Tag: beam shots

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Thrunite Catapult Mini V2 Review (1100 Lumens, 515 Meters of throw, 18350)

Today I’m taking a look at the new Thrunite Catapult Mini V2. Now if you have watched my channel for a while you will know I really liked the original Catapult Mini and it’s probably my go to small thrower flashlight so I was excited when Thrunite said they had an updated model coming out. It’s using an SFT40 LED that’s brighter than the original light and a different optic setup, so lets see if it’s an improvement or not. Thanks to Thrunite for sending this to me to look at and review.

 

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Get the Thrunite Catapult Mini V2 at Amazon with the links below.

Desert Tan https://amzn.to/3oD2ee6 use code LXDG4Y7L to save 15%

Black https://amzn.to/3N1xbln Click the coupon on the page to save 15%

 

Packaging & Accessories

Standard Thrunite packaging here, the signature brown cardboard box with just the logo on the front and the line drawing on the side, opposite that is the indicator for the body color and LED tint. Inside the light is nicely protected with black foam. Accessories are the light itself, USB-A to C Charging cable, proprietary 18350 1100mAh battery, and a bag of extra o’rings, button, recharging port, and branded lanyard.

 

Construction & Design

V2 shares some similar design characteristics with V1 in roughly the same shapes but with a little different style. The light is made from 6061 aluminum and is available in two colors currently, a standard black and a Desert Tan that I have here. The V2 is slightly longer by about 4.5mm in length. The V2 to me feels more like most of the recent Thrunite Designs with a lanyard attachment point on the flat tail, allowing the light to tail stand. The grip on the body is a combination of very fine-milled lines, and then 5 milled flats around the side. The head has the standard Thrunite flat metal button with an LED Battery indicator in the middle and a standard USB Port cover opposite that. That head grows in size with a cone and a more traditional flat screw-off bezel that’s not glued in place. The V2 is using a traditional smooth deep reflector where as the V1 used a TIR-style optic and this has a pretty big difference in the beam pattern as we will see later. 

 

Retention

Retention options here are limited, as the light doesn’t have a clip, nor comes with a holster. It does come with a lanyard that attaches to the tail if you wish. The light does tailstand but that’s less useful with a thrower like this in my opinion. I do like the size of the light in my hand, and find it pretty comfortable to use. The tail is nonmagnetic.

 

Size & Weight

I measured the length at 85.81mm, the diameter of the head at 40.4mm, diameter of the body at 26mm. Weight with the battery installed came to 4.06oz. The light is drop rated to 1.5M, and waterproof to 2M (IPX8). Here is a photo comparing it to the Catapult Mini V1 and the Lumintop GT Nano all small form factor throwers. 

 

LED & Beam

The Catapult Mini V2 is using a SFT40 LED that I measured on my Opple meter at 5835k and 65 CRI, so more on the cool white spectrum and low CRI. DUV had no undesirable tints to it. This LED is combined with a traditional smooth reflector where as the V1 used a unique TIR style optic. The result is the beam patterns are quite different. Where the V1 was all throw, and basically no spill, the V2 has a very bright hot center (with a bit of a donut at closer ranges), and a bit of spill. This makes the V2 somewhat better as more of a general-purpose light rather than only a thrower. 

 

V2

 

V1

 

Outputs

Outputs here on the Catapult Mini V2 were generally higher then claimed when measured on my TexasAce lumen tube at the 30 second mark. This isn’t something I mind at all, a nice little benefit.

One other thing to note here on outputs is the candela rating or throw, the V1 was rated at 89,600 candela and 598 meters of throw. The V2 is rated at 66,150 candela and 515 meters of throw, so slightly less throw than the outgoing model, but you are giving that up for a bit more spill to make the light a little more useful as well as a brighter output in all modes.

 

Heat & Runtime

I will let the graphs do the majority of the talking here on this section. Turbo runtime lasts 90 seconds in my testing, stepping down to 400 lumens. This corresponds to the thermals that I measured on the outside of the light at 34C. It was able to run at this level for 1:20:00, with peak heat increasing to about 39C on the outside of the light. Skipping turbo and just going with high nets you another 6 minutes of total runtime, and running on just medium gives you 3:30:00 of total runtime.

 

User Interface

The Catapult Mini V2 is using Thrunight’s standard UI that they use with basically all of their lights. It has 3 modes during normal operations and shortcuts to Firefly and Turbo. To get to Firefly from off, just long press for about 1 second. For Turbo double press in any mode, and for strobe triple press. For the main modes once on just long press to cycle between them. The light does have memory and will remember only the main modes. There are 2 lockout methods with the light, first is electronic lockout which you can do by long pressing the button for 4 seconds when off, and the same to unlock it. The LED will breathe fading in and out when it’s locked out with this method. Or my personal favorite is just to mechanically lock it out by slightly unscrewing the body from the head to break contact. 

 

Recharging & Power

The Catapult Mini V2 comes with a Thrunite branded semi-proprietary 1100mAh 18350 battery. I tested this battery at 1181mAh in my Vapcell S4 Plus charger. What makes the battery proprietary is the plastic ring around the positive contact on the battery and the fact that there is both positive and negative contacts on the positive end. However, the Catapult Mini V2 only uses positive contact meaning a button top 18350 that’s long enough works here too.

Using the onboard USB-C charging port I was able to charge the light from LVP at 2.903V to full at 4.191V in 3 hours 3 minutes. Now this is a pretty slow charging speed of about 0.5A and only about 1/2C. So it’s super conservative given the battery capacity. I had no issues here charging with a USB-C PD charger either. 

 

Conclusion

I think it’s debatable if the Catapult Mini V2 is really an upgrade here, while it is brighter, and the beam is more useful as a general-purpose flashlight, it’s slightly not as good as the original at being a thrower, which was what is so impressive about the original. That said the V2 is more useful daily because of the spill and the throw is nearly as far. The SFT40 has a slightly cool white tint with no negative tints which is nice to see. 

 

I do like the design of the V2 light slightly better with the improved grip and lanyard attachment points. The rest is pretty similar and unchanged. While I am a little disappointed a proprietary battery shipped with the light, i’m glad it’s not required to function and that normal small button, button top works here or a standard battery with a magnet if needed.

I can definitely recommend picking up a Catapult mini, now which version I think comes down to how you plan to use it, and the V2 for me probably gets the slight edge over V1 just because it is more useful in more scenarios with the increase in spill. That said let me know what you guys think is the better light to go with and why in the comments below. If I have any discounts those will be in the description of the video along with links to my socials. 

