JETBeam BR10 GT Bicycle Flashlight Review

The JETBeam BR10 GT is a bicycle flashlight using the Luminus SST-40 emitter. It also offers onboard charging. Read on for more!

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Official Specs and Features

Here’s a link to the JETBeam BR10 GT Bicycle Flashlight product page.

Versions

There’s just one version of this current light, but this is a new revision on an old BR10.  This one’s called the “BR10 GT Update.”  The old version had Cree XM-L2, while the Update has a Luminus SST-40 N4 BC.

Price

The BR10GT Update goes for $45.71 on GearBest at this moment.

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Short Review

This is a fine light, like most JETBeams I’ve reviewed.  The user interface is very simple but still quirky, and I don’t care for the bike mount at all. But as a handheld light, I think it’s good.  The tint is even good compared to other Luminus SST-40 lights I’ve handled.

Long Review

The Big Table

JETBeam BR10 GT Upgrade Edition
Emitter:	Luminus SST-40 (N4 BC)
Price in USD at publication time:	$45.71
Cell:	1×18650
Turbo Runtime	High Runtime
LVP?	No
Switch Type:	E-Switch
Quiescent Current (A):	0.00059
On-Board Charging?	Yes
Chargetime
Power off Charge Port with no Cell?	?
Claimed Lumens (lm)	1100
Measured Lumens (at 30s)	1070 (97.3% of claim)^
Claimed Throw (m)	230
Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s)	299lux @ 5.345m = 8542cd
Throw (Calculated) (m)	184.8 (80.3% of claim)^
All my JETBeam reviews!

^ Measurement disclaimer: Testing flashlights is my hobby. I use hobbyist-level equipment for testing, including some I made myself. Try not to get buried in the details of manufacturer specifications versus measurements recorded here; A certain amount of difference (say, 10 or 15%) is perfectly reasonable.

What’s Included

• JETBeam BR10GT Update
• JETBeam 18650 2400mAh (not pictured)
• Bike mount with spare rubber spacers
• Spare o-ring
• Charge cable
• Paperwork

Package and Manual

Typical JETBeam display-ready package, with a photo of the light on the front, and quite a bit of text all over the box.  This includes runtime estimates and the like.  The light is in a plastic tray inside.

The manual is one paper with English on one side and Chinese on the other.  The manual is just fine and covers the needed information.

Build Quality and Disassembly

As this is a bike light, it needs to be robust enough to withstand some abuse.  It does feel very sturdy, and there’s very little play with the cell inside.

See below, that the bike mount is a part of the body of the light itself.  It’s unobtrusive, but it is actually built into the light.  That’s both good and bad.  Good because it allows a more secure connection.  Bad because if you want to use this off the bike, then you’re stuck with that bit of body that’s slightly annoying.
There aren’t a lot of cooling fins on the light, but based on my tests, this doesn’t seem to be a problem (light never gets very hot anyway).

The tailcap has some very good knurling.

The spring on the tailcap is big but to be sure, not as beefy as I’d like.  For bike use, I’d expect this to be extremely stiff for holding the cell very securely.  Same on the head spring.  It’s springy but I’d like to see more spring here.  The threads are unanodized and square-cut, which I like.

Size

Officially 112x30x30mm, and 99.7g without the cell.

For a light with onboard charging, it’s not too big.  It has more girth than the Convoy S2+ but is still shorter.  Also, it has a heft that something like the Convoy lacks; it feels very quality.

Retention

The only intended way for retaining this light is the bike mount.  There is no pocket clip (one attaching to the bike mount might be nice).  There is no lanyard attachment point.  So bike mount it is.
Consider the bike mount to be a permanent installation.  Yes, it’s possible to move it from bike to bike, but it’s not easy, and it’s not convenient.

Below are some mounted shots.  There’s a clip around the handlebar, and a plastic spacer ring included.  Also included are three rubber strips.  For my (possibly thin?) handlebar, I had to use all of the included pieces, and it still was not a tight fit.  You can see a thicker part of the handlebar toward the stem; I should probably have chosen there for installation.
This whole setup (which is difficult to get organized on the bar), is tightened by an Allen screw.  This Allen screw isn’t one of the main sizes used on bikes, so you’ll have to fish for your tools…  All in all, it was a bit of a frustrating installation experience.

