Another Convoy! Like I said, I’d love to review all the Convoy lights but that’s quite a task. In any case, here’s the S12, a new 21700 light, with some pleasant eggy SST-20 emitters. Read on!

Official Specs and Features

Here’s a link to the banggood product page.

Versions

There’s only one body, but a bunch of emitter options here. The S12 is available in:

Nichia 219C 4000K

Nichia 219C 5700K

SST20 2700K

SST20 4000K – This is my review copy.

SST20 5000k

SST20 6500k

Price

The going price is $29.99. Buy yours at banggood! Clicking that link helps me be able to post reviews just like this one! Buying helps even more!

Short Review

This is a fun light, and I really like the 4000K SST-20. They’re very warm, and I find that very pleasant.

Long Review

The Big Table

* Measurement disclaimer: I am an amateur flashlight reviewer. I don’t have $10,000 or even $1,000 worth of testing equipment. I test output and such in PVC tubes!! Please consider claims within 10% of what I measure to be perfectly reasonable (accurate, even).

What’s Included

Convoy S12 Flashlight

Lanyard

Package and Manual

Just like the other Convoy box recently, this one was fairly abused. Light was in perfect condition, though. It’s in bubble wrap, inside this container.

There is no manual.

Build Quality and Disassembly

Build quality is exactly on par with other Convoy lights. No better, no worse. This light is only $29, so it’s well built for that price.

There is no knurling – instead there is some line feature on the body. The tailcap also has some unusual design.

The head has shallow fins, and a reasonable amount of mass.

The tailcap has adequate grip area for unscrewing and swapping the cell.

There’s an easily removable stainless steel bezel.

The cell tube is different on the head and tail end. The tail end has anodized threads, but the head has unanodized threads. That does mean the tube is not reversible.

Both head and tail have springs (which increases the available cell-size options), and both area already spring bypassed.

The bezel unscrews easily, and the reflector then comes out too.

The emitters are easily accessible.

Head and tailstanding is possible.

Size and Comps

Diameter (Head/Body) 34.6 x 27.4 mm

Length 134 mm

Weight 124g

Quite a reasonably sized light, for being a triple 21700 light.

Retention and Carry

The only included option for carry is the already-attached lanyard. It’s installed a bit wrong, but that’s easy to fix.

There is no pocket clip. There is no pouch.

Power and Runtime

Primary power for the S12 is a single 21700. With springs on both ends, any type 21700 should fit and work just fine. The S12 will also work with other cells like 18650 or 20700, too.

You’ll likely want a fairly high quality cell, because the S12 draws around 5A on 100% output. Here’s a runtime on 100%. Basically the light starts at 100% and then tracks down just a little before settling out at around 1000 lumens. After that output falls as cell voltage falls. The emitter flashes to alert low voltage at around 3V. This flash is noticeable and quite dramatic because at this point the output can still be as high as 700 lumens. So a flash from 700 lumens to off for a second is quite noticeable. And the light does eventually shut off, at around 2.85V.

High is pleasantly flat for almost 2 hours, with a 3750mAh cell.

Modes and Currents

Mode Mode Claimed Output (lm) Claimed Runtime Measured Lumens Tailcap Amps 100% 100% 1353 5.00 30% 30% 537 1.55 3% 3% 0.18 0.1% 0.1% 0.03

PWM

There is no PWM detected on this light.

For reference, here’s a baseline shot, with all the room lights off and almost nothing hitting the sensor. And here’s the worst PWM light I have ever owned. Also one of the very first lights I ordered directly from China!

User Interface and Operation

Neither the Convoy official page nor the BangGood page describe the UI of this light. And with no manual, I’m kind of just free wheeling it. That said, it’s probably mostly like other single switch Convoys – the T2 for example. This does not seem to be Biscotti. And it’s exactly like the M21B I just reviewed.

Here’s a UI table!

State Action Result Off Click On (Mode Memory) Off Half Press No Action On Half Press Mode Advance (LMHT) On Click Off

There does not seem to be any strobe (yay). Also no shortcut to anything (boo).

LED and Beam

This is a triple, and my review copy has three Luminus SST-20 emitters. These are 4000K, though other temperatures are available. I quite like the 4000K and would recommend it. There’s even a 2700K, which would be soooo warm. So warm.

Each emitter has a shallow reflector.

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

Tint vs BLF-348 (Killzone 219b version)

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

Random Comparisons and Competitive Options….

Here’s a link to a relevantly filtered page on parametrek.com. I use that site a lot! You could of course drill your search down any number of ways, but I didn’t turn up any other 21700 SST-20 lights. So this is your only option in that regard! It’s a good choice either way.

Conclusion

What I like

Inexpensive with good build quality

Nice beam profile

What I don’t like

No UI manual (and too basic UI)

Specs are generic (and so the light “doesn’t meet it’s claim,” though I think the claim is for a different emitter option).

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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