 

Get the Thrunite Catapult Mini V2 at Amazon with the links below.

Desert Tan https://amzn.to/3oD2ee6 use code LXDG4Y7L to save 15%

Black https://amzn.to/3N1xbln Click the coupon on the page to save 15%

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Wuben X-1 Falcon Review (12,000 Lumens, 3X XHP70.2, USB-C)

Today I am taking a look at a new light from Wuben with the X-1 Falcon. What I have here is a preproduction sample, but the light has now been formally announced. Wuben has been around for a while but isn’t super well known. They are not afraid to try things, and they have done that here with the X-1 Falcon. It has 3 Cree XHP 70.2 LED’s and 2 21700 batteries in a side-by-side configuration in a very rectangular package. Thanks to Wuben for sending it my way.

 

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Learn more about the Wuben X-1 at https://www.wubenlight.com/pages/x-1

 

Packaging & Accessories.

Since this was a preproduction light, mine came in a plastic hard case, with a paracord style lanyard and a USB-A to C cable (Who doesn’t have a ton of these at this point 🙂 ). I was also able to request a copy of the manual. I suspect the full version will have the full retail box, Charging cable, Storage bag (According to the manual), and normal paperwork. I will note the manual I have is a little rough in the translations. There looks to be an optional bike mount too. 

 

Construction & Design

The light is made from aluminum and anodized black. It’s a bit of a unique design being a large rectangle. The corners are angled and have extra milling into them as well as milled channels on the sides, top, and bottom for style. To me it’s a “space age design” and kind of reminds me of something you would see in a Sci-Fi movie or something. 

The most unique aspect of the design is functional too, right under the button the light has a passageway for active cooling with a heat sync under and a small fan on the right-hand side. The fan is thermally controlled, and it only comes on when it gets hot enough and turns off when it cools. You can hear it slightly and feel it too if holding it near the top. I suspect the fan is why I don’t see a formal water rating either for this light and also why I didn’t really want to test this myself. Opposite the fan is the USB-C port with a silicone cover. It’s tucked nicely away.

The light is a very solid feeling in the hand. The button sits at in a pretty natural position, where you want to rest your thumb. It’s not a small light and one I will probably put the lanyard on. It has some harder edges and isn’t the most ergonomic thing, but it’s not uncomfortable either.

While they don’t advertise the batteries are replaceable, it is if you remove the 4 screws on the tail cap. So here is what I found inside.

Up front is the unique shaped lens to fit the 3 emitters side by side. It’s an anti-reflective coated glass lens with a short orange peel reflector where the 3x Cree LED’s sit behind. 

 

Retention Options

According to the manual, the light will ship with a Storage bag that looks like a holster, and a lanyard. Since this is the prototype I only have the lanyard to show you. You guys know I am not a big lanyard user but on this one, I will be installing it. I think with the size and weight here a bit of extra security when in use is a good idea. 

 

Size & Weight

I measured the length at 128.4mm, width at 56mm, and depth at 28mm. Weight is 13.42oz or 380.5g. Like I said it’s very solid feeling light, and the heft adds to that. There is no official water rating on this light, I imagine do to that fan. I would imagine it would handle light rain ok, but definitely don’t submerge it. I don’t have a ton of lights like this to compare it to, but here are a few that I choose to give a size reference.

 

LED & Beam

This light is running 3x Cree XHP 70.2 emitters in a side-by-side configuration. With my Opple meter, I measured 5369K tint, and 65Ra. The DUV here indicates it does have some green in the tint, which I tend to see more on lower power output. This isn’t uncommon from these LEDs but not too overpowering. Minimal PWM on lower outputs.

The beam itself isn’t completely round, the hotspot is more oval than round. It’s not pure flood but pretty close, there is a minimal large hot center and a significant amount of spill around. The outer edges of the spill does mimic the shape of the reflector too. 

 

Outputs

Outputs for the most part looked pretty close to what was claimed on my homemade lumen tube with the exception of Turbo. My lumen tube and the different adapter sizes are really designed for round lights, I didn’t custom design a rectangular one for this light, so that may be where part of the losses are. Even with that, it’s about 74% of the claimed max output. I have to also mention this is a prototype so there may be some slight differences in it too. It could also be part of the programming mode which I will explain later.

 

Heat & Runtime

Let’s start with Turbo for my Heat and Runtime tests. Turbo as expected here doesn’t very long, right at a minute and heats up the light quickly to 47C within the same amount of time. From there it steps down to about 2200 lumens where it runs happily for the remainder of the 2 hour runtime. Peak heat ended up being about 55C. I think it may have gotten a little hotter, but my tape stretched and didn’t hold the thermal couple as tightly. 

The small internal fan seems to be thermally reactive, not coming on until it reaches a certain temperature, instead of coming on automatically in certain modes. I can’t say how much of a difference this really makes, but I would guess it helps mostly that middle LED that’s less exposed to outside air, and has a smaller surface area with the casing.

 

I did a comparison testing Turbo, High, Medium, and Low as a comparison between each other. Turbo and High were identical basically. Medium ran out to 5:37:00 just under 1000 lumens, and low for 12:30:00 at 200 lumens or so.

 

UI

My light arrived in Lockout mode, so 4 presses of the button unlock or lock the light. Single press to turn on, long press once on to cycle through the 4 main modes. Double press from anywhere to get to turbo. The light does have blinking modes that you can get to from anywhere by triple pressing. Triple press again to cycle between strobe and SOS modes.

The unique aspect of this light is the programming mode, It allows you to adjust the preset value of the 4 main modes by one on Clicking and holding and the light will ramp up slightly and blink when at the top of the range. Just stop when you reach the brightness you want and it will memorize it. There are upper and lower bounds on what each mode will do too, so I will show you the chart here rather than explain it. 

 

Recharging

The light uses 2 internal 21700 batteries, while not advertised to be user replaceable, they are pretty each to reach by removing the 4 (PH#1 Sized) screws at the tail. The included lights are flat tops, unprotected LG INR21700M50T 5000mAh according to the wrapper and have springs on both ends inside of the light.

On the left-hand side of the light, just behind the grill air exhaust, there is the USB-C charging port protected by a silicone cover. It’s a little different design but works well here and stays out of the way nicely. What’s neat is this light will charge at 9V instead of the lower 5V like most lights. This means a little faster-charging speed if your charger supports it. Completed the charge in 2:44:00 which is impressive considering the light has 10,000mAh of batteries inside it, about 41Wh. I had no issues charging it with USB-C to C or with a PD charger. 

