JETBeam Jet-PC20 Flashlight Review
JETBeam’s new JETBeam Jet-PC20 flashlight is a dual switch, 21700 tube weapon light with USB-C charging. Read on for testing!
Official Specs and Features
Here’s a link to the JETBeam Jet-PC20 Flashlight product page.
Versions
Just one version.
Price
These go for $79.99 at Banggood.com. It helps me get more and better review lights if you even click that link, so I’d greatly appreciate a click!
Short Review
This is a solid, simple light, which offers a complete package with cell and charging cable. It has an unusual feature or two, so it’s worth considering.
Long Review
The Big Table
| JETBeam Jet-PC20 | |
|---|---|
| Emitter: | Cree XHP35 HD |
| Price in USD at publication time: | $79.99 |
| Cell: | 1×21700 |
| Turbo Runtime | High Runtime |
| LVP? | Switch Warning |
| Switch Type: | Both |
| Quiescent Current (A): | – |
| On-Board Charging? | Yes |
| Chargetime | |
| Power off Charge Port with no Cell? | No (also no, with cell) |
| Claimed Lumens (lm) | 1800 |
| Measured Lumens (at 30s) | 1716 (95.3% of claim)^ |
| Claimed Throw (m) | 280 |
| Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s) | 550lux @ 5.191m = 14821cd |
| Throw (Calculated) (m) | 243.5 (87% of claim)^ |
| All my JETBeam reviews! | |
^ Measurement disclaimer: I am an amateur flashlight reviewer. I don’t have $10,000 or even $1,000 worth of testing equipment. I test output and such in PVC tubes!! Please consider claims within 10% of what I measure to be perfectly reasonable (accurate, even).
What’s Included
- JETBeam Jet-PC20 21700 flashlight
- Charge cable (USB to USB-C, with USB-out)
- Spare o-ring
- Pocket clip
- Lanyard
- JETBeam “21700” cell
- Manual and paperwork
Package and Manual
JETBeam packages always get so beat up. No matter where I get the light.
The manual covers the light just fine.
Build Quality and Disassembly
The light ships in the configuration above. That is a rubber (rubberized?) tactical ring. It’s pretty nice.
This is decidedly a tube light – and in 21700 format I found it too long to carry in my normal “long light” spot. So you’ll likely need to find the right place to carry it; maybe on a weapon.
I am no gun expert, and no light-mounting-to-gun expert either, but I am pretty sure this is a Picatinny connection. I don’t see it mentioned in the product lit at all, though.
The tactical ring is just fine if you don’t intend to pocket (or belt) carry the PC20.
The knurling is adequate and high quality. The tailcap has enough to easily remove the tailcap, though the grease used on the threads is a very thick variety.
The bezel didn’t unscrew for me.
The threads are great – square-cut but not gigantic – so they have some feel to them. Also being anodized means locking the light out is easy (if you don’t already trust the mechanical switch).
Both head and tail have springs. The tailspring is double sprung, and both are moderately stiff. It’s a tactical light, so it absolutely should have dual springs.
Size and Comps
Officially 145mm long, 27.1mm in diameter (head), and 27mm in diameter (tail). Without cell, the weight is 99.5g.
Here’s the test light with the venerable Convoy S2+. Mine’s a custom “baked” edition Nichia 219b triple. A very nice 18650 light.
And here’s the light beside my custom engraved TorchLAB BOSS 35, an 18350 light. I reviewed the aluminum version of that light in both 35 and 70 formats.
Retention and Carry
First off, as the light ships, the tactical ring can be considered as a retention mechanism. It’s fine for that if you need the light in this way. If you don’t, you’ll likely remove it to install the pocket clip – or run the light bare.
There’s also a lanyard, which connects on a hole in the tailcap.
If you do decide to throw on the clip, you’ll have to remove the tac ring. Can’t have both. It’s a friction fit clip, and very snug. The lanyard would likely attach safely here.
There is no pouch for belt carry. The clip can be considered the belt carry option.
Power and Runtime
The PC20 is powered by a 21700 cell. The cell that ships with the PC20 is an HL51 21700.
I will say that my other 21700 cells didn’t fit – 21700 is a tight fit. Either way, it’s a button-top cell. JETBeam officially says the 18650s will work too, and owing to the light having dual springs, that’s true.
Here’s a runtime on Turbo. I’ve refined my runtimes a little so let me mention that. There are a number of changes.
- The secondary gridlines on the time scale are 1 minute from now on if my computer can run the spreadsheet. I find that more useful than some arbitrary “makes nice squares on the page” scale since you’ll be able to easily visually compare graphs now.
