Tag: Jetbeam

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Jetbeam PL-190R Review (Full Color Photography & Video Light, USB-C)

Today I have the JetBeam PL-190R on my review table. It’s a photography and video fill light that’s capable of full spectrum colored light as well as white light. The fill light also features a 5000mAh battery that can be as a power bank as well. Thanks to Jetbeam for sending this to me to take a look at and review.

YouTube Version of this Review:

Packaging

Packaging here is pretty minimal, it’s a clear folded plastic box, the light sits inside a try, and the only accessories that are included are the manual, and a USB OTG cable for allowing you to plug in another cable to use the fill light as a battery power bank as well. 

 

Construction

The PL-190R reminds me in shape and build quality to a modern smartphone but thicker. On the front you have a diffused plastic panel with some orange peel to help diffuse each LED. Around the edges you have a metal frame, it has ¼ 20 threads that enable you to mount the light in the portrait or landscape profiles. When mounted in a landscape format your jog wheels are on the left, and your mode and power button end up on the top right. In the lower right hand corner on the bezel you have the USB-A and USB-C connections. The back is made of glass and has a fairly small OLED screen in the top left corner.

Size & Weight

I measured the length at 129mm, width at 72mm, and thickness at 15.5mm. Weight was 216.4g. It’s roughly the same footprint as the previous model but thicker. 

LED | Runtime

The PL-190R has a lot of LED’s onboard, 220 to be exact. 120 of those are for the white light, with 60 being a warm white, and 60 being a cool white LED. When combined together you get a tint of between 2500k and 8500k. The remaining 100 LED’s are larger RGB LED’s used for the color.

 

The screen has a built in runtime estimator on it but I found it to not be very accurate. I did a test where I set the light to 4000k and 100% brightness. The estimate showed about 2 minutes 50 second, but the light goes on for significantly longer. My only guess is that estimate is before any change in brightness. Total runtime in this mode was right at 200 minutes. The first 50 minutes or so are at 90% relative output, and 170 minutes are above 80%. After the 50 minute the mark output becomes a little unstable with it stepping up and down slightly. This isn’t noticeable to the eye but could be in photo and video settings probably.

 

UI & Modes

Instead of buttons to change modes, and brightnesses the PL-190R is using dials which I prefer. It’s easier and quicker to use the dials then a button, once you understand the UI it’s pretty induative. The brightness wheel rotates continuously where as the mode dial allows you to rock the wheel up and down and click. I only had problems here with the brightness wheel at very low power, it’s sensitive enough to make the light almost flicker when down at 1-2% if shaken or vibrated too hard. 

This light has 3 modes of operation.

 

In white light mode, the light uses it’s 60 warm and 60 cold LED’s to make a mix of light to reach the desired tint. IT ranges from 2500k to 8500k in 100k increments. Brightness is controllable in 1% increments and the light is rated for up to 650 lumens at 8500k, and 570 lumens at 2500k. 

RGB mode is similar, but using the 50 RGB LED’s. It’s measuring tint in degrees of color gamut, and isn’t quite as fluid as as the white LED’s since everything is being done on each die vs a combination of 2 or more LEDs. It’s also adjustable for 0-100% intensity. The other rocker allows you to adjust the color, and then saturation level as well. Think of color as the course adjustment and saturation as the fine adjustment. I don’t have the equipment needed to give a lumen level for colored light, but generally RGB’s don’t put out as much light as the equivalently sized white LED. Personally I see this as being more of a photography or video fill light to light a tabletop scene and you will see in my night shots it puts out a decent amount of light.

The light also features a couple of modes that are programmed in. Practically for a filming/photography reason I don’t see these being super useful but it didn’t take any more space to do and it’s a seperate mode so I guess no harm is done including it. There are a total of 9 scene mode available including Lightning I, Lightning II, SOS mode, Club simulation, Color chase, Candlelight, Police car, Red and green flashing, and Blue and green flashing. These are fixed modes and its’ not capable of speeding up or slowing down the change, but you can control the brightness.

