JETBeam JET-RRT01 Flashlight Review

The JETBeam JET-RRT01 Flashlight is a neat rotary control light with a single emitter (Cree XP-L HI). It runs on an 18350. Read on for testing!

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Official Specs and Features

Here’s a link to the JETBeam JET-RRT01 Flashlight product page.

Versions

There’s just one version of the current generation of this light, but there was an original RRT01, which also featured a rotary interface, and was fairly popular among the flashlight crowd.

Price

These are going for $79.99 at BangGood right now!

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Short Review

The more I use the rotary mechanism, the more I like it. The build quality is very good, and I love that both 18350 and 16340 cells are accepted! I wish the light had LVP, and there doesn’t seem to be any consideration for temperature during use (so the light can get warm).

Long Review

The Big Table

JETBeam RRT01
Emitter:	Cree XP-L HI
Price in USD at publication time:	$79.99
Cell:	1×18350
18350 Turbo Runtime	16340 Turbo Runtime
LVP?	No
Switch Type:	E-Switch
Quiescent Current (A):	0.00003
On-Board Charging?	Yes
Chargetime
Power off Charge Port with no Cell?	–
Claimed Lumens (lm)	950
Measured Lumens (at 30s)	679 (71.5% of claim)^
Claimed Throw (m)	220
Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s)	466lux @ 4.407m = 9050cd
Throw (Calculated) (m)	190.3 (86.5% 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 RRT01 Rotary Flashlight
• JETBeam 700mAh 16340 (not pictured)
• Lanyard
• Charge cable (for the cell) (USB to micro-USB)
• Hex driver
• Manual and paperwork

Package and Manual

Typical JETBeam box in typical JETBeam colors. Banggood has added an inventory sticker to the back of the box.

The manual (seen below) has two languages. It’s a nice manual.

Build Quality and Disassembly

The RRT01 has a nice build quality. The anodizing feels like high-quality anodizing, the knurling is great, and the rotary mechanism is smooth.

The threads that the head screws into are unanodized, which makes physical lockout impossible (without just removing the cell). The threads are very smooth though, so if you need to remove the cell no issues should arise. The standby drain on this light is fairly low though.

Inside the cell tube is a spring – the type of spring that usually holds in a magnet. In this case, there’s no magnet, but there is absolutely room to add one if you’d like (probably 2mm of depth, too.)

Here is the head of the light. It’s unusual, much like the MechTorch (but no the parts aren’t interchangeable). Usually, the head screws onto (not into) the body. I suppose this has to do with the rotary mechanism but either way it works just fine. See too how the threads are square-cut, brass, and very well made.

Here’s the part that goes into the body. The positive contact is a small brass button, with not much relief – you’ll probably need to use a button top cell with this light. I didn’t remove that Philips screw, because honestly as far as I’m concerned, the guts of a rotary light are filled with unicorn hairs and pixie dust, and I didn’t want to let any out.

Size and Comps

I am not seeing any official measurements, so here are my own:

Length: 81.41mm
Thinnest diameter: 21.26mm (cell tube)
Thickest diameter: 25.76 (rotary ring)

Unfortunately, I failed to take any photos with other 18350 lights. Side by side on my desk right now, I can say that the RRT01 is no bigger than a BOSS 35, which is a feat. Shorter, and possibly an mm or so thicker, but negligibly different.

Retention and Carry

A pocket clip is included and attached, and interestingly it’s the “Steelflame standard” sized hole spacing. In fact, those clips (and Oveready clips, etc) work just fine on this light.

The included clip is nice enough though. The mouth is quite wide (easy placement on the pocket) and there are lanyard attachment points too. Not deep carry, but none of the “Steelflame class clips” are. It’s a shade thin for my tastes, but that in turn makes it very springy.

Also included is a lanyard, which can attach on the pocket clip (multiple places) or (more ideally) on this hole in the tailcap.

Power and Runtime

JETBeam provides a cell in all packages of this light. It’s a 700mAh 16340. The cell has built-in micro-USB charging, which isn’t my thing at all. Fortunately, there are other options.