 

Final Thoughts

You don’t typically see a lot of side by side lights, especially larger cells like the 21700’s in this light. This is a hefty package but it feels very solid. I like the space age, Sci-Fi type design here, and it seems Wuben is the only one doing that really.  

The UI here is easy to use, and the programming feature of each mode is kind of cool too, it helps you dial in exactly the mode spacing you want within reason. High, medium and low had impressive runtimes, but I wish Turbo lasted for more than a minute, especially with the fan and the compromises that have been made to accommodate it, like water resistance. 

 

I really appreciate here that the batteries are replaceable with a bit of work. That should lead to a long life, on what I am sure will be a higher-priced light. It’s a unique beam pattern that I found to be just fine during normal use. The XPH 70.2 isn’t my favorite LED, but here it’s not too cool white, and the tint is’t overwhelmingly green so it works. 

So all in all a solid offering, in a different format, with a modern design, and something a little different in the flashlight world. I like that Wuben took the chance with the X-1 Falcon to be different. Let me know what you guys think of the X-1 in the comments below.

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Wuben G2 Review (500 Lumen, P9 LED, Flat Keychain Light)

Wuben has a new flat keychain style light out with the G2. It’s a little different with the LED being on the flat side, with a wide large reflector, USB-C rechargeable, and can crank out up to 500 lumens in turbo.

 

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Pickup the Wuben G2 at https://www.wubenlight.com/products/wuben-g2-mini-flashlight

Use code “LRG220” to save 20%

 

Packaging  & Accessories

The packaging is a nice clear box, with the product labels being stickers on the top and bottom. Inside the box includes the light, USB-A to C charging cable, a gray plastic clip, and manual. 

 

Construction & Design

The G2 is flat light, with the reflector on the flat side. Its body is made from aluminum and is available in 3 colors currently, black, Blue, and Green which I have here. The ends are both plastics. At the bottom end there is a plastic keychain ring that twists on and off, it can be a little tricky to put back on. Under this is a magnet that is strong enough to hold the light vertically on a painted metal surface without an issue. 

In the middle is the P9 LED and TIR optic. On the sides there is the connection point for the pocket clip which I will talk about more in a minute. 

 

At the top is the USB-C charging port. It has a silicone flap covering it. It’s not a very tight fit. The light doesn’t have a dust or water rating as a result. This is an area for improvement in future versions. Next to the charging port is the switch. It sits nearly flush and I had no issues with accidentally activating it.

 

Retention & Size

Size here is 2.3” x 1” x 0.36” thick without the clip. Weight is 1 ounce without clip. There is no water or dust rating officially for the light. With that flap I think it would probably struggle to meet the standard specs.

Retention options include a plastic clip that clips on the rear of the light in some indentions. This isn’t necessarily a light or clip designed for front pants pocket EDC but more to strap on to a bag, hat, etc. The clip is stiff. It also has a split ring attachment that twists off to reveal a magnet underneath too. 

 

UI

The UI on the G2 requires a Long press to turn on when the light is off. This really mitigates accidental activations in my experience. The light has a memory mode to the last previously used setting. To adjust between the 4 modes when turned on, just press the button. The double press goes to turbo.

 

LED & Beam

The LED being used here is an OSRAM P9 LED. My Opple meter measured 6050k at 68 CRI as well as some PWM on high. The beam is mostly flood with a small hot center thanks to the TRI style optic. A good beam profile for up-close work for a light this size. 

 

Outputs, runtimes, temps

Official outputs on Turbo were 500 lumens, and I measured 437 lumens initially, with a fast decline in under a minute to around 190. High is rated at 200 lumens, I measured 190. Medium is rated at 65 lumens I measured 61 at 30 seconds. Max heat I saw on the body of the light was 36C near the end of the runtime. Total runtime starting in Turbo was 40 minutes as well as in High mode. Medium lasted out to 2 hours of runtime which is longer than quoted. 

 

Recharging

Internally the light contains a 280mAh lithium polymer battery. When I tested the capacity I got slightly more than this at about 314mAh. The total charge time here via USB-C was 1 hour. The light is USB-C PD compatible but you don’t get any benefits of the charging speed here with such a small battery. There is a small LED near the button that goes red when charging, and blue when charged. 

 

Final Thoughts

At less than $20 with my discount coupon, the G2 is a decent keychain light. I like the small thin nature, it’s smaller and thinner than most car key fobs and produces a good amount of light for its size. It’s smaller than some of the Nitecore lights I have like the TIP which is similar but larger than some of the Royvon lights. 

I don’t like that the silicone port covering the USB-C port is more of a flap. It’s not really a seal, and the light carries no water rating as a result. I did pour some water on it in the sink and it was ok, but it definitely won’t survive a full submersion. Hopefully, they can come up with a better cover in the future. 

 

It has a really broad floody beam but with a super small center hots spot, thanks to its TIR optic. It works for the close-range tasks it’s designed for pretty well. The cool white LED isn’t my favorite but it works. Overall a decent keychain light for the money.

 

Pickup the Wuben G2 at https://www.wubenlight.com/products/wuben-g2-mini-flashlight

Use code “LRG220” to save 20% 

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Vezerlezer ED10 Review (2200 Lumens, SST40, USB-C, New Brand)

Today I have the first light from a new company Vezerlezer with the ED10. No idea if I am pronouncing the company name correctly or not. This is a 18650 based light, with an SST40 LED, onboard USB-C charging and a side mounted switch. Thanks to Vezerlezer for sending it for me to check and providing a discount code for 30% off good till 2023. 

 

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Pickup the Vezerlezer ED10 from Vezerlezer at https://bit.ly/VEZED10

Use code CTZK5A8E to save 30% off the ED10 until 2023

 

Packaging & Accessories

The ED10 packaging is a nice retail style box, with a black, green and gray color scheme and various flashlight stats through out. Accessories that come with the light include a branded lanyard, extra oring, pocket clip, USB-A to USB-C cable, and a 2600mAh battery. 

 

 

Construction & Design

The ED10 isn’t breaking any new ground in terms of design but it does what it does pretty well. I am only going to hit the highlights here. Machining and anodizing are what I would expect in this price range but the edges are lacking champers around the head. The tail cap is flat, allowing it to tail stand and is non magnetic. 

There are quite a few markings on the light, with the logo, URL, model and company name appearing no less than 4 times, and they seem to be masked before anodizing, if scratched a bit it reveals bare aluminum at least on the tail. 

The body has a nice spiral shallow knurl in it. It reminds me of the Klarus ST15R I tested a while back. It provides a minimal amount of grip though. The pocket clip mounts at the rear of the body tube and the tube is non reversible.