 

Recharging & Powerbank Functions

The PL-190R has a 5000mAh battery built inside. This is used to power the light but can also be used as a power bank. Impressively the light is capable of delivering upto 18W in powerbank mode, up to 12V or 3A appropriately. Unfortunately it doesn’t charge via a USB-C to C cable, so a A to C cable is required for modern devices. 

Charge time via the USB-C input was just under 3 hours and it charged at 2A no problem. 

 

Conclusion

The Jetbeam PL-190R is an interesting take on a photography fill light with the addition of color it becomes more capable as a video fill light as well. While not the only name in the game, it’s probably one of the better known flashlight companies doing this. There are other similar products from some other Chinese companies but none quite as bright or as many features.

For me I will probably use this as a photography fill light, for some supplemental lighting. If you don’t follow my instagram make sure you follow because this is where you will probably see this in use first. I will keep my original Jetbeam fill light as my video light since it’s smaller and I don’t need the color features for video work like this review. 

 

If you are interested I will have a link below to where you can find it on Jetbeam’s website and for a few US retailers I can find. 

 

Full Image Gallery https://imgur.com/a/wySE6Md

 

Purchase the Jetbeam PL-190R at BatteryJunction at https://www.batteryjunction.com/jetbeam-pl-190r-photography-light.html 

See more information on Jetbeams website at http://www.jetbeamlight.com/products_show308.html

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Jetbeam Jet T2 Review (Jetbeam’s First Pistol Light)

Today I have Jetbeams’ first attempt at a pistol light, the Jet-T2. Thanks to Jetbeam for sending this one to me early to check out. An excuse to go to the range to test a light is always a good one. 

Full Image Gallery: https://imgur.com/a/8UxVcyD

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YouTube Version of this Review:

Packaging

Packaging on this light is a clear hanging retail box with the light prominently displayed in the middle. Some limited information is on the back. Accessories are pretty limited as well, you get the included Jetbeam branded 700mAh USB rechargeable 16340 battery, and a MicroUSB cable to charge the battery directly, and some paperwork such as the manual, warranty card, etc. 

Construction

The light is made from anodized aluminum and is generally rectangular in shape but it has been lightened where possible. The sides have a deep milled area in the sides, and the bottom the corners are well rounded. Starting at the head it features a double anti reflective coated lens, with a smooth fairly deep reflector. The head has small scallops for style and grip. The head is removable for battery recharging and replacement. There  are springs at each end of the light. Inside there is a dual wall construction so unfortunately a battery larger then a 16340 like an 18350 won’t fit in this light. 

On the bottom of the light there is the electronic switched used to lock out the light. It’s large but out of the way and pretty flat. On the back of the light there is a plastic and rubber molded piece that has the switches. It’s almost a different shade of black then the aluminum and not a great match at least on my example. There are switches on either the left or the right side. They only work under the molded rubber bar which took some getting used to and isn’t my favorite design. 

The mount features a insert with 4 slots to allow the universal rail section fit your firearm. The key I had no trouble fitting in a Glock rail or standard 1913 rail. For my Glocks (19 being the smallest) it fit best for me in the furthers forward position. This unfortunately isn’t enough travel for my S&W Shield but I didn’t really expect it to fit here either. The screw used to tighten it down on your firearm is silver in color unfortunately, I really wish it was black instead to blend in better. It has a large straight slot to allow you to tighten it down with a coin. I miss the Olight Quick detach system that I have gotten used to on their weapon lights here. 

Size/Weight & Competition

Length is about 65 mm, Width is 29mm, Height is 36mm. Weight with battery came in at 92.8g, and it’s IPX7 rated.

While similar to the original Olight PL Valkyrie I in layout, I compared the light to the Olight PL Pro because size wise it’s somewhat close. The Jetbeam T2 probably compares best to some of the smaller Streamlight’s like the TLR-7 but I don’t have one here to compare it to. Anyways it’s a medium sized weapon light, larger then the Olight PL-Mini but operates more like a full size light in a medium packaged size. 

 

It fit’s fine on my Glock 19 and 22, but even with the adjustable mount it doesn’t fit on my S&W Shield with the rail attachment. 

