoy build quality

What I don’t like

• Something went awry with my first sample, but I can’t say for certain that it wasn’t just the cell being used.  So…. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
• user interface is just a little too basic

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Notes

• This light was provided by BangGood for review. I was not paid to write this review.
• This content originally appeared at zeroair.org.  Please visit there for the best experience!
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