The light does come into 3 pieces, with springs on both the head and tail. The head has a large anti roll ring, the switch is a metal eswitch with a near silent operation and a RGB led indicator at the center. The head has a large bezel that is removable, Inside is a lightly orange pealed reflector. What’s kind of unique is the reflector threads into the head which isn’t super common. As a result of all of this, it should be an easily modified light. 

 

Retention

Retention options with the Vezelezer ED10 are the included lanyard which attaches best on the side of the tail cap, or on the pocket clip. Your other option is the pocket clip. It’s a fairly deep pocket clip but the way mine is bent near the body it catches going into your pocket a bit. I think I can probably fix this with some pliers if I wanted to. 

 

Size & Weight

I measured length at 4.4” or 112mm. Maximum diameter at 1.1” (28mm) at the switch area, and minimum diameter of 0.96” (24.5mm). Weight with the cell and clip was 4.59oz or 130.2g. The light is IP68 rated and drop rated to 1.5m. Here are a few comparison photos to similar lights. 

 

LED & Beam

The light is running an SST40 LED in cool white. My Opple meter measured the tint at 6076k, and a CRI of 67 when in high mode. The beam profile is what I would call normal, primarily a central focused beam with minimal spill with no strange artifacts. PWM is present on all modes, it’s very a rapid PWM and I have a few graphs that show this from my Opple meter on high and turbo. Parasitic draw was measured at 20uA which is ok.

Official Outputs

  • Turbo – 2200 Lumens
  • High – 1400 Lumens
  • Medium – 560 Lumens
  • Low – 128 Lumens
  • Eco – 30 Lumens
  • Moon – 1 Lumen

Heat & Runtime

For my Relative output Runtime graphs I ran the Vezerlezer ED10 with the included 2600mAh battery. Turbo lasted to 2:40 with peak heat coming about the 3 minute mark at 51C. You can see active thermal protection on the light working through out the runtime as it takes little steps up and down to keep the temps regulated just under 50C before eventually turning off as power runs out at 1:40:00.

In my relative output comparison graph where I am basically comparing the runtime curves to one another (not total output), Turbo and high look very similar with high being slightly longer in runtime like you would expect but not in medium mode. Medium mode 

UI

The ED10 has 2 UI modes, stepped or ramping. To switch between them with the light off hold the button for about 5 second till the light flashes then let go. In stepped the light has memory mode. From off if you turn on and keep pressing the light will step up all the way to turbo and it stops. You have to press the button again to then step down. Anywhere you stop on that ramp, the next button press will step down. This is logical but takes time to get used to.

 

In ramping mode it behaves just like you would expect, except it only ramps to high mode, and you have to double press to go to turbo. The ramping is quite fast, and seems to be on a curve instead of linear. With the moon to mediumish being quicker then medium to high or so, maybe that’s because it leaves out turbo? In any mode triple click to get strobe.

 

Recharging

The ED10 charges via USB-C under a silicone cap opposite the e-button. The silicone cap fits well and stays out of the way. While charging the button turns into a charge indicator, red when charging, green when charged. The 2600mAh battery ended up testing 2694mAh, so that’s good.

Unfortunately C to C charging does not work here, so stick to the included USB-A to C cable. The charge curve here looks fine, it’s quite flat during the constant current charging for 2:32:00 minutes, but not very fast peaking at right around 1A. LVP is around 2.94v and the light charges the battery to 4.16v.

 

Final Thoughts

Not knowing what to expect from a brand new company I would say they have a pretty solid offering here for a first attempt. The exterior design is a nice size, I like the body tube milling rather than just standard knruling but you do pay in a bit less grip, and the port cover fits well. The beam properties are solid too, nothing really negative to say other then my standard gripe of cool white. 

That said there is room for improvement. The tail cap is just begging for a magnet with how flat it is, the pocket clip has that edge that catches on pockets, and they have went a bit overboard with the branding in my opinion on the light. I wish the battery was a larger size for the money being spent, 2600mAh isn’t that much in 2022 and the light really should be capable of C to C charging.

 

There are those firmware flaws that I mentioned in the UI section that another reviewer had found, None of them are deal breakers for me but they should be fixed. Ramping here is maybe a touch too fast in my opinion but I would rather it be faster then too slow. 

 

So in all a decent first attempt from a new model. The UI is easy to use, and the beam is suited just fine for EDC or general use. If they offered LED tint’s I think they could be a serious competitor with brands like Sofirn and Wurkkos for quality budget offerings. With the discount code that Vezerlezer has provided I think that puts the ED10 about where it should be price wise but it’s original MSRP is a bit too high to be competitive. 

 

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Astrolux WP1 Review (A rebadged LEP thrower from Jetbeam?)

Today I have the Astrolux WP1 LEP flashlight. It’s capable of 250,000 candela, and 480 lumens out of the included 21700 Liion battery and it’s UI is a control ring. If you have seen my review of the Jetbeam RRT M1X Raptor you might notice a few differences more on that further on in my review. Thanks to Banggood for sending this light to me and providing a discount for my viewers. 

 

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Get the Astrolux WP1: https://ban.ggood.vip/XSaT for $165.95 by using code BGYX06

Other Flashlight Deals from Banggood https://ban.ggood.vip/XSaQ

 

Packaging & Accessories

The Astrolux WP1 comes in a large plastic case with a handle, on the front is a large sicker showing the light and listing a few headlining stats. On the back is another sticker showing a runtime chart and links to various social media platforms. 

As far as accessories the light comes with an unbranded 5000mAh, 21700mAh battery with MicroUSB recharging onboard, A basic lanyard, an extras bag with 2 red orings, and spare tail cap, manual and a basic holster.

 

Construction

Astrolux brought out 2 LEP style flashlights earlier in 2021 that appear to mirror the Jetbeam RRT M1X and  M2S WP-RX, in physical appearance and closely in performance with the main difference being the engraving on the body. I suspect the parent manufacturer for Astrolux is Jetbeam. The anodizing Jetbeam useses is a somewhat distinct gray in the flashlight industry, and it’s being used here as well. Side by side they look the same anodizing wize.

Starting at the tail you have a forward click mechanical switch and 2 tails where you can attach a lanyard. It will tail stand but it’s not very stable. There is minimal knurling on the tail and body tube that add some grip. Threads are square cut, nicely greased and anodized.

You do have a rubber tactical ring which is nice to allow you to cigar grip the light if you wish. The body tube has flats milled in for the labels and a little added grip. The body tube is also removable from the head, but not reversible. I was able to swap around the head, body, and tail from the Jetbeam RRT M1X as well. The orings on the WP1 are the same distinct red color as the Jetbeam.

