So, a review of the Convoy M21A SST40, a new bright flashlight from aliexpress. The trends of the times do not bypass the manufacturer of the most popular budget flashlights on the market — Convoy. After the release of the extremely successful Convoy M3 in terms of price and quality, Simon Mao rolled out another flashlight in the M line, this time with good brightness from the SST40 LED and a capacious 21700 power supply. The novelty, Convoy M21A SST40, turned out to be quite good. I propose to look at it in the review in more detail.
There are no specifications and beautiful promotional pictures, this is a convoy. In fact, everything you need to know about the Convoy M21A fits in a couple of phrases in the paragraph above.
Convoy M21A SSt40 on aliexpress | banggood
If this is one of your first flashlights, I recommend the manual how to choose led flashlight . Here in simple language it is told about all the nuances of choice that will help you buy exactly the flashlight that you need. And in the same case, it is reasonable to turn to comparison of all Convoy flashlightsmaybe some other model will suit you, there are examples of light for almost all of them and you can definitely understand how the difference between Convoy flashlights is.
Packaging and appearance
This flashlight came to me in the cheapest and most common white box for convoys. I’m willing to admit that in the future it will be possible to see better packaging, namely a thick-walled beige box, in which the M3 L21A are now shipped. In general, everything is as usual. Yes, the phrase “everything is as usual” can fully and completely describe everything related to appearance.
By and large, outwardly this model looks like the same C8, in which, with the same head size, the carcass has increased, which now has to intervene with a larger battery. That’s all. There is not the slightest “high design” and other frills of appearance here. Just a flashlight in all its functional simplicity. Another convoy, in other words. Do you want something prettier? You are in a different price league.
Convoy M21A is controlled by a conventional power button.
The springs look the same as in the C8. The difference is that they are shunted, which is understandable — SST40 will eat in three throats. Not that there is any functional difference, but I would have preferred a full double spring.
The thread is rectangular, medium in size, well smeared.
The knurling is completely simple, the same as that of the same C8myx
The dimensions of the flashlight have grown, but only at the expense of the carcass. The head is perfectly comparable to the C8. The cooling fins are quite deep and wide relative to the dimensions of the head.
I did not feel any discomfort in the weight distribution. The grip is quite comfortable.
Anti-reflective glass.
Traditionally, the head is disassembled without any problems, this is the Convoy, in which there has always been the easiest access to offal.
The reflector is smooth.
The media with SST40 is bolted, which makes practical sense. I read that in the maximum mode the heating is such that the wires can be soldered — you need maximum contact of the substrate with the head. Otherwise, go ahead and buy a new LED substrate.
That’s all. Both outwardly and in terms of workmanship, this is a completely ordinary convoy flashlight.
Control
There is nothing new here either, the management is the same as it was. Tailcap off-on and switching modes. Maybe there will be some kind of alternative firmware, but now everything is as simple as possible. Since in this case, this simplicity is complemented by good stabilization, I will definitely prefer it to the richness of the choice of different presets as in C8 +.
How the Convoy M21A shines
Now two options are available, 5000K and 6500K, I got the first one. I haven’t had a chance to compare them live, but I’m sure there won’t be that much difference in brightness to justify buying the cold light version.
The flashlight gives a really bright light (2300 lum is declared). Such brightness from a medium-sized LED results in a combination of good range and fairly comfortable side fill. It is also true that at the same brightness as the Convoy C8 + XPL-Hi, this flashlight will be less long-range.
In this model, a thermal stepdown is declared — and this is a completely reasonable solution, without it, at maximum brightness, the flashlight would warm up to such a temperature that the carcass itself would begin to emit light.
Attention! The specification says 30%. My measurements with a luxmeter clearly show 40% -100%. And after the thermal cutoff is triggered, the brightness drops to this level.
so that number will be given below.
The graph shows a very good picture. 2 hours of stabilized brightness at 40% (and this, sorry, is about 1000lum and then you will see that this is definitely working brightness)
Also on the graph, the indication of the battery discharge is reflected by flashing every 5 seconds, somewhere from 3.2v. At 2.9v, the flashlight turns off.
