Specs:
-3x SST40 5000K
-Battery 4800mah 21700 (discharge rate 15amps??? Says “48a” on battery, no way that’s true)
-5950 Lumens (Says 5000L on Box but 5950L in user manual)
-USB-C charging!
-Lanyard
-Extra bezel that’s really pointy lol.
-2 UI modes (Stepped and smooth ramping)
-Has a lockout mode
-Green backlit button (turns off after a few secs)
First impressions:
This little thing is surprisingly heavy for its size, it definitely has a good amount of thermal mass. It has a beefy head on it that houses 3 SST-40 LEDS. This light is more throwy compared to my Convoy M3 and seems brighter overall (turbo vs turbo). I like that it has double springs in the tailcap. GOOD for lower resistance and higher current delivery for more brightness. The square cut threads fit very nicely together and feel smooth. USB Charging is very convienent, and everyone has a smartphone charger nowadays. No need to carry around a separate charger.
After using it for a while, I noticed that it gets pretty hot after a while on turbo. The head gets to about 62C before it starts stepping down, which is pretty hot for my liking but it does work. There is indeed thermal paste and it works well at transferring heat away from the LEDs. The Convoy definitely sinks the heat better, but its also less bright and bigger. The light is pretty useable in Low and Medium though. I also like how it has 2 separate “user interfaces” for changing the brightness. It has “smooth ramping” or regular low,med,high. Double Click for turbo at any time (even from off), and hold the button from off to start on “Eco” mode. If you hold it longer (3 secs from off), it’ll change UIs (smooth or stepped). It has a lockout mode too, so you don’t accidentally turn it on and melt your pocket or light something on fire.
The simple interface is somewhat refreshing as there's no way someone can accidentally “misconfigure” something like with Anduril 1. (My wife accidentally gets into the config modes on her MF01 mini sometimes). Good for handing out to someone, but you lose customization.
As far as the battery, I suspect that it may be a Tesla Model 3 2170 battery, as it has the 3 little markings on the negative end that ONLY Tesla Model 3 Batteries have. I think that (If true) is a very interesting choice, as I thought that you could only get them used. But I tested it on my hobby charger and it gave me 18% more capacity than my P42A’s (around 4800-4900mah).
Charger Note: My turnigy accucel 6 charger doesn’t really give accurate discharge maH capacity but it is consistent relative to itself, so IF my P42A’s are 4200mah, then this battery is about 4900mah, in reality my charger shows 3500mah for my P42A’s at 1amp discharge to 2.9v and 4192mah for this wurkkos battery, so 18% better. Charging gives higher measurements but I don’t like to measure capacity that way. I need a better charger I know, I’ll get one eventually, but this is all i got for now.
I have a homemade “lumen box” that I use for relative measurements between my lights. That in combination with my old smart phone’s lux sensor, i can get somewhat good measurements, although I wouldn’t consider it close to accurate, so take it as you will. I have it “calibrated” to my Convoy M3 with a freshly charged warm 4200mah Hohm 26650 battery, so that the meter shows 4300 lumens max at turn on. With the TS30 I measured a bt over 4700, so it is indeed a bit brighter than the Convoy. I also noted that the box for the TS30 says “5000 Lumens” but the manual says “5950 Lumens”.
For the current price ($59 last I checked), there are better deals out there for lights that have anduril, but if you need a more simple light that comes with a good battery and USB charging, solid build quality, and is pretty dang bright, its hard to go wrong with this. I bought this earilier in May when there was a coupon that brought it down to $43 which I think was a pretty good deal.
Pros:
-Brighter than M3
-Solidly built
-USB Charging
-Comes with good 21700 battery and a 18650 adapter
-Comes with an extra mean looking front bezel attachment (that I probably won’t use lol)
-Great UI (lots of modes without being too complicated)
-Has working Thermal regulation
-Thermal paste is used to transfer heat to the head/body (A MUST for high powered lights)
-Makes a great handwarmer lol
-SST40s make a nice beam (no green)
Cons: (pretty minor)
-Can’t tailstand very well
-Throttle temp is pretty high
-Price is tad high without coupon (but not anywhere close to others like Acebeam, etc)
Outdoor beamshots are Turbo vs Turbo with locked ISO and shutter speed to be the same between both.
Convoy m3 on the left (4300k) TS30 on right (5000k)