The head features the rotating ring controls, with a total of 5 detents that are just over 180 degrees in total movement. They feel ok, not super crisp but not mushy either. I like rotary control on a light like this, they are simple and they work great with gloves on which is important this time of year. The bezel of the light is non removable. It does stand proud of the “lens” and the cuts in the side allow for some light to leak when head down.

 

Size & Weight

I measured the length at 158.3mm, minimum diameter at 24mm on the flats of the body, and maximum diameter of 36.7mm on the control ring. Weight with the supplied battery is 230g. The light is IPX8 Water rated. Here are few photos of similar lights or competitors that I own.  

 

Retention

Retention options with the WP1 are the included lanyard which can be attached at the tail cap and then the holster. The holster has a velcro front cover and is made with a neoprene lined ballistic nylon. On the rear it has a belt loop that’s attached with a button and velcro. 

 

Emitter & Beam

So instead of an LED, the WP1 uses a LEP or Laser Excited Phosphor. Astrolux calls this the WP-T2 LEP (Same as Jetbeam). LEP’s work by using a blue laser emitter on a layer of phosphor to create a “whitish” beam that is then sent through a convex lens. 

The result is a beam that’s extremely concentrated. At 8ft it’s less than a 5 inch circle, it also has basically no spill like your traditional flashlight does. This concentrated beam does spread out a little at distance but it’s not as much and my night shots show that. When I compare it to my Jetbeam RRT M1X the beam here is larger, in shorter distances, but still quite small by LED flashlight standards. The tint here definitely has a blueish tint to it. There was no visible PWM to the eye or camera.

 (Astrolux on the Left, Jetbeam on the Right)

 

Heat & Runtime

I expected that this light would produce more heat because of how intense it was but it doesn’t Maximum heat I saw was about 36C during testing, and that’s a regulated temp. With the smaller body it does get about 4 degrees warmer than the larger Jetbeam model. It does seem to have a timed stepdown, to 40% relative output after 3 minutes. Compared with other LED based throwers I have this is good, given the other LED based throwers generally produce a lot more heat. 

Total runtime starting on high with the included fully charged 5000mAh battery was 5:14:00 with several step downs along the way. After 12 minutes your running at about 30% relative output but you can bump back up manually. When the light shut off I measured LVP at 2.974v. You don’t need a high output battery for this light either with the maximum amperage requirement I measured under 3A. So since this light is using a non proprietary button top protected battery (Long in length) you can choose based off of capacity rather then performance. 

 

UI

The UI here is simple with the rotary switch at the front. It’s 5 position switch with detents at every point, total rotation is just over 180 degrees. Starting from the left most detent and working clockwise you have low, medium, high, strobe, SOS. The switch at the rear is a your on and off control without a momentary mode as it’s a forward clicky switch. Strobe is very fast here, almost to the point of it not being useful as a strobe. 

 

Recharging

Recharging here is accomplished with the included unbranded (My guess is it’s the same battery Jetbeam supplies with their lights) 5000mAh 21700 battery. The battery itself has microUSB built into it, with a small LED at the positive side. Red when charging, green when charged. I would have loved to see USB-C instead here, especially on a premium light. It took a lengthy 7:31:00 to fully charge this battery which is quite slow, the fastest charge rate I saw was .75A, and it only decreased from there for the remaining 6 hours. Fully charged the battery measured 4.206V. 

My recommendation would be to use your own charger like the Vapcell S4 Plus or Xtar VC4SL and charge at a more reasonable rate. This battery can very safely handle a 2A charge rate and that will cut the charge time to more than half. I tested the capacity of this battery with my VapCell S4 Plus charger at 4719mAh. 

 

Pro’s & Con’s 

Pro

  • Simple Name
  • Good size for in the hand use & filters are available to make the LEP more practical for more tasks
  • The control ring is easy to use especially with gloves
  • Beam here is wider and slightly more practical.

 

Con’s

  • Strobe is too fast
  • Wish it came with the optional diffusers to make it more practical
  • Not inexpensive. 
  • LEP tint isn’t great, very cool white.

 

Conclusion

Given this lights apparent similarity with it’s sibling Jetbeams cousins, I would say go with whichever you can find the best deal on. Banggood is known for it’s coupons so it might end up being the Astrolux versions. From a physical and performance stand point I can’t tell a lot of difference. I don’t have both to do direct comparisons on but from reading in the forums and looking at them, and comparing the Astrolux WP1 to my Jetbeam RRT M1X Raptor I think they are likely the same. 

The big difference between the two models are their size of head and a bit of styling. The Astrolux WP1 here is a much smaller design thats easier to fit in the hand 

While LEP’s are really fun, and the performance is incredible, I struggle to find many uses for them in general. The hot spot here is a bit larger then my other LEP’s which makes it better, but realistically this isn’t something most people need and still quite small with no spill. It does work well for that smaller hand held search light application, signaling, and possibly on a hunting rifle at lower settings or with filters but this isn’t something you would want to take camping or be super useful in a power outage. That said it has pretty solid performance, and a LEP is something every flashlight obsessed individual should have in their collection.

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Lumintop Gift G1 Review (A flashlight made from TurboGlow?)

What would happen if you took an AA Lumintop Tool and made the body out of TurboGlow instead of metal? Well that’s what we basically have here with the Lumintop Gift-G1 a flashlight where most of the light is made out of TurboGlow and copper. It’s available in a number of colors and has both Cree and Nichia emitter options too. Thanks to Lumintop for sending this to me to review. It’s a fun light so let’s take a closer look.

 

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Packaging & Accessories

The Gift-G1 comes in a small cardboard box with minimal information on it, on the back you have the emitter chosen and the body color of the light. Inside accessories include the light itself, yellow lanyard, 2 spare orings. A glow ring and 14500 battery are both optional. No pocket clip is included with the light, more on that in a minute. 

Construction

The Gift-G1 is made from TuboGlow with an internal aluminum sleeve for electrical conductivity, and at the head, the pill is made from raw copper. TurboGlow if you don’t know is the premium solid glow in the dark material. It has a much longer glow life then normal glow in the dark material. While there are several color choices available, especially with the Gift-G1 such as Lava, Red, Rainbow, Pink, Purple, Blue, and Green, I went with green because it’s the brightest color that lasts the longest. 

 

The tail cap has a semi translucent black button inside and it has RGB LED’s underneath. These LED’s come on when you have a liion battery (14500) in the light, so you get a neat effect on the sides of the LED’s slowly fading between Red, Blue, and Green. 

