[Review] Convoy MAO M21H – SFT70 4000 90 CRI LED

This is the M21H flashlight in MAO with the SFT70 4000K 90 CRI LED! It features USB-C charging on body, a 6V 5A 30W driver, features an 8° TIR and more.

• My opinion:

The M21H is a pretty awesome flashlight, I liked it even more than the M21K. The SFT70 4000K 90 CRI has an amazing neutral tint, it's light is pretty powerful even with the neutral CCT and high CRI; the MAO anodizing is beautiful, but it's a little easy to scratch it; the 6V 5A driver is really poweful (although a 6V 8A would be pretty welcome); the 8° TIR is one of the best I've used, it makes the beam super clean without any artifacts at all.

I have to say, this light is pretty good, but I have some suggestions that I think would improve it much. First I would suggest having AUX lights on the TIR and button, it would really be useful for finding it in the dark, showing battery level and, of course, for fun! Second, using Anduril on this flashlight would be pretty nice. Third, the moonlight needs to be improved, it's too bright. Also, using a 6V 8A driver would be a welcome change, and potting the USB-C would improve much water resistance but, of course, all these changes would increase cost.

• Box contents [9th picture]

– M21H

– Lanyard

• Price

The M21H MAO with SFT70 4000K is currently priced at $33.80 on Convoy Official Website

• Body and build quality

Anodizing Colors/Material Options: The M21H is available in aluminum with 5 anodizing colors: Black, Blue Camo, Green Camo, Black Camo and MAO (featured in this review).

Main body/Grip: The main body has knurling and big heat dissipating structures on the head. Grip on this flashlight is good, the size is pretty nice too, in my opinion, and the flashlight is almost the perfect size.

Material: The main body is entirely made of Aluminum alloy. Convoy does not specify the alloy but it's probably 6061-T6 or similar.

Threads: All threads are anodized with MAO, the battery tube threads are squared and anodized, while the bezel threads are trapezoidal. I recommend putting a good amount of grease on the threads, as the MAO from the tube and head/tail rubbing will make a very unpleasant sound.

Clip: The flashlight does not come with a clip by default, but one can be purchased on the Convoy website.

Tail stand and rolling: The flashlight can tail/head stand and will roll on a desk if a clip is not installed.

AUX lights: This flashlight doesn't feature AUX lights except for the charging indicator on the button. In my opinion if this light had AUX on the TIR and Button for battery indicator and to help find it in the dark, this would improve the light a lot.

Buttons: The M21H has a single button on the main body that is an e-switch. I think it's a little too loud when pressed, the M21K one is way quieter, aside from that, the button is OK.

Battery contact: Contact is made with the battery by a gold-plated button contact on the driver and a nickel-plated spring on the tail cap. I always prefer spring contacts instead of button contacts, because button ones can dent the battery way easier than spring ones if the light is dropped. [10th and 11th pictures]

Bezel: The bezel is smooth and made of stainless steel, it can be easily removed by unscrewing it from the flashlight head.

Water Resistance: Convoy flashlights usually don't have the IP rating, but all Convoy flashlights I already tested were decently protected to water ingress, the M21H is no different; it has O-rings on all threads (bezel, head, tail cap and battery tube). The button is covered by a rubber boot and the USB-C port has a slightly thick rubber cover.

Size comparison: On the left is the Convoy M21K (21700). on the middle the Convoy M21H MAO (21700) and on the right the Convoy S2+ (18650). [12th picture]

• Weight and size

Weight:

-Without battery: 130.4g

-With battery: 200.6g

-Battery (Molicel P50B): 70.1g

Size: 128.2mm x 40.0mm x 28.5mm (Height x Head diameter x Tail diameter)

• Battery, runtime, and charging

Battery: The M21H is powered by a single 21700 battery, it doesn't accept protected cells. For some LEDs like LHP73B it's necessary to use a high constant discharge rate cell, higher than 20A, but for the SFT70 4000K LED a 15A CDR battery will do fine, as the driver only uses about 10A. [13th picture]

Battery Indicator: This flashlight does not feature a color LED battery indicator, instead it has a voltage check mode by clicking the main button 5 times, the main light will then blink 1 to 4 times to indicate the first voltage digit, then it will pause for a second and blink 0 to 9 times to indicate the second digit. For example 4.2V, it will first blink 4 times, pause, then blink 2 times. It's a useful feature, but a color battery indicator, especially on the main button as an AUX or on the TIR, would improve a lot this flashlight design.

