Convoy S2+ 18650 Flashlight: Should Everyone Really Have One of These?

How long have I used a Convoy S2+ as a size reference light, yet never tested one officially.  How many flashlight fanatics have an 18650 Convoy S2+ LED flashlight?  Well I’m here to tell you everyone should!  It might not be this exact one (read to find out if I think it should be), but there are so many flavors that if you can’t find one you like, then you aren’t even trying.

---

Official Specs and Features

Here’s a link to the official product page.

Versions of the Convoy S2+ 18650 Flashlight

There are all sorts of body colors.  There are all sorts of emitter options – any emitter you want can go in this.  The modification potential is practically endless.  Really there’s no point in starting specific options.  If you want it, you can have it.

There are however two important versions to note.  There’s the one seen here, which has the older (trapezoidal) threading and there’s a newer version, which has thick square-cut threads.  More on that later.

Price

The price for this specific version as shown in this review is $14.95.

---

Short Review

I have quite a few of these.  Four at least.  One of them is a custom made by a good friend – a Nichia 219b triple.  This is the one I use in all my review size comparisons.  Then I have one a friend cerakoted orange.  I also have an orange body just like this one I bought myself.  So I like these enough to have many of them, and for $15, you almost certainly will too.  And at $15, it’s hard to go wrong.

Long Review of the Convoy S2+ 18650 Flashlight​

The Big Table

There are four separate tables here.  They represent two cell configurations of the S2+:  18650 and 18350.  Also shown are two reflector configurations:  Smooth and orange peel.  More on all of that stuff further into the review.

Convoy S2+ 18650 Flashlight
Emitter:	Luminus SST-20 (2700K (Smooth Reflector (default)))
Price in USD at publication time:	$14.95
Cell:	1×18650
Turbo (100%) Runtime	High (35%) Runtime
LVP?	Yes
Switch Type:	Reverse Mechanical Clicky
On-Board Charging?	No
Claimed Lumens (lm)	–
Measured Lumens (at 30s)	421
Candela per Lumen	21.2
Claimed Throw (m)	–
Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s)	352lux @ 5.003m = 8811cd
Throw (Calculated) (m)	187.7
All my Convoy reviews!

 

Convoy S2+ 18650 Flashlight
Emitter:	Luminus SST-20 (2700K (Smooth Reflector (default)))
Price in USD at publication time:	$14.95
Cell:	1×18350
Turbo (100%) Runtime	High (35%) Runtime
LVP?	Yes
Switch Type:	Reverse Mechanical Clicky
On-Board Charging?	No
Claimed Lumens (lm)	–
Measured Lumens (at 30s)	434^
Candela per Lumen	21.1
Claimed Throw (m)	–
Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s)	265lux @ 5.747m = 8752cd
Throw (Calculated) (m)	187.1^
All my Convoy reviews!

 

Convoy S2+ 18650 Flashlight
Emitter:	Luminus SST-20 (2700K (Orange Peel Reflector))
Price in USD at publication time:	$14.95
Cell:	1×18650
LVP?	Yes
Switch Type:	Reverse Mechanical Clicky
On-Board Charging?	No
Claimed Lumens (lm)	–
Candela per Lumen	17.9
Claimed Throw (m)	–
Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s)	286lux @ 5.329m = 8122cd
Throw (Calculated) (m)	180.2^
All my Convoy reviews!

 

Convoy S2+
Emitter:	Luminus SST-20 (2700K (Orange Peel Reflector))
Price in USD at publication time:	$14.95
Cell:	1×18350
LVP?	Yes
Switch Type:	Reverse Mechanical Clicky
On-Board Charging?	No
Claimed Lumens (lm)	–
Candela per Lumen	17
Claimed Throw (m)	–
Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s)	265lux @ 5.423m = 7793cd
Throw (Calculated) (m)	176.6^
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

My review package included the parts above.  For $14.95, you get:

• Convoy sS2+ (18650 size)
• Lanyard

MohrLumens.com also included the orange peel reflector which you can see above.

I happened to have some other parts I thought were worth mentioning (and testing with) in this review, so you can see those above too.

• Convoy S2+ 18350 body
• Friction fit pocket clip
• Screw-in pocket clip (shown below only)

Package and Manual

There is no manual.

Build Quality and Disassembly

Convoy is very highly regarded by flashlight enthusiasts for having great build quality and low prices.  Can I state again that this light is $15?  It’s really just a ridiculous price for this light.  $15 is a wonderful price for this light.

As I said in the intro, I’ll be covering exactly what I was sent from MohrLumens.com.  But I had the shorty tube on hand, and some other accessories.  So you’ll see them here too, starting with the shots below of the 18350 tube installed.

Both head and tail come off the light.

And that’s exactly how you swap the cell tubes.  I can’t tell you how many times I did this over the course of the review!

The cell tube is not reversible.  One end is anodized, and one is unanodized.  The anodized end is the tail end.  Also, both bodies have their own o-rings.

The head has a long thin spring.

The driver is visible – note how the driver is soldered to a retaining ring on this version.