Internally the parts are the same as the AA Tool, and interchangeable if you have both lights. There is an aluminum tube under the TurboGlow for conductivity. At the head of the light there is a exposed raw copper pill with light engraving of the Lumintop name, and model number. It’s a nice functional heat emitter too.

 

Lastly at the front the front bezel is TurboGlow and easily unscrews to expose the TIR style optic. This exposes the MCPCB. This makes the light very easily modded if you wanted to do an emitter swap. 

Size & Weight

I measured the length at 88mm, minimum width on the body at 19.21mm, diameter at the head at 21mm. Diameter of the glow ring is 30mm. Weight with the light, 800mAh Keeppower 14500, and Reylight Lan/Pineapple clip is 70g. The light is IP68 rated. 

 

Retention

The Gift-G1 comes with a yellow lanyard as the only factory supplied retention option, that can be attached via an optional anti roll ring/cigar grip ring. This works if that’s how you want to carry the light like this, but for me if I am going to EDC a light I need a pocket clip, so I went through my lights to see what I had that might work, and I found that the clip from my Reylight Lan/Pineapples V3+ work decently well here, You basically get the entire cap section sticking up out of your pocket (20.5mm) which is a bit much for me, especially when running a 14500 and having the tail cap light up but it’s still better than no pocket clip. 

I should note, with a clip like I had, I had more then one person stop me and said the light in my pocket was on when in fact it was just the tail cap LED’s or TurboGlow glowing. So it did draw some attention to itself.

 

LED & Beam Shots

The Gift G1 here is available with a Cree XP-G3 LED in cool white, or a Nichia 219C LED in Neutral white which is what I choose. It can be powered off of a AA or 14500 battery. I will include a chat here showing the claimed outputs for each emitter and battery combination. 

I found the beam pattern to be nice for EDC, It’s got a medium large hot center with a large dim spill, good for general shorter range and medium range tasks good for maybe 200ft max. One quick note about TurboGlow is it really lasts a lot longer than your traditional GITD material. With this light when you use it, you get light leakage around the front of the light so it continuously charges it. It makes for a lot of fun, kids love it. I found no visible PWM here to the eye or camera. 

 

Heat & Runtime

As mentioned before the light will run from 2 different power sources, either a AA 1.5v battery or a 14500 3.7V battery. You get the best performance and tail cap LED’s only if you run with the Liion 14500 but I did test both battery types.

 

With the 14500 the light stepped down from 100% relative output after 2 minutes and then ran at 55% relative output and declined in a slow manner. To me the curve looks unregulated. Total runtime was 1:10:00 but after this the light staid on in it’s firefly mode for about 2.5 additional hours. Maximum heat I saw was 48C at the 20 minute mark. The exposed copper does a nice job here with heat dissipation and adds some style points too. The light does have LVP. 

I did my AA test with a Amazon Basics High Capacity NiMH battery. These have proven to be good performance in the past, and here we saw a very flat output curve maintaining 98% relative output for 2:12 minutes. Heat here was minimal and I saw the peak being 36C at the end of the runtime. 

 

UI

The UI here is simple, it’s a 4 mode light, starting at the lowest mode. Once on, you can half press the mechanical button to go up in modes. There is a strobe mode, to access that, once the light is on, click give it a half press  6 times to get to strobe. 

 

There is memory when the light is off for 3 seconds this will memorize the setting and the light will come back on to that desired setting. That said my light has a firmware bug, and this only works with a 1.5v battery, if I use the 14500 Liion, memory mode doens’t work. Lumintop confirmed that they are aware and plan to fix it on the next batch of lights.

 

Pro’s

  • Fun
  • Choice of Body colors and Emitter options
  • Good beam profile for EDC

 

Con’s

  • No clip is included, but there are options on the market that fit.
  • The glow ring isn’t included and without it or a clip it leaves a gap on the body of the light.
  • Memory mode firmware bug.

 

Conclusion

The fun with the Gift-G1 is the TurboGlow body, it’s availability in several colors, and the LED’s in the tail cap that change color when using a 14500 battery. Inside it’s basically a Lumintop Tool which is a good EDC style light. For me the let down was no pocket clip, a must on a light this size if I am going to EDC it but luckily the clip from my Reylight Pineapple fit to make it more usable on a daily basis for me. 

I think this would make a great gift, a nice addition to a flasaholics collection since there are very few lights made from so much TurboGlow or a gift for a child (kind of expensive) to get a kid into the hobby if you like. 

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Wuben F5 Lantern & Fill Light Review (500 Lumens, 3 Tints, USB-C)

Today I am taking a look at a new Lantern and video fill light from Wuben with the F5. It can produce 3 tints, at 3 different brightness levels each, up to 500 lumens. It has an internal 5200mAh battery that can power the light and also be used to charge your devices. Thanks to Wuben for sending this to me to review and take a look at. 

 

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Packaging & Accessories

The Wuben F5 packaging is a nice box with a photo of the light and it’s lumens and battery size at the front. On the back you get a few more stats about the light and the box seals.

Included accessories is a rubberized lanyard, USB-A to C charging cable, and a metal 2 way S binder. The manual is usable but could use some polish by a native English speaker. 

 

Construction

The F5 is made from plastic all around. The build quality feels solid, with the front diffuser feeling a little hollow. The front panel is domed and acts as a diffuser for the approximately 90 LED’s underneath. The sides and back panel are all one piece and available in a dark green or black color. 

Each side of the light has a feature, with the top having 4 LED power and locator LED’s. On the left hand side when looking straight on you have the port cover for the USB-C input, and USB-A output ports. Opposite that you have the 3 buttons to control the light, on/off, and up/down buttons. On the bottom you have a ¼ 20 brass grommet to connect into for mounting or for use on a camera. On the back you have a raised circle that features a fairly strong magnet inside that easily supports the lights weight to mount on metal surfaces. Around that is a hinged metal ring with a fairly stiff hinge. You can use this as a small kickstand to prop up the light or to put your finger through to hold the light in a more secure way. One corner is drilled to accept the included lanyard. 

 

Retention

As mentioned previously there is the included rubberized wrist strap that attaches at the corner of the light. On the back there is the magnetic ring that supports the weight of the light well in any position on a variety of ferris surfaces. There is also that metal ring and stiff hinge acting like a kickstand or finger hold. 

 

Size & Weight

I measured the size at 78.8mm by 84.6mm by 33.7mm. I measured weight at 206.5 grams without the lanyard. The light is IP64 rated. So it’s dustproof and rated for submersion upto 1 meter. The light does not float. 