LED | Beamshots |  Runtime

The LED being used here is the Cree XPL-HI in cool white. The reflector is decently deep and smooth so for what it is it has a good amount of throw. It’s rated for 120 meters and I found this to be pretty accurate. Beam profile is a fairly hot center and a good amount of lighter spill, a good profile for a pistol light in my opinion.

Runtimes on this light were a little disappointing, at least for high. In high mode it’s good for 520 lumens, and runtime is about 3-4 minutes before it steps down over the next 7 minutes to about 70% relative output. This decline is slow so you don’t notice the sudden dip. The next 10 minutes is pretty stable. The light then flashes a bit to let you know power is lower, and then steps up a decent amount before running till LVP kicks in on the battery. The battery didn’t want to give me a voltage at the LVP cut off point till I charged it a bit. 

Low mode is good for 160 lumens, and runtime is about 105 minutes. This is an odd graph as well, because the light actually increases slightly in output over the first 50 minutes, before stepping back down and then slowly increasing till LVP kicks in. Output till the end gets a bit unstable. 

 

UI

The light has buttons on the left and right, These are button pads that look longer then they really are, you have to get right up under the bar to make them function. A quick press of either button gives you a constant on mode, a longer press give you a momentary mode, Jetbeam calls this tactical mode. To access strobe, double click other buttons.

 

The light has 2 modes, a high and low, 520 or 120 lumens respectively. To switch between them, just long press both side buttons together and the light will come on and adjust it’s output. This setting is memorized. In my experience I had better luck if I pressed and held one button and then the other quickly vs at the same time. Having the light on makes it easier. 

 

The light also has an on/off switch on the bottom that is it’s lock mechanism. To set the lock, long press on the bottom button, and the light will slow flash 3 times. To unlock long press on the bottom button and the light will slow flash 2 times.

 

Recharging

Recharging is accomplished on the included Jetbeam 700mAh 16340 battery via the USB port on the side of the battery. This is the same battery we saw on the Jetbeam RRT-01 Review I did earlier in the year (Great light if you have not seen it). It has 2 LED indicators on top, red when charging, green when charged. Charging speed was very conservative at 0.4A meaning charging a low battery to full (4.17V) took 2 hours, 5 minutes. 

0.4A.

Conclusion

The Jetbeam T2 is Jetbeams first Pistol light that I can find and it’s pretty good for a first go at it. For me the output should be a bit more smooth and regulated, with more emphasis on the high output without step down. The buttons on the sides should have a larger area to enable them to be used more easily. I don’t find the switch on the bottom that useful for lockout because of the UI that takes too long. I would much rather have a simple mechanical lockout via a ¼ turn of the bezel because it’s simpler and faster. 

 

That said I like the shapes here, and so far this has proven to work pretty well. Even though the mount isn’t a tool less design it works well and should adapt to most full size and sub compact model pistols. The XP-L high is a good emitter choice here and the results are alight that throws pretty well which is important for a pistol light. Overall it’s a good first design with room for improvement in the future. 

 

Purchase the T2 on Jetbeam’s Website https://www.jetbeamworld.com/en/product/Jetbeam-JET-T2-Compact-LED-Tactical-Pistol-Light-CREE-XP-L-HI-520-Lumens-Includes-1-x-3.7V-700mAh-RCR123A-80.html or from Battery Junction https://www.batteryjunction.com/jetbeam-jet-t2.html 

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JetBeam RRT01 Review 2019 (Rotary EDC Almost Perfection?)

Jetbeam has reintroduced an updated  RRT01 for 2019. This an exciting EDC light because it has a infinitely variable control ring meaning it’s a new affordable rotary light. It comes with a USB rechargeable 16340 battery but also takes 18350’s. Thanks to Banggood for sending this to me to take a look at.

 

Full Image Gallery: https://imgur.com/a/M1OMO3u

Youtube Version of this Review:

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Packaging

Pretty standard packaging from Jetbeam on this light. It’s a retail blue and black hanging box, with a picture of the light on the front. Banggod has kindly placed a large sticker and a piece of yellow tape on mine. On the back you get the features and specs. Included accessories are the light, a Jetbeam branded 16340 700mAh battery that is USB rechargeable, a decent lanyard, extra oring and small hex wrench for removing the clip, and small MicroUSB recharging cable.   