Cooling allows you to achieve about half an hour of work at close to maximum brightness, then it falls. The brightness drops to the same 40% for about another half an hour, bringing the overall good brightness to a total hour.
By the way, heating is 100% balancing on the verge of comfortable. If you do not squeeze the carcass tightly around the head, then it’s normal. If there are no plans to constantly shine at 100%, then everything is fine.
I have no complaints.
and if I compare with C8 +, then look at the graph for this model, everything is clearly worse, agree.
Currents: 0.01-0.183-1.84-3.4A (but you should not rely on this, currents above 3A are usually measured incorrectly for me). All the same, currents are needed to a greater extent to estimate the duration of work, and it is on the graph. And here, by the way, the ratio 2-3 modes for current consumption is quite consistent with the declared 3-30%. Weird…
Well, the light itself, see for yourself.
If you describe in words how the Convoy M21A shines live, then in terms of the ratio of the side fill and the center, visually the flashlight reminds me more of an overclocked good old C8 than a C8 +. As for the latter, the lightmeter shows that the M21A SST40 is about 10% brighter at the center of the bright center. They cannot measure the side fill, but it is definitely brighter. Taking into account the latter, it is precisely due to the illumination that the M21A is more convenient than the C8 + at close to medium distances. Not a fountain, of course, S2 + S11 M3 will be more convenient here, but obviously better than C8 +.
I find the range of both models at maximum brightness comparable, of course, due to the fact that the Convoy M21A is radically brighter than the C8 +, as I wrote above at the same brightness, the C8 + will be longer-range, which is not surprising.
Well, let’s see how the Convoy M21A SST40 shines live. In general, the mode spread is not bad, but I would add something in between 3-40% (which I will suggest to Simon)
0.1% — gives some kind of light at a distance of up to 5 meters. By and large, this is the same firefly, convenient so as not to hit night vision and not disturb anyone.
3% — quite tolerable footlight, which is visible even at a distance of half a hundred meters. There is almost no practical sense from him at this distance, in fairness. But these 3% are quite suitable to shine under your feet and through the bushes around. There will be no good side illumination, you will have to move the flashlight more often. But you can shine dramatically further than usual. In a situation where you have one battery, and you need to shine for longer than 2 hours from 40%, this mode will be good.
40% — very bright mode. More than sufficient from the position of the footlight, good in a situation where you need to work at a distance of 50-100 meters.
100% — there is no point in using it closer than 30 meters. Bright and good mode in terms of penetration. Not from the category of super-long-range, no. Just a bit longer ranged than c8+ and with a brighter side fill. Below it is clearly seen in the photo from a distance of 75m.
well, see for yourself.
meters 7absolutely redundant distance for such a flashlight ..
meters 20 too close for 100%
And here are the appropriate distances to use.
Of course, there are many more examples of how the Convoy M21A SST shines on the video. There is also a contest for subscribers.
General impressions
The price tag of the Convoy M21A SST40 is very modest, a little more than the same C8 +. A little more here and the rest of this novelty Convoy: and size, and range, and power capacity. Is that the brightness is significantly different. In general, this model left me with the impression of a rather overclocked and well-stabilized old Convoy C8 with a more capacious power supply. A kind of flashlight, something between medium-range and long-range. If you sensibly evaluate your needs and are looking for something with just such light and for such a distance, then I think that it will not disappoint you.
However, now sofirn c8G is much more interesting. Here review
Regarding the C8 +, there are advantages and disadvantages.
+ support for a radically more capacious 21700 battery
+ long range at max
+ better side illumination at the same brightness as C8+
+ full-fledged stabilization without a drawdown in brightness
+ thermostepdown
— Worst range at the same brightness as C8+
— only 4 brightness levels
— a gap between 3% and 40%.
I hope that the review of the Convoy M21A SST40 was detailed enough for you to get an idea about this model. I would be glad if you share your opinion whether you liked this bright LED flashlight or not.