Convoy has a new design on a small EDC style AA powered flashlight, the Convoy T2. Thanks to Gearbest for sending this to me, let’s take a look.
Full Image Gallery: https://imgur.com/a/oAr9Fc8
YouTube Version of this Review:
Packaging
Packaging is very minimal on the T2. The light was inside a small bubble wrap bag, inside a generic white box. No instructions or extras were included.
Construction
The T2, is basically a scaled down Convoy S2+ designed to run on AA sized batteries.Physically it’s a pretty generic tail clicky light. The light is made from aluminum and is anodized in a eggshell black. There is standard diamond shaped flat knurling on the tail, body, and head of the light. It’s fairly smooth and non aggressive Threads are square cut and had a bit of grease on them. The tail cap has wings for attaching a lanyard but they are not quite tall enough to allow the light to tail stand as the button stands proud. The button has a bit of texture on it’s silicone surface. The clip unfortunately is not designed for deep carry. It can be mounted on the top or bottom of the body tube, and doesn’t allow much space for thicker material or deep carry.
The body tube contains the same knurling as does the head. The head is very plain and pretty standard. Under the glass lens there is a glow in the dark oring. The lens fairly deep and has an orange peel finish. The LED is nicely centered but there is quite a bit of space around it. A physically larger LED would fit.
Size/Weight
I measured the Length of this light at 93mm, Diameter at 22mm. Weight with an enloop and lanyard is 75g. The light is IPX8 water rated. Length seems about average for a AA light, but it is a bit thicker in diameter.
LED/Beam Pattern/Runtime
The LED in my example is a Cree XPG2 T6-3b at about 5000k. The Same LED is offered in 4200k, and 6500k. I think if I was to get another I would go for the 4200k version. 5000k seems to have a bit of purple tint to my eyes. Beam pattern on this light is good for an edc, it has a larger hotspot, and it gradually spills of to less. Beam distance is about 50 ft at max. On high it’s rated for about 300 lumens.
The light is designed to work on 1.5V, so for my runtime test I ran it on an Eneloop AA battery. Total runtime was right at 45 minutes on high. Strangely the light output increase over the first 25 minutes the light was on. It wasn’t much but my graph clearly shows it. Between 30 and 40 minutes the decline was fast and to nearly zero output.
I also ran the light with a keeppower 14500 battery at higher voltages Overdriving the LED. You don’t notice that many more lumens but the output graph sagged as the voltage decreased upto the 50 minute mark where low voltage protection kicked in on the battery I presume and shut off power flow.
UI
UI on this light needs a bit of a tweak in my opinion. It has 3 constant on modes that equate to 1% of total output, 10% and 100%. These are ok. The light also has memory. What I don’t like is double click to strobe. I find it too easy to accidentally enter strobe when trying to adjust modes quickly. I would prefer no strobe or triple click or long press for strobe if they decided to still have one. I did notice some PWM when on low mode.
Pro
- Well built, similar to other Convoy’s
- Available in a few different LED tint options.
Con
- Strobe is too easily accessed, I would prefer it removed entirely.
- PWM is pretty apparent on lower modes.
- A bit thick for a AA light. No official 14500 support but it does seem to work.
- Wish the body was available in some of the other Convoy colors.
Conclusion
The Convoy T2 is a solid low cost AA style light from an established reliable brand. For me it’s a little generic in it’s look but it functions well. I would prefer a UI that removes strobe or makes it less easy to access.
If you were looking for a low cost light but with a few tint options to give to family members and didn’t want to mess with a lithium option, I think this would be a good option. I am not in love with it as a pocket EDC but it would be a good option to throw in bags or coats for a just in case option with some rechargeable batteries (To prevent corrosion).
Gearbest has provided a coupon to use during their 11.11 sale to get this light at a steep discount. So if your interested this is going to be the best time to pick up this light.
Get it for $11.99 with coupon code “GB$LEDT2” https://goo.gl/17V7dK (