 

LED & Beam

There is no mention of exact emitters that are in use here but I can tell you there are 3 tints in this lantern, 3000k, 4500k, and 5700k. I can’t say exactly what CRI is here but my guess is somewhere in the 70-80 CRI, so pretty standard. There are a total of 30 emitters the 3000k and 5700k tints, 60 in total. For the neutral white mode the light actually runs both emitters at the same time. The beam is very even and diffused thanks to the frosted lens/diffuser on the top of the light. 

Exact outputs here vary based on the tint being used but Low ranges from 7-10 lumens, Medium 120-140 lumens, high 430 to 500 lumens with step downs from 230 to 300. 

 

There is some PWM here, especially in the lower output modes. I can’t see it with my eye but I can with my scope. The images here are from the warmer 3000k mode.

 

Runtime & Heat

Runtimes on the F5 are quite good, I did my runtime tests with a full 5200mAh internal battery on each color mode, in the top brightness. All 3 exceeded Wubens runtime numbers with warm white being 11:25:00, Neutral white and cool white both at 10:09:00. 

All 3 tints sustained theirs for about 8 minutes before stepping down to about 65% relative output. Basically this is a great light for long sustained outputs, perfect for that lantern application. Heat was really not worth talking about here, the sides and back stayed at room temp and only the front diffuser slightly heated up to be just warm.

 

UI

To turn the light on or off it’s a quick press on the center on/off/mode button. Wuben mentions stepless dimming here, and I don’t want anyone to get confused, this light does have steps, it’s not a light with ramping. That said the changes between modes are a soft fade. You have a plus minus button to adjust brightness in 3 steps. To change tint’s once on it’s a quick double press. The order it goes is cool white, neutral white, warm white. 

 

The battery indicators on the side also have what Wuben calls a Breathing LIght, I would call this a locator function. The lights fade in and out slowly to help you locate light in the dark. Useful for if your camping or trying to find it in a bag. This can be turned on or off if you triple click the central button with the light off. There is a lockout mode as well if you press that center button 4 times. 

 

Recharging

The Wuben F5 has a 5200mAh lithium ion battery inside. It’s non user serviceable. On one side of the light it as a large port cover that’s covering the USB-C port for charging, and a USB-A port to use it as a powerbank. There are 4 LED’s on the side that give you charge status when charging  and discharging. These values are a little different depending on the mode so make sure you consult the manual for the exact. 

 

For charging the light does support USB-C to C which is great to see, and in my tests took 3:22:24 to charge to full. Max charge rate I saw was 1.7A. 

As a powerbank I ran a discharge test at 2A, 5V which is the maximum it can output and it did this for 1:31:00. Capacity after conversion was measured at 3039mAh. So not the most efficient circuit here. 

 

Pro’s

  • 3 Built in Tint options with every light
  • Long runtimes for a pretty compact package
  • Charges via USB-C to C
  • Can be used as a powerbank
  • Strong Magnet, ¼ 20 grommet, and finger ring retention options

 

Con’s

  • Non user serviceable battery
  • Only 180 degrees of light instead of 360.

 

Conclusion

Lanterns are not the most exciting light in your collection but possibly one of the most useful. The Wuben F5 is up there in my opinion with the BLF LT1 I looked at last year. It’s smaller and doesn’t output in 360 degrees like a true lantern does, but it has a host of other features that make it useful for both the enthusiast and general user. 

The ability to run all 3 tints at 3 brightness levels really is great, for me I will definitely leave it in warm or neutral tints. The light is nice and diffused too.

I feel like the size and weight here are right. As much as I love the BLF LTF, it’s big, and heavy, the Wuben F5 is a reasonable size here and has more output/battery life then lanterns from larger brands and for less overall cost. 

If you don’t have a lantern in your go bag, I would strongly recommend one. This would be a great addition to that tornado, hurricane, earthquake or general power outage situation since you can use it to provide 10 hours of light on high, or 20 hours on medium, and use it as a powerbank to keep your phone topped off. Safe to say I am a fan and I do recommend it.

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Jetbeam RRT01 Review 2020 Version (Rotary EDC, Nichia LED, High CRI, 950 Lumens)

Jetbeam has a new version of the RRT01 Raptor out for 2020. If you remember back to last summer I reviewed the 2019 version of the light and loved it. The 2020 version adds an Optional Nichia emitter and changes how the rotary ring and UI work as well as being more flexible with different battery versions. Thanks to JetBeam for sending this to me to look at and review. 

 

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Versions

There are now 3 versions of the Jetbeam RRT01 that all share the same name. There is the original from about 8+ years ago, the 2019 version and now the 2020 version. Each having their own differences in performance, batteries, and LED. I do wish JetBeam would have added a V1, V2, V3 or used a different name with the light so it was easier for the consumers to tell the difference. The easiest way to tell the difference between the 2019 and 2020 is to look at the tail. The 2019 has a place for 3 tritium vials, whereas the 2020 has a button on the tail cap.

 

Packaging & Accessories

The packaging of the RRT01 is very Jetbeam, it’s a blue and black retail hanging package with all the details you need on the outside and side panels. As far as accessories, it depends on the version you get. My kit has the optional 2x extensions tubes that allow you to use 18500 and 18650 batteries in the light. In addition to this  it comes with a 1100mAh JetBeam branded 18350 battery with microUSB charging onboard, 3 extra  orings, an allan key, 2 extra screws for the clip (Not torx), and replacement rubber boot for the rear switch in gray. You also get a lanyard, manual, and other paperwork. 

 

Construction

The light is made from aluminum and anodized a warmer light gray with the control bezel being a silver. It’s nice to see a different anodizing color here. Machining is very good. Starting at the tail, there is a bezel around the center mechanical on/off button. When the button is in the off state the light doesn’t tail stand super well, but when the light is on the button has retracted enough that it tail stands great, so really a pretty thoughtful design as it helps you find it when you want to turn the light on. 

The body section of the light has knurling around it with 2 flats with the minimal labeling on each side. The light then grows to match the size of the head and control ring. Threads are wide, square cut and non anodized. By default the light will fit 18350’s and CR123A batteries which are great sizes for EDC but if you want more runtime you can insert one of the extensions and use a 18500 if you have them or add both if you want to use a 18650. Just remember to use a protected battery as this light doesn’t have LVP. When the extension are in place it’s a little less elegant I think and heavy in the head. 