Construction

The light is made from aluminum and anodized a dark gray with the control bezel being a silver. It’s nice to see something that’s not black. Machining is very good. Starting at the tail, it’s flat, with 3 places for 12mm long tritium vials, it’s flat so the light will tail stand provided it doesn’t have a lanyard attached. There is a place for the lanyard in the side but doing so makes it not sit very flat anymore. 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.

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 150 degrees of rotation. The detent in the control ring isn’t super crisp, but a little mushy, it also takes a decent amount of effort to get over the detentes but once over them it turns easily but has enough resistance to stay where you leave it. The rotary really allows you to dial in the exact amount of light you want very quickly.

The head has a aluminum bezel with shallow crenulations. It is not glued in place and is easily removed. I think this will be an easy and popular light to modify because of that. The glass lens is double anti reflective coated and it has a deep smooth reflector.

Size/Weight/Carry Comparison

While not the smallest 16340 light on the market for me this makes a really nice EDC. A big part of that is a good pocket clip, and while the stock one is decent, Jetbeam wisely decided to make this compatible with a wide variety of aftermarket clips such as, Steelflame, Okluma, Oveready, and others. The stock clip for me had just a little to much upward flare on the tipI measured the length at 81mm, maximum diameter at 26mm, and minimum diameter at 20mm. Weight with the included cell and clip was 93g.

LED/beamshot/Runtime

The RRT01 is using a Cree XP-L HI LED in cool white. No tint data is given but it is cool white, with no undesirable tints (green). The beam is has a slight donut that you notice with lower power levels. Around the hot spot there is a thin reflection an additional small artifact in the beam that’s brighter. It’s noticeable but not a deal killer given all the lights other strengths.

I did 2 uncooled runtime testes, one with the included 700mAh 16340 and the other with a 1200mAh 18350. With the 16340 the total output on the highest output lasted a total of 24 minutes. During this output decreased slowly and pretty linearly, before the LVP on the battery itself kicked in. The runtime using the 1200mAh unprotected 18350 was a similar but different story. Output was a little more stable at the top, and total output increased to over just under 40 minutes (Technically longer). Outputs were pretty smooth and similar but at the 30 minute mark we saw lots of very little steps and then at the very end the light flashed to let you know the cell was very low. However then instead of cutting off output the light continued to run since the light itself has no LVP. My recommendation would be to run this with a protected battery or just charge frequently to avoid damaging the cell from ultra low voltage running.

UI

UI on this light is super simple, Instead of buttons and modes it uses a rotary switch in the bezel with a detent on both ends. The detents are a little mushy, and do require some force. As mentioned earlier it’s about 160 degrees full rotation with detents. Low on this light is super low, sub lumen which is nice to see. I find the rotary switch to be faster than ramping UI with a ebutton too.

The light also has strobe if you rotate the rotary to maximum brightness past the detent, then reverse slightly over the denent and reverse again (Twice). Doing this twice gives you strove and then you can decrease brightness to the level you wish. Doing this 3 times gives you SOS. Rotate past the off detent to end the blinking modes.

 

Recharging

Included is a Jetbeam branded 700mAh 16340 battery that has recharging built in via MicroUSB on the battery. Charging speed was 0.4A which is what you want for these smaller capacity batteries. It took right at 2 hours to charge completely. The LED indicator on the battery goes Red when charging and Green when charged.

 

The light will take 18350 batteries too, these fill up the cavity better (Although no rattle with the 16340 that’s included) but if your using a protected 18350 it might not screw down completely flush. This doesn’t harm the IPX8 water resistance.

 

Pro

  • Love that it takes 18350’s including protected cells (with a bit of brass sticking out)
  • Great size and clip for EDC
  • Rotary switch in a small affordable package
  • Easily modifiable emitter
  • Takes standard clips if you want to upgrade.

 

Cons

  • There are some beam artifacts
  • No LVP (Running a protected battery is a good idea)
  • Not a completely smooth beam profile, there are some extra rings around the hot spot.

 

Conclusion

The Jetbeam RR01 2019 edition is a really nice little EDC light. It’s been my EDC since I got it, and that’s saying something. Rotary control rings this small are not common, and I think they should be used more. It allows you to get exactly the amount of illumination you need for your specific application. The RRT01 does a lot of things well for an EDC in my book.