Charging: The M21H features USB-C charging on the body, the maximum input current it will use to charge the batteries it 2A at 5V. The USB-C is protected by a thin rubber seal, I think the rubber seal is OK, but it could be improved to make the light more water tight, and a potted USB-C could be used to make this light even better, this would increase cost though. [14th and 15th picture]

• Modes, Runtimes, Throw, Candela:

Modes: The M21H features a smooth ramp and stepped modes, I much prefer the stepped ramp so I can always know how much power I am draining from the battery, but you can choose the one you like most. The smooth ramping start on the 0.2% mode and go up to the 100%. On the stepped mode you actually have 4 brightness levels: 0.2% – 1% – 10% – 40% – 100%, the 0.2% mode cannot be accessed on the normal cycle, you have to hold the button while the flashlight is OFF to access it.

The modes are as it follows:

*Brightness estimated by SFT70 4000K G6 bin by input power and visual comparison with similar brightness levels on other flashlights.
**All currents measured at the moment the flashlight was turned ON.

Turbo: This flashlight has a powerful turbo, it's not the most powerful as it could be as the driver is only 5A, while SFT70 4000K, theoretically, could be pushed to 8A. also, as it's a 90 CRI neutral CCT LED it will have way less lumens than a 6500K LED, but I prefer the high CRI and neutral CCT than the cool beam.

Moonlight: I will be honest and direct about this: The moonlight mode (0.2%) is pretty bad. It's way too bright to be a useful moonlight mode, like, it's almost the brightness of the 1% mode, also it consumes more than half of the 1% current, so it's not actually a 0.2% mode. Don't get me wrong, the beam is pretty good, no flicker and all, but it's too bright. This is a recurring problem in Convoy flashlights, I know it's pretty hard to make regulated moonlight modes for the ton of LED options Convoy have, but unfortunately it makes the moonlight a bad mode.
Comparison [16th picture]

Blinkies: This flashlight features a blinkie mode: Strobe, to access it you must click the main button 3 times.

Lockout: The M21H features a eletronic lockout and mechanical lockout. To lock it eletronically you need to press the main button 10 times, same for unlocking, while locked this way, if the button is pressed the flashlight will blink the main light one time to indicate it's locked. The mechanical lockout works but is pretty fragile, as the MAO will be scratched pretty fast on the threads.

Throw: This flashlight has an 8 degress TIR lens, so it's no the throwiest, but I got a really good throw with it while testing it. It has a good amount of flood while still throwing light far. As you can see on the beamshots it throwed farther than 100, easily.

• Emitter, reflector and CRI:

Emitter: This M21H has the SFT70 4000K high CRI emitter (bin: G6-40E2-VJ), it is a recent release from Luminus. This LED is awesome, tint is beautiful and neutral (I would love to see a rosy version though), the TIR makes the beam smooth and throwy, loved it. I am very excited to see a 95-98 CRI version of this emitter. [17th Picture]

Reflector/TIR: The SFT70 LED comes by default with a 35mm 8° TIR lens it makes the beam very smooth and a bit throwy. [18th picture]

Lens: It comes with a anti-reflexive coated glass lens in front of the TIR.

Beam profile: The beam is pretty nice, in fact one of the best and smoothest beans I've ever seen, no artifacts at all. [18th picture]

CRI: This SFT70 4000K LED has amazing CRI, not as high as other variants such as 3000K, but still high CRI and a really nice tint.

• Beamshots Camera settings:

– 18mm lens 1" F8 ISO800

– (The trees at the back are at a distance of around 100m)

[19th picture] – M21H MAO SFT70 4000K – 100% (10A from the battery)

[20th picture] – M21H MAO SFT70 4000K – 40% (2.2A from the battery)

I always try to match what my eyes can see on the beamshots, so camera settings may vary.

• Driver and UI

Driver: This M21H with SFT70 features a 6V 5A constant current Boost driver, the driver works pretty well and is very efficient, Convoy claims 95% max efficiency, Convoy flashlights usually use good quality component and this one doesn't seem to be different. I wish there was a 6V 8A driver for the M21H, as it would make this flashlight even brighter.

UI: The UI is pretty simple and basic, I think this flashlight could be upgraded and receive a Anduril version.

Low Voltage Protection/Warning: The flashlight will turn off automatically when the battery voltage is too low. The main light will start blinking and dimming down when the battery voltage is very low.

Reverse Polarity Protection: This flashlight features reverse polarity protection, so inserting the battery the wrong way shouldn't do major damages, for a short time.

Temperature Control: The M21H has standard Convoy Temperature control, so when the driver reaches about 55°C the flashlight will begin to step down. The step down seems to only be down to 35%, so the flashlight can still heat up, even after the step down, under certain conditions. I'd love to see Convoy using dynamic step down temperature drivers, but they are way more expensive and hard to adapt for the variety of LEDs Simon offers.

A special thanks to Simon from Convoy for sending this flashlight for me to review!

*I am not being paid to do this review, everything here is my honest opinion.

Thank you for reading my review <3