CWF Custom Flashlights, LEO M1 light

Recently Charles Wiggins over at CWF Custom Flashlights started a light pass around for testing and review.. His target was Law Enforcement. I'm a hike patroller/ridge runner for the Ranger Division at Five Rivers MetroParks, so I certainly tossed my name in the hat. Several weeks later, it was my turn to spend a week with this light.

Oh, I love this thing.
Oh yes, I do.

The light!

Built in a Convoy M1 body, this was a great fit. It's a sharp looking light, and very tough.

 

A nice orange peel reflector. This is part of the magic of this light, as I'll explain.

That ding on the clip was me, it went surfing on the pavement as I managed to trip on my own feet.
 It's like a truck, looks terrible without a ding or a scratch :)

Let's look under the hood a bit here.
A Luminous Devices SST-40 LED, sitting quite nicely on a Noctigon board. The soldering, the connections, it's all perfectly done.  Isn't that nice looking?

For my battery of tests (comprised of me stumbling around in the woods) I used a 3400 mAh Lumintop cell.

Let's look at some patrol shots.

Trailhead, sign 30ft out. High mode

Improvised drinking device, low mode, good color rendition. 

Large section of muddy trail, bet pushing that stroller through mud hell was fun. High Mode.

Bench 30ft away, swings 40ft, shelter in the background over 65 ft away. High mode

Road to the water tower. That white sign is over 80ft out. Notice how much further that beam goes back, notice the nice sidespill? High mode

Trail spur to the park office. Over 100ft out. High Mode

See the thing in the middle? That's a trashcan at the bottom of some stairs on the trail. That trash can is a big 55gal drum. I'm quite a ways out from it. Notice the spill?

This thing throws!

Got wood? Medium mode.

LIT UP. High mode, large shelter, 35 ft out.

No one hiding in here tonight. Medium

Thanks for enduring a night hike patrol with me. I actually go dark 80% of the time. But when I light it up, I light it up.

So, the light. Here's my thoughts:

I like lights that throw, I like lights that flood. The problem is finding a light that can do both well. And this light does a spectacular job at both. It's a perfect balance.

This light seems to be centered on balance. In 3 seasons I have a green tunnel in the woods. I do need throw, but spill becomes my primary tool. When the leaves are down, throw comes into play. Again, this light with that emitter, that reflector, that form factor - is beyond perfect.

I sat down, staring at it, and wondered how it could be better. I'm at an impasse. I can't do it. This is a home-run, in my opinion.

The M1 light body was pretty nice. It was the first Convoy body I've laid my hands on. I feel like this light could get hot, real hot. But it doesn't. The cooling fins, and whatever else he did on the inside seems to really disperse the heat.

The UI was gold. Click on, half tap through 3 modes.
Simple. One thing that kills my love for a light is a tail clickie with a side button, then you hold your head sideways, juggle a chainsaw, while jumping up and down on one foot just TRYING to get through the modes. And not to mention the side button that NO ONE CAN FIND at night.

This UI is gold because it's simple. It does exactly what it needs to do. And I don't need to practice hand yoga to do it ;)

Of course, I did test it against some of my lights. And it promptly mopped the floor with the vast majority of them. My Fenix lights, My Olights, and most of the others, in fact, none of my single 18650 lights matched it. Some threw farther, some flooded better, but none matched the balance of this light. It took my Rofis MR70 to best it a bit, but that's a XHP 70.2 with a huge battery.

That all said, five stars. All the way. GET THIS LIGHT!

Find more out at his page @

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