The stock clip is pretty good for a fairly deep carry, and can easily be swapped out to a steelflame style clip from a variety of manufacturers if you would like. The modding potential for this light is big too, there is some talk of someone trying to make a triple in this light too which would be pretty awesome, and something I will definitely be paying attention too. I will probably look into an LED swap here in the coming weeks too, to get something high CRI and a touch warmer. Overall it’s a great little EDC light and I am glad Jetbeam revived the design and updated if for 2019. I definitely recommend it.

Banggod has provided me with a pretty good coupon on this one that I will have in the description and on my blog post so if your looking at getting one make sure you check that out as it does help out my channel/blog if you buy using the link I provide.

Get the JetBeam RRT01 2019 from Banggod at https://bit.ly/2VdivBz for $53.99 with code: BGRRT

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JetBeam WL-20 (Tri-Color rotating head Hunting Light)

On my review table today I have the JetBeam WL-20 a flashlight designed for hunting. It can be mounted to a rifle with optional accessories jetbeam produces. This light has 3 colors (White, Red, and Green) and features 2 LED’s per color. Thanks to JetBeam for sending this for me to take a look at. Let’s take a closer look at how Jetbeam achieves this multicolor hunting light.

Full Image Gallery: https://imgur.com/a/6Z11Bit
YouTube Version of this Review:

Packaging
The package is similar to other recent JetBeam lights with a blue and black cardboard box. On the outside it has highlights and on the back is a runtime chart. On the inside is a plastic shell that houses the light and all the accessories. It’s a pretty full package. Included with this light is the Flashlight itself, it comes preinstalled with a Jetbeam protected button top Jetbeam 18650 with microUSB recharging. Also included is a branded holster with a bit of padding, Plastic D Ring, velcro belt loop, lanyard and microUSB charging cable. It comes with a small bag of spares including an extra red o Ring and rear tail button boot.






Construction
The head of this light is what sets it apart from some of the others, it rotates around the body. This allows the side by side lens configuration to only show 2 of the 6 total LED’s in the light at a time. Between colors it’s a heavy detent that almost requires two hands to operate. It makes a louder click moving between modes. Staying with the head of the light it’s and the rest of the light is made from aluminium that’s black anodized. The front bezel of the light is unanodized and has a short but sharply milled front bezel. The lens is glass with anti reflective coating. The lens is interesting as it has two deep recesses for the side by side LED configuration, with part of the middle reflector cut out.


The rest of the head has some milling for heat sinks and areas milled out to provide a bit of grip to turn it left and right. The body below is much smaller in diameter and 4 flats with knurling in between. It’s smoother knurling. On two of the flats an edge has been milled in for style and to aid in grip.

The Tailcap has one main on/off button that stands proud and is a textured rubber. It’s a pretty stiff button and can be used as momentary or a full press for a lock on. Next to the button are two paddles, these are metal and are similar to what you would see on a tactical light but with less grip. These are used for mode selection and act as pure momentary switches. The tail has small holes for attaching the lanyard, no paracord here. The light doesn’t tail stand due to a slightly proud center tail button and being unstable in this configuration.

Threads were square but and very smooth but dry. The Oring is a little larger than usual and is red rather than black. The WL20 use a stiff dual spring arrangement in the tail cap. In the head there is also dual springs but these are much less stout.

Overall weight with the included battery is 218 grams. Maximum diameter at it’s widest point is 42mm, minimum diameter is 26.5mm. Length is 146mm and the light is IPX8 water rated.

LED/Runtime/Drain
This light uses a total of 6 LEDs. The White LED’s are Cree XPG3 S4 LEDs in a very cool white. The Red and Green LED’s are only mentioned as “3535”. The lens is deep and it produces a beam pattern that was better than I expected. It’s a bit egg shaped in the spill but the hot center is pretty round at short distances. At longer distances it’s pretty normal.



Runtime
Jetbeam ships this light with the 2600mah microUSB rechargeable battery. However the offical runtimes they give on the package and in the manual are done using a 3500mAh cell. All my tests have been done with the 2600mAh cell that shipped with the light. To save time I won’t go into depth describing runtime just give a few facts and provide the graph.

