Contents

• Pricing & Availability
• What comes in the box?
• Design & Construction
• Size & Measurements
• User Interface
• Emitter & Beam
• Mode Chart
• Runtime
• Driver & Regulation
• Switch
• Carry & Ergonomics
• Batteries & Charging
• Competition
• Conclusion

Pricing & Availability

I purchased this light with my own money from the r/flashlight buy/sell/trade thread. Here is the official product page where you can see current pricing. Convoy is not good at consolidating listings so there are a lot more M1 options available besides that one listing if you want different emitters or a battery included.

What comes in the box?

I don’t have any photos of the box but it’s the same as other basic Convoy lights: thin white cardboard with a bubblewrap sleeve around the light. The only contents are the light and a basic lanyard. No cost wasted and it’s usually sufficient to protect the light during transport.

Design & Construction

It’s a fairly generic tactical-looking design with a slightly flared head, cooling fins, and a crenelated bezel.

Build quality is great for the price point. The machining is great and the anodizing is a little bit matte. The threads are square cut, smooth, and anodized. I think they come lubricated from the factory and the body tube is not reversable. Notably, these threads are unique and will not lego with any other flashlight, which is a shame.

Size & Measurements

Emisar DW4 | Lumintop FW3A | Olight Arkfeld | Convoy M1 | Mini Maglite

Measurement	Measured (mm)
Bezel Diameter	35.6
Maximum Head Diameter	35.6
Length	132.6
Switch Diameter	16
Switch Proudness	-1.1
Lens Diameter	31.8
Lens Thickness	1.5
Reflector Hole Diameter	7.0
Reflector Diameter	31.8
Reflector Height	23.0
MCPCB Size	20
Body Tube Diameter (internal)	19.1
Body Tube Diameter (maximum)	24.8
Body Tube Diameter (mode)	24.8
Body Tube Length	70.0
Pocket Clip Slot Width	5.5
Pocket Clip Slot Diameter	24.0
Tailcap Diameter	25.7
Tailcap Length	28.5
Driver Diameter	17
Tailcap PCB Diameter	16

Weight without battery: 110g

User Interface

M1 is available with two UI’s: 4-mode and 12-group. I got the 12-group because it’s more customizable and I recommend you do too. The 12-group user interface is one of the better mechanical switch firmware’s, but it still lacks some features.

M1 uses a reverse clicky mechanical switch. A “click” is a full depression of the switch to the point that it clicks. A “tap” is a quick half-press and release without fully depressing to the point of clicking.

State	Action	Result
Off	Click	On
On	Click	Off
On	Tap	Cycle to the next mode
On	20+ Taps	Enter programming mode

This 12-group firmware has a variety of modes organized into 12 mode-groups. You can choose any one of those 12 mode-groups and even enable/disable mode memory if you choose. Those are really nice features.

The two features I miss having are a double-tap Turbo shortcut, and an easily-accessible voltage readout. It would be great if Convoy added a 3rd programming option to the 12-Group UI that allowed the user to enable a double-tap Turbo shortcut. Then I could use one of the groups with lots of modes without it taking forever to access Turbo.

A “battery check” mode is included on some mode groups, but it doesn’t blink out voltage. It just blinks 1-5 times, which is a bit ambiguous. It’s also only on some mode groups (and not usually the ones I like). I’d love for a voltage readout to be included that’s accessible via 10 quick taps. That’s very unlikely to be activated by accident but it would be very useful and accessible from any mode group.

Emitter & Beam

M1 is available with a wide variety of emitters. You can get (almost) any emitter Convoy carries. They’re almost all in separate listings though so you may have to dig around a bit on the Convoy Aliexpress store to find what you want. I chose a Luminus SFT40 for this sample to get great brightness and throw.

The spill is a little narrower than many other lights but is still plenty wide and very bright. The hotspot is fairly narrow for great throw, but not so narrow and intense that it overpowers the spill. It’s got some faint ringing but you’ll never notice unless you’re looking for it.

In the beamshots below, the basketball goal to the right of the hotspot is 39M away and the pole in the power pole in the center is 185M away.

Mode Chart

Disclaimer: All of my measurements are taken at turn-on. Lumen measurements were taken on a Texas Ace 3.5″ Lumen Tube. A candela measurement was taken at 10 meters with an Opple Light Master III on the highest brightness, and other candela figures were calculated relative to that. CRI, CCT, & DUV data was taken for each mode from a few feet away at the center of the hotspot with the Opple Light Master and Waveform DUV Calculator. Runtime tests were performed with the Ceilingbounce app on my smartphone. All of these tests were performed with a fully charged Molicel M35A battery unless otherwise specified. I cannot measure moonlight directly, so moonlight readings are calculated based on the brightness relative to the next-lowest mode. None of this is professional equipment, so take all of these measurements with a grain of salt.