The tail end also has a spring, but this one is not straight.

The tail parts are held in place by a brass retaining ring.

It’s worth noting that Convoy is moving to a new threading system.  What you see on this head and tail is the old type – finer trapezoidal threads.  The newer type has bigger square-cut threads.  My (and probably your) copper S2+ has these threads.  Both work fine but the parts are not interchangeable.  If this bit of information is important to you, ask before placing an order what type of threads the light will have.  But if you never plan to mod, and don’t have any other parts that you’ll be swapping this with, do not worry about it and don’t think about it again.

MorhLumens.com lists in this product listing that these are trapezoidal threads.  On the listings that have the newer (or “other”) threads, the listing says this:  “All have square threads.”  So at MohrLumens.com, you can know what you’re getting without having to ask.

Here you can see the threads – they are square-cut, but the newer versions are much broader (and “shorter”).

Same thing on the other end, just anodized.

The finish of this orange light is really spectacular.  The knurling is right on point.  Lights costing orders of magnitude more have had worse knurling!!

Very minimal branding.  The shorty does not have any branding at all.

The head has a stripe of knurling in the right place for head removal.  I typically remove the head – that way I don’t have to fuss with the pocket clip, which I always have installed on the tail end.

The bezel is flat with no reliefs.  When headstanging, no light escapes.

The engine unscrews easily.  I used tweezers, which makes the job easy.

As I noted, the driver is soldered to the pill.  If you wish to change the driver, you’ll also need to unsolder these two spots.  Another thing to note here is that my driver is a 6×7135 – you can see two of those chips below and two vacant places.  There are 4 on the other side of that board, for my total of 6.  This affects the output – fewer chips = lower output.  The max is 8 (at least the max available from most stores is 8).

However, you could swap the emitter if you wish, from this side of the pill.

Inside the head are a centering ring and an aluminum reflector.

The reflector has a lens covering it, then a glow gasket.

Below you can see the proper order.  Reflector > lens > gasket.

I was sent a spare reflector for testing. They’re physically the same except for the finish on the reflecting surface.

The orange peel (right) is just a little bit orange peel.  You can see later how this breaks up the beam pattern.

Size and Comps

• Length: 118 mm
• Width: 24.1 mm  (those are maukka’s numbers – my calipers have gone missing….)

Weights are as follows:

• Head: 35g
• Tail: 21g
• 18650 tube: 24g
• 18350 tube: 12g
• Friction clip: 5g
• Full 18650 with friction clip: 85g
• Full 18350 with friction clip: 73g

Just for the sake of curiosity, the full copper 18650 version weighs 181g.

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).

The 18350 size really is a great size.  That I like 18350 lights should be no surprise to anyone by this point….

Here’s the test light with the venerable Convoy S2+.  Mine’s a custom “baked” edition Nichia 219b triple.  A very nice 18650 light.  You will probably notice that my custom triple is a little different than this version.  Notice the ridges, specifically around the head.  On the new version, these will hold a pocket clip.  The old version (presumably – I haven’t really heard anyone call it “the old version”), those don’t hold clips.  The parts are still compatible between these versions though.

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.  I was extremely surprised that the 18350 version is just barely taller than the BOSS!

So I wanted to see it beside a Hanko Trident…. The Trident is actually taller!

Retention and Carry

There are three main ways to carry the S2+.  The first is a pocket clip, which is a separate purchase.  I happened to have one on hand.  Absolutely buy one with the light, though.

Below you can see it in all four positions on the 18650 body.  This light can be carried either orientation and deeper or shallower, depending on preference.

The same clip even works on the 18350 body, too!  It’s a very good setup.

Also available is a more secure screw-in clip.  This clip ships with two nuts and two screws.  These fit through the holes in the tailcap.  This is a little fiddly to set up, but the clip won’t pop off!  Functionally this clip is fine but I strongly prefer the look (and usage) of the friction clip.

This clip too works on the 18350 body.  The clips can be used concurrently, too.

Also available is a lanyard, which is included.  The lanyard fits through these two holes on the tailcap.  Note that the holes are only on one side of the tail, so really the lanyard and screw clip can’t be used together unless actually attaching the lanyard to the clip.  I don’t know if the clip will withstand that type of use, though (it’s fairly thin).

The light also tailstands reliably.

With the versatility of the friction clip, the Convoy S2+ can be used as a hatlight in either cell size.  The 18650 setup is a little less than ideal, however, due to the length of the light.  (But technically it’ll work.)

Power and Runtime

The Convoy S2+ is powered by a single lithium-ion cell.  The default tube supports a single 18650 cell.  The accessory tube supports a single 18350 cell.

The cell goes into the light in the normal direction – positive end toward the head.

Here are a couple of runtimes for the 18650 setup.  I tested all the runtimes with only the smooth (default) reflector.  I reasoned that the output (duration) isn’t changing with these different reflectors.  Output is fairly low on 100%, but remember this is a 6×7135 light.  If you wanted more output, you’d likely get an 8×7135, or a different driver pushing harder.  You’re getting a reliable 440 lumens for over an hour.  The light does have low voltage protection, and on bench power seemed to shut off electronically around 2.6V.  That’s just a shade low, but still acceptable.