White – Total runtime was about 150 minutes with flashing near the end. Turbo (1000L was good for about 5 minutes before stepping down to high. Step downs are hard steps.

Red – Total run time was 140 minutes with slow decline but it ran at 80% most of the time before an abrupt end and LVP kickin in.

Green – Total run time was 130 minutes with 1 small step down after 90 minutes. The end was and abrupt shut off in 3 short stages.

UI
The UI of this light depends on which color mode you have it in. In all 3 modes, the large round button at the tail cap is your main on and off. The momentary paddles work for momentary and will cycle the light through modes if that color has one. To rotate between colors rotate the head of the light left or right. It has a strong and audible detent.

In Green this light has one brightness level at 300 lumens. Paddles work for momentary, center button is on/off and can be momentary with a ½ press.

In Red this light has two modes, 125 lumens and 20 lumens. The paddles work for momentary and will cycle between modes. If it’s on a constant on the paddles just will cycle modes. High is the default red mode and it does not have memory in this mode.

In White this light has 4 main modes and strobe. Eco is 20 lumens, Low is 120 lumens, high is 330 lumens, and Tubro and strobe are 1000 lumens. The light will start off in turbo if using the main on/off. From there you can use the paddles to advance to eco, low, high and back to turbo. When off hitting the paddles will give you strobe, or from on a long press on the paddles will give you strobe.

Recharging and the Battery
The WL20 comes with a Jetbeam branded button top 2600mAH battery that has built in microUSB for charging. It says it’s rated for 1A charging speed but in my testing the best I got was 0.73A this resulted in a empty battery taking 4 hours 40 minutes to recharge. Personally I will use a more traditional charger instead.

A note about durability of this type of battery in a light designed for possibly mounting on a rifle. The additional circuit board not only makes the battery longer than a typical 18650 but it adds an additional possible failure point due to recoil. In a hunting environment you probably won’t be taking lots of shots, but in a more tactical environment you might be. I would recommend using a button top battery battery without protection instead for better durability.

Pro’s

  • One handed operation and rotating emitter.lens setup make it unique and it works well.
  • Heavy detents and big buttons make it easy enough to use with gloves but it almost takes two hands to rotate the head into a different color mode.
  • Brightest Red and Green modes I have tested thus far
  • Throws pretty well and has a decent beam pattern for the side by side LED configuration.

Con’s

  • It’s relatively heavy, while you could mount it onto a firearm I don’t think you would want to because of the weight and battery.
  • The white emitter has a very cool tint.I would prefer Neutral White or warm white myself and for the UI to start in eco first.
  • I would prefer the white emitter mode to have one addition moonlight mode since Red is still too bright for up close work.
  • Head rotation is almost too difficult, especially while wearing a cast.
  • The manual and packaging are not in sync as to which LED’s are in use in the light.

Conclusion
I was pretty interested in how this light accomplished it’s multi color LED’s and how much that would compromise beam quality. The good news is it was a lot better than I expected. It’s not a perfectly round beam but it doesn’t have many artifacts or ugly pieces too it.

As a weapon light I think there are better options that are smaller and better suited to attaching directly to a rifle. However as a hunting light that you might hand hold or use to get to a tree stand or blind and then use after the shot I think it would work fairly well. It has the strongest green mode on a light I have tested and that can be useful for finding a blood trail. It’s nice to see that the red mode has two brightness levels but the low is still a bit too bright for my liking for up close work.

This is a niche light, and won’t apply for the vast majority. For those that do need a hunting light that’s multicolor this is certainly an option for you that should work pretty well.

Learn more at the official WL20 website http://www.jetbeamlight.com/products_show289.html and it can be found on Amazon as well https://amzn.to/2zFCLq4

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JetBeam HR30 Headlamp Review (USB-C, 20700 Compatible, Red+White LED’s)

This is my first light from Jetbeam that I have reviewed. It’s a new headlamp design from them and the first light I have tested with USB-C recharging. It’s really nice to see USB-C starting to make it’s way to flashlights as it’s the new standard. Thanks to Jetbeam for sending this to me to look closer at.