Level	Lumens	Candela	Throw (Meters)	CRI (Ra)	Color Temp. (K)	DUV (Tint)
Turbo (100%)	1550	80000	566	69	6550	0.0030
High (35%)	670	34581	372	67	6160	0.0058
Medium (10%)	210	10839	208	66	6020	0.0083
Low (1%)	15	774	56	65	5850	0.0104
Moonlight (0.1%)	1	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Mode Spacing: depends on the mode group you choose. The default mode group (1) that I tested with has pretty good mode spacing with no oddly small or large jumps between modes.

Runtime

Performance: is pretty good. 600lm sustained output is respectable. It gets quite hot, too hot to hold, but not hot enough that I’m concerned about the wellbeing of the light or battery.

Thermal regulation: sort of works. It is only effective on Turbo (100% mode) and probably 50% mode and it does work, but it won’t dip below 35% output. That means if you’re using the light in hot conditions with little airflow, it’s still possible for it to overheat despite having thermal regulation.

LVP: When the battery gets low the light will start to blink off and back on to warn the user that the battery is low. Eventually, when the battery is empty, the light will shut off. It can be re-activated after shutoff in an emergency, which is nice. It’ll just keep blinking and eventually shut off again.

Driver & Regulation

Most emitter options will include Convoy’s 5A linear driver. It’s cheap and works fine but isn’t anything special. It’s got a big, beefy spring which is nice to see. You can replace it with any other 17mm driver if you wish. DrJones H17Fx is my favorite aftermarket driver because it has a double-tap shortcut you can program to go to whatever mode you want, and I like to use it for quick Turbo access.

Regulation is average. Not particularly impressive but not disappointing either. Turbo is affected by battery voltage but the other modes are largely unaffected.

Note: All regulation measurements are taken at turn-on so they do not reflect any thermal or low voltage stepdowns that may occur. A value of 0 indicates low voltage shutoff immediately upon activation.

PWM: No PWM is visible to my eyes nor audible to my ears, but I was able to see it with my phone camera on Low, Medium, and High modes.

Parasitic Drain: There is no parasitic drain because M1 uses a mechanical switch. If you choose to install one of the lighted switches Convoy sells, that will add some parasitic drain.

Switch

M1 includes a mechanical reverse clicky tail switch on a relatively standard 16mm PCB. It sits under a relatively standard 16mm rubber boot. Convoy also offers some rubber or metal backlit switches you can drop in yourself with no soldering, as well as a remote switch which does require soldering. My favorite option is to swap in a forward clicky (momentary) switch which requires a fair bit of modification but works really well.

Carry & Ergonomics

M1’s ergonomics are pretty good. It fits well in a forward, reverse, or cigar grip. There aren’t any sharp edges and it’s a great size for handheld use.

The only carry method included by default is a cheap, basic lanyard. Convoy sells three clips that will all work: Universal clip, screw-on clip, bidirectional clip. They’re not great but they’re so cheap it’s probably worth grabbing one or two just to try.

My two favorite clips for Convoy M1 are Thyrm Switchback 2.0 (or a knockoff) and the Wurkkos/Sofirn TS21/IF22A clip. The switchback will work without modification but it sits a little higher than I like. For my other M1 I modified a switchback and glued it to the tailcap to sit at the perfect height. Both clips are shown below.

Tailstand: works well and is stable enough thanks to the ears on the tailcap. Tailstanding will not work with a Thyrm Switchback installed.

Batteries & Charging

M1 uses a single 18650 battery and there are separate listings on the Convoy Aliexpress store if you want a battery included. Virtually any 18650 will work since this light does not draw a ton of current, it has springs on both ends, and has LVP. Protected, unprotected, flat top, or button top. All should work. I did all my testing with a Molicel M35A.

No charging solution is included but some are available on the Convoy Aliexpress store.

Competition

Here are some lights in the same class and how they compare.

Convoy S2+: Basically the same thing but with a smaller head and reflector resulting in a wider beam. Also available in more colors and with a short body tube.

Convoy C8+: Basically the same thing but with a larger head and reflector resulting in a narrower beam. Also available in more colors and with a short body tube.

Convoy M21B SFT40: Basically the same thing but with a larger body and battery, a nicer (buck) driver, with a little bit more throw and lumens.

This section is not comprehensive. If I didn’t include a particular light here, it doesn’t mean it’s bad or doesn’t deserve to be here. I simply cannot list every possible competitor.

One key area this light competes in for me is with the name-brand throw-oriented tactical lights like Modlite and Cloud Defensive. They make fantastic WML’s but they sell the same models as handhelds too at an astronomical price. Features that make a great WML will often make a handheld light worse and/or more expensive. For many prospective customers looking at those handhelds, I think a Convoy M1 with a couple of minor mods (forward clicky switch & a good pocket clip) is a compelling option with similar or better performance and a better user interface that’s one tenth the cost.

Conclusion

This is a high value compact thrower. It’s got all the basics with no gimmicks or fancy features and it makes a great platform for modifications. If you’re looking for a project light or you want the best bang-for-buck pocketable thrower, this is a great option.