 

The outputs are defined as percentages, so the “second from highest” mode is “35%”.  Well 35% of 440 lumens is around what we’re seeing below, so that’s a good, accurate claim.

I threw in some testing of the 18350 cell size because I was curious and I know you readers are too.

Output honestly looks exactly the same as above, just shorter.  Sensible.

When you buy yours, include the 18350 cell tube too.  It’s just too much fun and adds too much to this light, to skip it.  Even if it’s a different color (not sure MohrLumens.com has stock of the orange shorty.)

Modes and Currents

Mode	Mode Claimed Output (lm)	Claimed Runtime	Measured Lumens	Tailcap Amps
100%	–	–	434	2.08
35%	–	–	173	0.91
10%	–	–	54	0.31
1%	–	–	10	0.04
0.1%	–	–	~	~

Pulse Width Modulation

The fly in the ointment here is the default user interface – Biscotti – does use PWM.  Despite what looks to be quite slow PWM on the lowest mode, I don’t notice it by eye.  And if I don’t, you almost certainly will not, too.

For reference, here’s a baseline shot, with all the room lights off and almost nothing hitting the sensor.  Also, here’s the light with the worst PWM I could find.  I’m adding multiple timescales, so it’ll be easier to compare to the test light.  Unfortunately, the PWM on this light is so bad that it doesn’t even work with my normal scale, which is 50 microseconds (50us). 10ms.  5ms.  2ms.  1ms.  0.5ms.  0.2ms.  In a display faster than 0.2ms or so, the on/off cycle is more than one screen, so it’d just (very incorrectly) look like a flat line.  I wrote more about this Ultrafire WF-602C flashlight and explained a little about PWM too.

User Interface and Operation

There’s a single switch on the Convoy S2+.  This is a reverse mechanical clicky.  A reverse clicky has the benefit of allowing mode changes while the light is on.  But this also means that the switch does nothing until it is on – no momentary action whatsoever.

I covered this UI in my Convoy C8+ review

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 UI in a table as I usually do. Here is Simon’s flow chart for the UI.

Here’s the official guide for the Biscotti firmware:

From the mode group selection above, the light ships in mode group 1.  You’ll want to switch it to mode group 2 quickly of course.  🙂  And I always turn off memory if possible (and it’s possible here!).  I made a first pass at my own flow chart, which you can see below.

If something’s wrong (or even just “unclear”) in there, please let me know!

LED and Beam

In my review copy of the orange S2+ is a Luminus SST-20, in 2700K.  Now, this is a very warm emitter.  However, this setup at this price is exactly the right reason to buy this light.  If you haven’t had a very warm emitter, you can have a fully working light for $15 – an excellent cost proposition.

My default reflector was smooth.

Also included in my set was an Orange Peel reflector.

OP is on the right, below.

In my testing of throw, the reflectors just really do not make much difference at all.  This part surprised me just a little.  Throw was 187m for either body of the smooth reflector, and around 178m for the orange peel – yes different (and consistently lower) but probably not even noticeable.  Candela per lumen was similarly changed – you’d expect the smooth to have a higher cd/lm, and it does – more throw, at 21cd/lm.  The OP has a lower cd/lm, at around 17.

These findings are not surprising, but it’s noteworthy that the OP drops the numbers so little.  You can check the beam profiles below – in my opinion, it’s worth grabbing the OP reflector just for how it cleans up the beam profile just a bit – and you aren’t really sacrificing anything by using it.  To my eye, it removes most of the shadow around the hotspot.

These beamshots are always with the following settings:  f8, ISO100, 0.3s shutter, and manual 5000K exposure.

Smooth Reflector first:

Orange Peel Reflector second:

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.

Smooth Reflector first:

Orange Peel Reflector second:

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

ZeroAir Edition

I talked at length to my guy at MohrLumens.com.  I’m wishing to make a ZeroAir edition of this light in – you guessed it – black and orange.  In fact, that’s why I purchased my own copy of this light in the first place.  Just because it was out there and I wanted to see it…. black switch, a black clip, orange body.

MohrLumens.com doesn’t offer this yet, but if there’s enough interest, the owner is willing to look into it!

You have to agree the black and orange combo looks just right.

Conclusion

What I like

• Low price
• Great way to get a very warm emitter
• Build quality is great, especially for such a low cost light
• TONS of build-out options.  (different clips, bodies, etc)
• Highly modifiable (drivers, emitters, etc).

What I don’t like

• PWM of Biscotti is not my favorite feature of this light.

---

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!
• For flashlight-related patches, stickers, and gear, head over to PhotonPhreaks.com!
• Use my amazon.com referral link if you’re willing to help support making more reviews like this one!
• Please support me on Patreon!  Feeding flashlights is expensive!  And funding Fun Fund Friday even more so.  I deeply appreciate your support!