Having said all of that, once the attachment is installed, it does a good enough job of holding the light.  The light slips in and out fairly easily (there’s a lever that must be pressed down to release the light).  And the mount also has a built-in swivel, which is very nice.  Shown below is the extent of the swivel – it will not rotate around fully (or even close).

Power

JETBeam includes a single 18650 rated at 2400mAh with the light.  It’s a button top, but a button top isn’t required.  And the light only pulls ~2.6A on High, so ultimately this light has no special cell requirements.  Except that it has no low voltage protection, so I’d stay away from unprotected cells with it.

Here’s a runtime on High.  The stepdown is quick and severe, but the light does hit its 30-second rating of 1100 lumens (I measured 1080, which is within my system’s margin of error).  High steps down after 1.5 minutes to Medium, where it has essentially the same profile.  It’s possible to reset the light to High (seen ~130m), but the output is not nearly

Medium looks about like the above, but without the little 1.5m blip of High.

Both of these runtimes were stopped after the green indicating switch had been flashing quickly for a while.  The switch indicates low voltage.  It’s off when the light is off.  If the light is on and the voltage is good, then the switch will be solid green.  When the voltage hits around 3.1V, the switch will blink slowly.  Once the light hits 3.0V, the light will blink quickly green.  Below this point, both the light and switch just keep getting dimmer but never shut off until there’s just not enough voltage to run things.  That’s around 1.8V.  So While output will be ridiculously low, the light never actually shuts off for protecting cells.

Charging

There’s a micro-USB port built-in and covered by a very snug rubber cover.

A very short cable is included, too.

Charging is very consistent (that’s two sets of lines below!).  The cell tests to its rated capacity, too.  I can only call this generally a good CC/CV curve since the “CC” part is only constant in a very average sense.  Also in both tests, the light charged the cells a little high for my tastes: 4.21V, and 4.23V.

User Interface and Operation

There’s one switch on the BR10GT Update.  It’s a side metal e-switch and has [green] indicating function.  I really like the switch, even if I don’t like the UI.  The switch could be a little shorter with less travel, but it’s not spongy either.  It’s a good switch.

The user interface is… eh…. I think it could be better.  It’s not immediately intuitive, but possible to sort out quickly.  I did find myself searching for at least one more mode.  Turbo?  Moon?  Either of those would be a nice addition.
Here’s a user interface table!

State	Action	Result
Off	Click	No Action
Off	Hold	On (mode memory, except strobe)
Any	Double click	Strobe
On	Click	Off
On	Hold	Mode advance (HML)
Strobe	Click	Previous state (including off)

Modes

Mode	Mode Claimed Output (lm)	Claimed Runtime	Measured Lumens	Tailcap Amps
High	1100	2.5h	1080	2.62
Medium	400	5h	438	0.63
Low	110	14h	117	0.13

LED and Beam

JETBeam has chosen the Luminus SST-40 N4 BC for this light.  I’ve had one light with this emitter before, and I really did not like it (also a JETBeam).  In this light, it doesn’t seem nearly as green (or even green at all), so that’s pleasant.
The emitter is behind a shallow OP reflector, which surprisingly provides a beam with a tight hotspot and little spill.  I’m not sure about that setup for bike use; at the very least I would want a secondary light for surrounding illumination.

Tint vs BLF-348 (KillzoneFlashlights.com 219b version) (affiliate link)

I keep the test flashlight on the left and the BLF-348 reference flashlight on the right.

Random Comparisons and Competitive Options

Here’s a relevantly filtered page on parametrek.com.  If you really want the Luminus, this is going to be one of your few choices.  As a bike light, it’s well built and the onboard charging is a nice bonus feature.

Conclusion

What I like

• Build quality is very high
• I really like the switch
• Full package, including cell.

What I don’t like

• Overcharges cells
• user interface is a bit wonky
• Lack of LVP
• Installing bike mount is difficult

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Notes

• This light was provided by GearBest for review. I was not paid to write this review.
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