 

The rotary control ring has some areas milled into it to give grip. It has a detent on both ends of the control area. From 0 to 100% is about 160 degrees of rotation. There is no detent in the control ring for the 2020 version of the light. The ring moves quite easily, I would like to just touch more resistance. The rotary really allows you to dial in the exact amount of light you want very quickly.

The head has an aluminum bezel that’s mostly built into the light and not proud. It is not glued but you will need a tool to get it loose. The glass lens is double anti reflective coated and it has a deep reflector with a light orange peal.

 

Size & Weight

I measured the length at 91mm in it’s shortest configuration. Each extension adds 15mm to the overall length of the light. Maximum diameter on the head of the light is 26mm, and minimum diameter at the head is 24.5mm. The extensions are slightly larger in diameter coming in at 26.46mm vs the 26mm of the head of the light. 

Weight in it’s shortest configuration with the included battery and clip is 114.6g. With a 30Q and the 3x extensions came in at 153.9g. 

 

Comparisons

The most obvious comparison with the RRTR01 2020 is the 2019 version and the lights look very similar. The largest difference is that the 2019 version is shorter without the tail switch. The lens’s are a little different too, the 2020 lights lens has a light orange peel and is deeper and the bezel is smooth. The diameter of the head is slightly longer too. The extension tubes fit either light. When you put the extensions on the light looks a little funny to me, it seems longer and the proportions are just off a little. For an 18650 light it’s a little on the long side when compared to the FW3A. 

 

Retention

The RRT01 like it’s predecessors are using the “standard” steel flame pattern clip meaning most aftermarket clips on the flashlight market should fit here. THe stock clip is a little longer than many at 61mm. The screw holes are hex head instead the more common torx. 

 

In the pocket it carries reasonably well. The slotted tail bezel that’s around the tail button sticks up a little more then I want but does protect the button well from accidental activation. It’s still deep enough I consider it deep carry. I found the short length to be about perfect in the pocket, it’s doable to carry with the extensions on and an 18650 but it’s center of gravity is more to the head. 

 

LED & Beamshots

There are 2 LED’s offered in the RRT01 Raptor (2020), a Cree XP G3 offering 80 CRI, and a Nichia 219C at 90CRI. I have the latter and it’s a nice warm 4000k. For me this is a great combination of tint and high CRI. JetBeam claims both are rated for 950 lumens, and that would be higher then I would expect out of a Nicha 219C as they typically don’t put out quite as much light as the Cree XP G3, so I take that with a grain of salt. It’s enough light to do the job easily. The beam here is nice for EDC, it has some center spot, about 20% of the beam and then fades to a useful spill. The rotary is very smooth and makes this light infinitely variable sub lumen up to 950. See the video version of this review for my Nightshots.

 

Heat and Runtime

Runtime here is very linear, I started my test with the included 1100mAh 18350 battery on full power. Output here was very linear and seems to not be regulated super well. There really isn’t much of a stepdown and the light ran above the 40% relative output out until 28 minutes. At 34 minutes the light shut off when LVP on the battery kicked in at 2.94V. The runtime here surprised me a bit, it’s rather short but then again this light doesn’t have much of a step down. It does get warm and the highest temp I saw was 59C around the 17 min mark. 

I then tested with a 3000mAh 18650 battery. You need to use a protected battery with this light, I didn’t do that my first test and the result was the light ran until the cell was dangerously low right at 1V. I was not happy about ruining a battery here, but the result was significantly longer runtime. FL1 was at about 95 minutes, total runtime was just at 1 hour and 40 minutes. You can see thermal regulation kick in at the top end a bit. 

 

UI

UI here is pretty unique to most other flashlights but it works pretty well. The RRT01 2020 version adds an on off switch at the tail of the light and combines with the rotary function in the head to change the brightness of the light. Once on rotate the ring to the right to increase in brightness, increase to the left to decrease in brightness. It is truly infantly variable as fast or as slow as you want. On my light I can turn the ring about 1/12 of the way before the LED begins to turn on. 

 

This light does have an infinitely variable SOS and strobe modes as well. When on just rotate to to the maximum brightness setting and then to the left slightly 3 times and you get SOS, do this 4 times to get strobe. You can then dial back the brightness if you want. To exit just turn the light off and it goes back to normal.  

 

Recharging

The light includes a 1100mAh Jetbeam branded 18350 battery that has onboard microUSB that you plug into the side of the battery. It has a multicolor LED on top that goes red when charging and green when charged. LVP is built into the battery and it stopped at 2.94V. Charged it stopped at 4.16V. When I plugged it in to charge I did notice the top of the cell got pretty warm, about 110F but this quickly dissipated. My guess is it’s doing this at first to gradually limit current going into the battery at the start of a charge. Overall the battery took 92 minutes to charge, and the maximum charge rate I saw was around the 70 minute mark at 1A. It’s a little odd to see that high of charge rate at the end of the charge cycle. 

 

Pro’s

  • Nichia LED, my biggest complaint with the 2019 version of this light was the LED that was chosen.
  • I am a sucker for a rotary interface, it works here well but requires shifting your grip to turn on then adjust the output.
  • I like the anodizing color here, a warm gray, almost sand color.
  • Nice overall EDC light with options to go to 18650 too.

 

Con’s

  • No Low Voltage Protection, must use protected cells if you plan to run the battery to exhaustion,. . 
  • A little awkward with the extensions installed, it throws the balance way forward.
  • Confusing naming with the previous versions of the light.
  • On the expensive side with the extension kit

 

Conclusion

The JetBeam RRT01 is the 3rd irrieteration of the light that shares the same name, while confusing for customers it’s a light I am enjoying. I really like rotary interfaces, I think they should be done on more flashlights as it’s intuitive and easy to operate for people of any age. The addition here of the on/off button on the tail instead of detents in the rotary makes the light less likely to come on in a pocket or when not in use but I think detracts from the overall rotary aspect of the light That said it still works pretty well but just requires you to change grips when using the light to turn it on and adjust the output.

The inclusion on some version with the extensions is smart, allowing you to use more battery types, it’s kind of an after though on design but it works reasonably well, especially if you want the extra runtime of an 18650, just be sure to use a protected battery since the light itself doesn’t have LVP. 

The optional Nichia 219C emitter here is great. One of the features I liked least about the 2019 version was it was cool white and it’s great Jetbeam listed to this user feedback myself and others had. Overall this is a fun edc light, it’s a little on the expensive side but one I can still recommend. Make sure to check my links in the description as I will list any coupons or sales I get where you might be able to get a discount. 

Banggood has a 30% off coupon for the 2020 version of the Jetbeam RRT01 at https://ban.ggood.vip/V8ca by using code:  BGRRLM