Another bad Jetbeam

[fyrstormer]

Really? How many people out there are putting themselves in daily situations where their life depends on a flashlight? I do understand that this can be the case for certain professions like an LEO or someone in the military, etc. But for the average joe "flashaholic", I just don't see it.

How often do you use the airbags in your car? How often do you need to use a tourniquet to stop someone from bleeding to death? How often do you need to mace the guy trying to rob you? Almost never, never at all if you're lucky, but with some things by the time you need them it's way too late to go get a good one. It's dark 12 hours a day, and you can't do s**t if you can't see.

 

[fyrstormer]

I hate to say if that if "survival" (if that is what kind of emergency we are talking about) depends on that split-second moment of the light works or doesn't, I would say the odds are not in your favor anyhow.

You say this as if it's a valid reason to stare death in the face, shrug, light a cigarette and wait for the end to come. We're not talking about amassing a fearsome arsenal of weapons in case there's a nuclear war, we're talking about carrying a flashlight that you're sure will work when you need it to.

The odds are never in your favor. The world kills everyone eventually. But if the difference between living and dying right now is being able to see where that rattlesnake is that you almost stepped on, then you're a fool if you don't take simple precautions like buying reliable equipment.

 

[fyrstormer]

BTW- I've owned 5 Jetbeams now, and all have had performance problems. The RRT-1 I just got is going to be a beater in the center console of the Car.

Well that sucks. I've been eyeing-up the M1X and M2S for a few weeks now. I have absolutely no use for them, but they sure look nice. It's a shame to hear they don't work right.

 

[bondr006]

Mine have worked flawlessly for months now. In fact all my JETBeams work as advertised with no problems whatsoever.

Well that sucks. I've been eyeing-up the M1X and M2S for a few weeks now. I have absolutely no use for them, but they sure look nice. It's a shame to hear they don't work right.

 

[n4zov]

Bugoutgear appears to be their biggest dealer in the U.S. (although not the only) Most (including myself) have been pleased with their service if any problems develope from anything purchased from them. Now having said that, my problem came from having a cracked lens and the dealer I purchased from (not Bugoutgear) didn't carry any spare parts nor seem able to receive any. After contacting Jetbeam a couple of times, I finally got them to send me one. It took way too much effort and way too much time to get any help, which left me very frustrated.

This same light had a nicked/cracked O-ring, but of course a spare comes with the light so customer service wasn't needed for this problem.

In all fairness to their quality, I own two Jetbeams and the quality of the second one has been perfect since I purchased it, and I carry it everyday. My problem / frustration was the service.

Hope this helps.

Bill

Thanks Bill, that does help! To summarize, Jetbeam owners are totally reliant on the good graces of the U.S. retailers they buy from to provide service and replacement parts. Jetbeam simply does not have any kind of service program to assist Jetbeam owners in the event of a problem. That totally changes my thoughts of buying more of their lights.

 

[flashy bazook]

I think this discussion is far too negative vs. the actual experience of the average JB light user.

I've had two of their lights, the E3P and the 3M. Both have performed fine, as advertised, and no QC or other problems.

Also their US-based dealer has been great, and from what I have been reading here (not in this particular thread only) has been very responsive with exchanges and the like.

There is the issue of JB operating on the bleeding edge of technology, offering broader spectrum electricity ranges, latest LEDs, programmability, advanced UI, etc.

This may indeed lead to issues with v1.0 lights. So people can choose whether they want to take a bit of risk for the advanced features, or wait a bit for the kinks to be fixed.

On the broader issue - how much risk can/should one accept?

Sure, this can depend on one's situation and job, and also on how many lights one easily has access to.

I tend to carry 1 in situations that are not risky at all, and at least 2 otherwise. If in a group situation where several people have flashlights, this too can be a factor (you need to carry no more than 2 in that situation unless there are additional risk factors involved, e.g., mountain climbing, cave exploring).

Really, there is no reason to fear JB more than several other similar companies. Even the SF legos many of us (including me) use a lot are not foolproof given that we are mixing and matching components from several sources (aftermarket, custom, clones, genuine SF parts, etc).

Risk will be there in all situations, it is a matter of managing it properly and logically.

 

[HIDblue]

I'm not going to jump on the bash the JetBeam bandwagon, but here's my limited experience with Jet.

My first JetBeam purchase was a brand new but defective Jet III-M. The light would not work in the max brightness mode no matter what I did and numerous suggestions from CPF'ers didn't seem to resolve the issue as well. Needless to say, it didn't leave me with a warm and fuzzy about JetBeam considering the brand new Jet III-M didn't work out of the box.

Fortunately, I bought it from BOG. So, I returned the defective Jet III-M and exchanged/upgraded to a Jet RRT-2 Raptor. It's too early to tell, but I'm willing to give JetBeam a 2nd chance and the RRT-2 looks very promising.

No light manufacturer is perfect...some are just better than others. Hopefully, the RRT-2 holds up.