Full Image Gallery for this Review: https://imgur.com/a/pps2Oqk
The YouTube version of this Review:

Packaging
My packaging got a little mangled in international shipping but the just of it is a relatively large box with images of the light front and relevant info on the back regarding ratings and runtimes. Inside is a large plastic try housing the HR30 Headlamp, Jetbeam branded battery (2600mAh), unassembled head band and bracket, pocket clip, 2 spare O rings, a USB 3 to USB-C cable, relevant paperwork (Manual, warranty card). This is on par with Nitecore packaging but not up to Olight standards as of late.






Construction
The body of this light is built with aircraft aluminum that’s hard anodized. The part around the front with the button and LED is black plastic with a hexagon pattern in it that’s visually nice. It is held in place with 4 very small 0.050 inch hex screws. The button is rubber coated and clicky, the lens and main LED extend a bit. It’s a relatively small lens and reflector. The red LED are flush.

The body tube is flanked by two nicely machined end caps that are asymmetrical. They have spiral knurling that’s one direction and go in different ways from each other. This looks great but isn’t very grippy. The larger end that has the USB-C charging under it is magnetic enough to hold up the light and battery but not with the strap attached as well. The other end the tail cap has a spring under it to hold the battery in place and allow for the 3 types of batteries to be used in the light. Threads under each tail cap are standard design, relatively small and well greased from the factory. The central section of the light is ribbed. This when in the head strap is what holds the light in place and allows for rotational adjustment. The light has markings on each tail cap and some on the body. Each are helpful and less about marketing or legal phrases.




The head strap on this light is 3 strap design. The top strap is not removable due to the fused clips at each end. It comes partially disassembled. It’s a black and gray elastic with no additional reflectors or branding other then what look like flames. The front that actually holds the light is interesting. It’s built fairly stiff plastic with the strap providing the only padding on your forehead. The two hoops are injection inserted and a much more flexible rubber. To attach or detach the light remove each end cap and it slides on with some force. Not the easiest thing to do and it’s definitely a two handed job. The little triangle in the center is what holds the light in place as it rotates in the holder a full 160 degrees.



This light includes an optional clip. Less for EDC and more for clipping on to a pack or bag. It’s pretty stout and stiff and works well. The only negative is that you have to remove the headband prior to attaching the clip.

Weight as shipped with the included battery without strap or clip is 110G, with the 20700 battery it’s 124G.

This isn’t the lightest or smallest in it’s class but it’s not extreme either. I think it’s solidness and ability to take a 20700 make up for the additional weight.

LED + Runtimes + Temps
This light uses a Luminus SST40 N5 LED. No color temperature is given by jetbeam. It’s on the warm side but there is a pretty strong green tint to it. Inside this bothers me outside, especially against grass or trees with leaves it’s less noticeable. Not my favorite tint. From reading about this LED CRI is about 70. It’s not an LED that is in use much.

The beam is pretty smooth after about 10 feet and really throws well for how shallow the reflector is.

UI
The UI of this light could stand a bit of tweaking in my opinion. To turn it on from off you have to press and hold about ½ a second to come on. If you do a quick press from off you get battery check mode. I found myself getting into this alot at first. Once on in normal mode you are presented with memory of where you last were. By default it starts off in Eco = 5 Lumens, then to Low at 50 lumens, mid at 150 Lumens, High at 400 Lumens and Turbo at 950 Lumens. Last mode up in the normal group is a red. I found red to be just the right brightness. Enough so you could see your feet and 1-2 feet in front of you but dark enough to no feel like it was too bright to read a map.

The light does have low voltage indication where it starts blinking the Red LED’s when power drops below 20%. Problem is this is hard to see unless you have something up close.

I would like to see some shortcuts added, double click to turbo and triple click to red. Take red out of thee normal modes and maybe quad click for battery check instead of a fast press.

Battery Compatibility
This light can take 3 different battery types. It comes with a button top Jetbeam branded 2600mah battery. When in use with this cell there is an included small plastic sleeve to keep things from rattling. You can also use 2 CR123A cells which I suspect will rattle a bit due to the smaller diameter. The light can also use an unprotected 20700 battery without the sleeve. THe battery tube itself isn’t in the center. It’s off axis and slightly cam shaped.

