JETBeam E10R Flashlight Review

The JETBeam E10R flashlight features a Cree XP-L HI emitter and can run an 14500 or AA cell. It also has built-in charging!

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Official Specs and Features

Here’s a link to the JETBeam E10R Flashlight product page.

Versions

I see exactly one version of this light; the one being reviewed here.

MSRP

The official price is somewhere in the low to mid $30 price range, but a common street price on this light is more like $15.  Or at least with the coupon available here, it’s $15.

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Short Review

A pretty cool little light, with versatile charging, and a user interface that could be improved.  This is a very good carrying light, too (small, comfortable).

Long Review

The Big Table

JETBeam E10R
Emitter:	Cree XP-L HI
Price in USD at publication time:	$150
Cell:	1xAA/1×14500
Turbo Runtime
LVP?	Soft
Switch Type:	E-Switch
On-Board Charging?	Yes
Charge Port Type:	micro-USB
AA Chargetime, 14500 Chargetime
Power off Charge Port with no Cell?
Claimed Lumens (lm)	650
Claimed Throw (m)	129
Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s)	102lux @ 4.111m = 1724cd
Throw (Calculated) (m)	83.0 (64.3% 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 E10R
• Charge cable
• Lanyard
• Spare o-rings (2)
• Manual
• Other paperwork

Package and Manual

JETBeam packages this light in a blue box fairly normal to JETBeam.  There’s a hangtag and a window to see the light.  The box has the usual printed information including specs and features etc.  And the usual GearBest sticker on the back (right over the features).

The manual is a very nice one.  A long piece of paper with English on one side and Chinese on the other.  It folds nicely in the middle for great ease of use.  Just as the box is, the manual is thorough and has some nice graphics to describe how to use the light.

Build Quality and Disassembly

Anyone who reads my reviews will probably know I’m a JETBeam fan.  I can’t think of a light they make that I’ve handled, that I didn’t like.  This one is well built-in exactly the same way as the rest: they just feel great to use.  From the anodizing to the switch, to the threads – it’s all top-notch.

The threads are square-cut and have an appropriate amount of lube.  The anodizing is very smooth and just seems like a high-quality anno.  There’s a bit of knurling on the tailcap – the only place it needs to be – and removing the tailcap is easy

It’s possible to disassemble the light a bit.  Since this light has built-in charging in the head-end of the body tube, the body tube isn’t open-ended.  This setup also means the light is a little long for a single AA light.

Size

As I said, it’s kind of long but quite narrow.  It fits great in a pocket… even as a backup light (all my lights are backup lights now since I carry the brass BOSS 100% of the time.)  But the light carries very well.  Disappears, even.

The official dimensions are 97.7mm x 19.1mm.

Retention

The pocket clip is JETBeam’s usual pocket clip; a pocket clip which I really like.  The mouth on these clips seems to connect so well with where you’re aiming at, and the metal edges are rounded off smoothly (something I can’t say about the BOSS clip).  The clip encircles the light and is installed just before the tailcap. The light also looks fine and normal with the clip removed and works just fine.

Also included is a magnet in the tailcap. This isn’t a tremendously strong magnet; it will hold the light vertically (up or down) but will not hold the light horizontally.

There is a lanyard included, which connects on the tailcap, but could also connect in a couple of spots on the pocket clip.

Power

The E10R will work with AA cells (preferred) and also work with 14500 cells.  Flat-top or button top will work, and protected or unprotected will work too.  In fact, the E10R can even charge all those cells! (Yes, Li-Ion and NiMH both!)

I tested the E10R with a red Efest 14500.  The runtime (uncooled) terminated at 2.61V (soft shutoff, about 10 lumens).  The chargetime for the 14500 was started at this point.  14500 charging terminated at 4.16V.

I also tested the E10R with an Eneloop AA on High (cooled), which terminated at 1.096V. The chargetime was started at this point (and indicator was green while charging!).  Charging terminated at 1.367V.

Here’s the runtime, which includes both cells.  The output with a 14500 is quite a bit higher than the output with an Eneloop, the Eneloop giving only about 30% of the output.  The 14500 drops off very quickly but has a reasonable and very stable time at around 17% output.

Charging

Here are the chargetimes for the respective cells.  Charging for the Eneloop (NiMH) worked but shows charging characteristics that are well beyond my expertise to explain.  But I can research…. It seems that the E10R is pulse charging the Nickel cell  The rests taken (shown in the graph) – the light is likely sampling the cell to check for a voltage drop.  Once this value is appropriate, the charging is finished.  A smart addition (and feasibly used here) is to add in a temperature monitoring system, to confirm that the cell isn’t getting hot, especially when nearing max capacity.  The spreading out of the pulse charges late in the graph indicates this may in fact be done.

Charging of a 14500 Li-ion cell proceeds unceremoniously, and commonly.

Both of these cells seemed slightly undercharged when finished charging in the E10R.

User Interface and Operation

There’s a single side clicky on the head of the light, and it’s a small metal switch.  It’s an indicating switch, with three color possibilities, too:  Red, blue, and green.  Clicking the switch puts the light on in the last used mode.  The modes cycle H>M>L.  Double click gets strobe.  There’s no lockout or anything else.  To turn the light off, hold the switch until the light goes off.

I did find a (hidden?) lockout mode.  Just hold the switch down for a few seconds.  The light will begin flashing on low, and when the switch is released, the light is locked out.  Hold again to unlock (light comes on in last used mode.)

The switch is actually quite small.  Unfortunately, the indicating isn’t used for anything except charging indication – there’s no beacon

The indicating of the switch works differently depending on what cell is in the light.  When charging and AA NiMH cell, the red and green light both turn on, and when charging is complete, the green light goes off (yes, that’s right.)  When charging a 14500 cell, only the red light is on during charging, and the blue light comes on when the cell is charged.  I find that to be confusing, but there must be some compelling reason.

Modes

Mode	Mode Claimed Output (lm)	Claimed Runtime	Measured Lux	Measured Amps	Measured Output (lm)
Low	4	100h	75	0.011	3.15
Mid	46	9h	857	0.102	36
High (AA)	190	30m	3890	1.512	163
High (14500)	650	30m	10600	–	445

LED and Beam

The emitter of choice in the E10R is the Cree XP-L HI.  The tiny reflector is smooth, coaxing all the throw out of this emitter it can.  The beam profile is mostly hotspot as to be expected, with a small amount of spill.

Beamshots

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

Random Comparisons and Competitive Options

There’s really nothing else like this light.  Even if you remove the most obscure feature (charging which includes NiMH charging), this light is rare….The next closest is probably the Klarus Mi7, which lacks onboard charging, and is still almost as big as this E10R!

Conclusion

What I like

• Charging, particularly mixed chemistry charging
• Beam profile
• user interface is very simple
• JETBeam pocket clips are great

What I don’t like

• All the indicating features are underutilized
• Charging terminates a little low
• Soft LVP only

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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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