Convoy C8+ 18650 Powered Thrower with Biscotti Flashlight Review
The Convoy C8+ 18650 flashlight is available from a US-based store! This store MohrLumens.com has opened and is selling the likes of Convoy, Lumintop, and Sofirn lights. The benefit, of course, is that the items are shipping from the US, so you’re likely to get your items much quicker than from other (even official) channels. MohrLumens.com sent the Convoy C8+ for a bit of testing, and I’m hopeful that many more Convoy reviews are on tap! This Convoy C8+ is a 18650 thrower with Biscotti. Read on for more!
Note that this light was damaged in shipping. Big old chunk in the side of the package straight through the box and straight into the box. Like some USPS employee smashed the package under a piece of equipment or whatever. MohrLumens.com will treat you right if this happens to you (which is pretty unlikely).
Official Specs and Features
Here’s a link to the official product page.
Versions of the Convoy C8+ 18650 Flashlight
There are a ton of versions of the C8+. There’s a black body (seen here) and a tan body. There are many emitter options, too. The Luminus SST-20 5000K is the version I have in for testing. Also, options are Cree XP-L HI, Luminus SST-40, Osram KW CSLNM1.TG, Nichia 219c, and Osram KP CSLNM1.F1. There are plenty of choices!
Price
The version as tested is going for $19.95 at MohrLumens.com. You can get yours here.
Short Review
This is a great little thrower, and probably the very least money you can spend to get 500+ meters of throw! When speaking with MohrLumens about emitter options, I mentioned Cree XP-L HI being my favorite but I have to say I really love this SST-20. It’s neutral without being yellow, but still not muddy. A bit hard to describe. The light handles well and the build quality is great, and again, this light is under twenty dollars!
Long Review
The Big Table
| Convoy C8+ 18650 Flashlight | |
|---|---|
| Emitter: | Luminus SST-20 (5000K) |
| Price in USD at publication time: | $19.95 |
| Cell: | 1×18650 |
| Turbo Runtime | High Runtime |
| LVP? | Yes |
| Switch Type: | Mechanical |
| On-Board Charging? | No |
| Claimed Lumens (lm) | – |
| Measured Lumens (at 30s) | 732^ |
| Candela per Lumen | 94.8 |
| Claimed Throw (m) | – |
| Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s) | 2370lux @ 5.608m = 74536cd |
| Throw (Calculated) (m) | 546.0^ |
| 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.
What’s Included
- Convoy C8+
- Lanyard (attached)
Also, see in the photo above the damage USPS did to the light. It’s pretty dramatic really.
Package and Manual
There is no manual included.
Build Quality and Disassembly
Convoy seems to make lights that have a higher build quality than would be expected based on the price. Again, this light is under $20. The build quality is much higher than $20 would predict.
The C8+ differs from C8 in a few ways, including the tailcap seen below. There’s a bit more grip, and it feels beefier than my other C8. Unfortunately no comparison photos – the C8 makes a fantastic giveaway light – it’s inexpensive and trustworthy. So I don’t still have any of my many others!
The head is covered with fins which help with cooling. Not that cooling is all that important here, because the light isn’t driven terribly hard.
The cell tube has a good bit of knurling, which aids grip.
Here’s that damage again. The perpetrator actually sheared off metal and left a bit hanging. I can knock that off and then fill those spots with some Sharpie and probably never notice it again.
There’s very minimal branding on the C8+ – all seen below.
The tailcap is held together by a retaining ring, and there’s a beefy spring in there.
The head end also has a spring. This means any type 18650 will work fine.
Despite being different on each end here, the cell tube is reversible. Typically the unanodized end will go on the head side of the light.
The head components are held in place by a retaining ring, too. All the parts are extremely accessible!
The bezel unscrews easily, leaving access to the MCPCB, which is held in place with two screws. The little plastic on the metal reflector is the centering ring that goes around the emitter.
The tailcap threads are anodized, square-cut, and very smooth.
Due to the purple hue seen below, I expect the lens has an AR coating.
Size and Comps
Body Diameter: 25.5mm
Head Diameter: 44.5mm
Length: 141mm
If the flashlight will headstand, I’ll show it here (usually the third photo). If the flashlight will tailstand, I’ll show that here, too (usually the fourth photo).
Here’s the test light with the venerable Convoy S2+. Mine is a custom “baked” edition Nichia 219b triple. A very nice 18650 light!
And here’s the light beside my custom-engraved TorchLAB BOSS 35, an 18350 light. I reviewed the aluminum version of that light in both 35 and 70 formats.
Here’s my closest similar-sized light, the Lumintop GT Mini. I thought about cleaning this one-off but then I thought “why not leave it?” because…. wow I have so many lights, and some of them really don’t get used much…. case in point….
Retention and Carry
For the C8+ there is only a lanyard to aid in carry. The lanyard ships attached.
This lanyard attaches on the tailcap, through these two holes on either side.
The lanyard always ships from Convoy in the [incorrect] configuration seen below…. This irks me slightly because it prevents clean tailstanding.
You’ll find the orientation below better suited for all things!
That’s it. No pocket clip, no pouch, nothing else.
Power and Runtime
The C8+ is powered by a single lithium-ion cell – this light fits an 18650.
Due to long (enough) springs on the head and tail, the C8+ will work with most (or all) 18650 cells. Unprotected flat tops, long protected button tops. They should all work fine.
Below are runtimes on the highest two modes. The output isn’t regulated and drifts downward as the cell voltage drops. There’s a stepdown after “a while” and the output drifts again. The output shuts off at 3.0V
High has no stepdowns all the way to the shutoff.
Testing with a bench power supply, the light shuts off hard at 3.0V.
Modes and Currents
There aren’t really any claims for output on this little guy, but here’s what I found.
| Mode | Mode Claimed Output (lm) | Claimed Runtime | Measured Lumens | Tailcap Amps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100% | – | – | 732 | 2.74 |
| 35% | – | – | 318 | 1.20 |
| 10% | – | – | 95 | 0.34 |
| 1% | – | – | 10 | 0.06 |
| 0.1% | – | – | – | ~ |
Pulse Width Modulation
The light has PWM on all four lower modes. Surprisingly I wouldn’t really call even the lowest mode “visible” PWM, despite how it looks in the graphs.
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 just one switch on the C8, a tail mechanical reverse clicky.
This driver is known as “Biscotti” and has a bunch of mode groups. Mode memory can be turned on or off (yay!), and programming is easy! But there are simply too many possibilities for me to list the user interface in a table as I usually do. Here is Simon’s flow chart for the UI.
From the mode group selection above, the light ships in mode group 1.
LED and Beam
The emitter in this Convoy C8+ from MohrLumens.com is a Luminus SST-20. The temperature is 5000K, and let me tell you, it’s very appealing. The reflector is smooth and provides a beam with a tight hotspot, but reasonable spill.
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.
Tint vs BLF-348 (KillzoneFlashlights.com 219b version) (affiliate link)
I keep the test flashlight on the left and the BLF-348 reference flashlight on the right.
I compare everything to the KillzoneFlashlights.com 219b BLF-348 because it’s inexpensive and has the best tint!
Conclusion on the Convoy C8+ 18650 Flashlight
What I like
- Low-cost thrower!
- Nice tint/temp on the Luminus SST-20 5000K
- Good user interface and plenty of user interface options
- Easy to avoid blink options
- Direct access to low (if memory is off)
- Memory can be turned on or off.
What I don’t like
…. I really don’t not like anything about this light. For twenty dollars, everyone should have one. I don’t like that USPS marred up the surface. But that is what it is.
Notes
- This light was provided by MohrLumens.com 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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