- The right side now has more data. The top 3 were already there, but have moved to more official places, but I added a “Max Temp” area for the max temp I saw during the run.
- From now on if the 2-minute inset will fit there, it’ll go under all that other stuff. But not if it’s going to cover anything.
All these changes came about because I had a small Excel error in the charts, and I’ve spent the last month or so going back through all the affected runtimes, and reproducing them. Many of them will have this format.
Anyway, Turbo runtime is fairly uneventful. The stepdown to 1000 lumens is quick (2 minutesish), and then the light holds 1000 lumens for a respectable time (90 minutes).
High looks the same, but the output seems just a little higher (around 1050 lumens) and that output is a bit shorter (surprisingly).
On cell tests, the switch was giving a warning by around 2.8V. On bench power, the PC20 was offish at 2.5V but unclear what real LV actions are. Electrically off by 2.4V though.
When the light is on, the indicating switch is indicating, as follows:
Green steady: Charged fully.
Green flashing: Charged enough.
Red flashing: Charge is low.
Red steady: Charge is extremely low – recharge immediately.
Charging
The PC20 has on-board charging, too. JETBeam includes the cable below, but don’t get too excited: The PC20 can’t be used as a powerbank. This cable setup is really just to keep you from losing a USB port while charging the PC20.
The charge port has a push-in silicone cover. The charge port is USB-C.
Charging is maybe surprisingly slow – USB-C can handle more than 0.9A (max 1A). A cell of 5100mAh capacity can handle more than a 1A charge rate. And there are a bunch of dropouts during charging. But there’s nothing really wrong with charging slow, and I don’t know what to make of the dropouts, so I’ll give this one an “ok” for charging.
When charging the indicating switch flashes red. When complete, the switch is steady green.
Modes and Currents
| Mode | Mode Claimed Output (lm) | Claimed Runtime | Measured Lumens | Tailcap Amps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Turbo | 1800 | 1.9h | 1716 | 6.29 |
| High | 1060 | 2h | 1087 | 2.64 |
| Middle | 360 | 6.5h | 375 | 0.68 |
| Low | 80 | 27h | 80 | 0.16 |
| Eco | 12 | 140h | 8 | 0.06 |
Pulse Width Modulation
No PWM detected.
For reference, here’s a baseline shot, with all the room lights off and almost nothing hitting the sensor. Also, here’s the light with the worst PWM I could find. I’m adding multiple timescales, so it’ll be easier to compare to the test light. Unfortunately, the PWM on this light is so bad that it doesn’t even work with my normal scale, with is 50 microseconds (50us). 10ms. 5ms. 2ms. 1ms. 0.5ms. 0.2ms. In a display faster than 0.2ms or so, the on/off cycle is more than one screen, so it’d just (very incorrectly) look like a flat line. I wrote more about this Ultrafire WF-602C flashlight and explained a little about PWM too.
User Interface and Operation
This is a dual switch light. First the on/off tail mechanical forward clicky. If this is in the off position, the light does nothing at all. This can be seen as a mechanical lockout, too.
The button is just proud, so prevents tailstanding. It’d be hard anyway, with the lanyard hole area done as it is.
Next is the side e-switch, which has a metal bezel and metal switch cover. Also in the gap between those two is an indicator for a few aspects of the operation.
Here’s a UI table!
| State | Action | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Off | Click Tail Switch (TS) | On (Mode Memory) |
| Off | Click Side Switch (SS) | No action |
| Off | Tap TS | Momentary Mode Memory |
| On | Click SS | Mode advance (H>L direction) |
| On | Hold SS | Strobe |
| Strobe | Click SS | Last used mode |
The UI is very simple. Being a dual switch light and working this way means you can always start this light in the mode you left it – running it as a one-mode light if you wish.
LED and Beam
The emitter in the PC20 is a Cree XHP35 HD. The light has a reflector, and it’s moderately deep and very smooth.
This setup gives a beam with a very specific but flat hotpsot. There’s a good bit of spill, too.
The beamshots below reiterate that this light advances modes from high to low. So tactical.
These beamshots are always with the following settings: f8, ISO100, 0.3s shutter, and manual 5000K exposure.
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
- Full package kit
- 27100/20700/18650 support
- Dual switch light
- USB-C charging
What I don’t like
- Slow USB-C charging
- Tight fit for many 21700 cells
Notes
- This light was provided by BangGood for review. I was not paid to write this review.
- This content originally appeared at zeroair.org. Please visit there for the best experience!
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