Parasitic Drain was measured at 4.0uA.

Runtime on the included 2600mah
I tested runtime with the included JetBeam branded 2600mah battery. Turbo predictably ran for 3 minutes before falling rapidly to about 55% of relative output for a large bulk of the time. For the next 130 minutes it was fairly stable. At the end I saw one more large decline in output to 20% relative output and then the light shut off due to low voltage protection. During the batteries last 20% the red LED’s flashes letting you know the power was low. Total runtime was about 145 minutes on 2600mah.

Runtime on a 20700 battery
Thanks to reddit user /u/mcfarlie6996 for sponsoring a 20700 battery for me. I didn’t have one (Or have any lights that took them) and it was great to test how much more runtime you can get with minimal size and weight differences between an 18650 and 20700. Total runtime with the 2600mah 18650 that was included was 145 minutes, The total runtime on the Panasonic 4000mah battery was a very impressive 260 minutes. Thats 44.2% more run time for only an additional 14 grams in weight. Output curves were pretty similar between the two batteries with the main difference being that 55% relative output was about 220 minutes in length. With a 20700 battery it makes the JetBeam HR30 be the longest duration headlamp I have by a large margin.



Charging
This light uses USB-C for recharging. The port is built into the threads on one of the ends. To get enough clearance you must remove the cap. It would be nice if there were more threads so you could leave the cap attached. A nice heavy duty USB 3 to USB-C cable is included with the headlamp for use when recharging.

The charging status indication isn’t my favorite. First you have a small LED near the USB-C port itself that is always green. This tells you when electricity is flowing but that’s all. During charging the light comes on in Red mode on the main LED’s and for much of the time it’s a slow flashing red mode. When finished the flashing goes solid charging is complete. Having the main red mode LED’s come on is just too much. Not only does this consume a decent amount of power it’s also very bright and annoying. It would prevent you to charge in a bedroom overnight, or in a tent if you were camping. In my opinion it would be better if they put a multi color LED at the port instead of the green and used it to indicate status.

Pro

  • USB-C charging but the charging indication via the main red mode is goofy. * Multi Cell capable including 20700 support!
  • Huge runtime on a 20700 battery, just at 260 minutes.
  • 160 degrees rotation inside the head mount
  • Beautiful machining on the end caps.

Con

  • Charing indication status is too much, just use a multi color LED near the port.
  • For a light of this price range 2600mah battery is low. 3500mah or a 20700 would give the light a good bit more runtime for minimal additional cost and make the runtimes listed on the box accurate.

Summary
It’s nice to see USB-C make its way to flashlights offering onboard charging. It’s the connector of choice for easier to use, higher power capabilities in this application. It’s also nice to see a headlamp add the capability to run a 20700 battery in addition to the 18650’s, and CR123. This is an application where the little bit of extra size doesn’t matter much to me but that additional runtime is valuable. 42% more runtime with a 20700mah battery over the included 18650 for only 14 Grams in additional weight is well worth it in my opinion. The HR30 has engineered this pretty well with the included spacer for 18650’s.

The UI of the HR30 takes some getting used to, with battery check being so easy to activate when you want a continuous mode instead. If you switch between a lot of different lights like I do you will probably activate it accidently. I hope that Jetbeam decides to move the red mode out of the recharging indicator and go with a multi color LED in the port instead. A few UI shortcuts to Red mode, and turbo would really improve the light too.

I would advise JetBeam to hire a native English speaker to proofread their manual and marketing materials. It seems like a basic thing but it would polish their image to be free of grammatical errors and mistakes. In today’s gig economy this is easy and inexpensive to do.

I like the HR30 headlamp and think it’s best in an outdoors setting due to the tint of the UI and the runtime that a 20700 can add. It’s built well with very good machining and a pretty attractive design. In my opinion it’s too big to use as an in pocket EDC but with the clip it could easy attach to a bag or backpack strap to light up whats in front of you.

I will have a link to the Jetbeam website on where you can see more about the light. It’s available at many retailers online too.