As you can see, the 16340 cell basically swims in this cell tube (but doesn’t rattle!)

Here’s Turbo on the included cell. I didn’t test other modes with the included cell because, really, there are no other discrete modes. So it’d be fairly meaningless (though there is info we could glean).

Note that at the end of this run, the cell was at ZERO volts. So the lack of LVP will really not be great for this cell in the long term. The light does provide a warning, though, with the emitter basically flashing on and off in a strobe-ish way. So you get a warning, for sure.

As stated excitedly above, this light also has room for a 18350 cell. I tested the light not with the Efest shown below, but with a button-top Imren cell (reviewed here). It’s a good enough cell for this light, and the button top is required.

The 18350 cell fits the cell tube much more fully.

Turbo with this cell proceeds just about like with the JETBeam cell, but the output overall is slightly higher. That’s more than likely due to the cell being capable of a higher max drain, but I haven’t confirmed that against the JETBeam cell. Either way, I strongly prefer the 18350 for this light, as there are some higher-capacity, great cells out there (even if you have to add your own button).

Here’s the included cell. Typical sized 16340 cell, but with a micro-USB port.

I only did one charge test with this cell, and it works just as it should. The charge rate is around 400mA during the CC phase, and capacity is proven at ~700mAh. Charging took a strangely specific 2 hours exactly.

Doesn’t seem to have LVP.

Modes and Currents

Mode	Mode Claimed Output (lm)	Claimed Runtime	Measured Lumens	Tailcap Amps
Turbo (16340)	950	25m	679	2.64
Turbo (CR123)	420	1.5h	–	–

Pulse Width Modulation

No PWM at all, over a few different test outputs. Yay!

Here you can see a “baseline” – a chart with almost no light hitting the sensor.

Then there’s the Ultrafire WF-602C flashlight, which has some of the worst PWM I’ve seen. It’s so bad that I used a post about it to explain PWM! Here are multiple timescales (10ms, 5ms, 2ms, 1ms, 0.5ms, 0.2ms) to make comparing this “worst” PWM light to the test light easier. That post also explains why I didn’t test the WF-602C at the usual 50us scale.

User Interface and Operation

Yay, the most important point on this little light. This light has a rotary interface. Technically it’s an e-switch, since the current is always flowing if a cell is in. But basically, it’s a dial that starts from off, after the first detent is “on” (but so low you won’t see it) and then ramps up absolutely smoothly, all the way to the turbo output (at which point you can pass another detent).

No need for my usual table. The user interface is very simple. But there are two “hidden” modes. With the light on, twist quickly past the detent for high, and you’ll get strobe. Once in strobe, the output may be modulated with the rotary. The other mode is SOS – with the light on, twist quickly past the detent for high three times, and you’ll enter SOS. SOS output may also be modulated with the rotary dial. To turn either mode off, simply turn the light off. When the light is turned back on, the special modes are not memorized.

Interestingly the light actually comes on in a … “low” output – probably 1 lumen, as claimed. But if the light is on, and the dial is rolled in the “off” direction, the output can go much lower.

LED and Beam

JETBeam has chosen a Cree XP-L HI for this updated RRT01. The reflector is smooth, broad, and has average depth.

If you wanted to swap the emitter, be advised that the bezel unscrews very easily.

Also, I’ve seen talk of throwing a triple in there, and wow I can’t tell you how excited I’d be for that mod. The reflector sits atop an anodized shelf, and the MCPCB and emitter are under this shelf. I’m not sure what that means for modding, but I’m told it’ll work just fine.

These beamshots always have the following settings: f8, ISO100, 0.3s shutter, and manual 5000K exposure. These photos are taken at floor level, and the beam hits the ceiling around 9 feet away.

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

I compare everything to the Killzone 219b BLF-348 because it’s inexpensive and has the best tint!

Conclusion

What I like

• Rotary interface is awesome
• 18350 support
• Low is so low that it’s impossible to even see the output
• Standard clip hole spacing makes replacing with a “higher-end” clip possible

What I don’t like

• No LVP
• Unregulated output

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Notes

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