JetBeam Jet-III M or something else

[pulstar]

Hello!

Again i'm frustrated because there's so many good lights, so few extra $ to spend on them and a giant wish to have them all:).Well, as far as i know jet-3 m is closest to fulfil my needs. I'm looking toward compact size(well, compact enough for carrying in a pocket) good runtimes, moderate side-spill and good throw. As far as i know the closest rival is Nitecore Extreme, considerably smaller but with tradeoffs of shorter runtimes, less throw and lower output. Is there any light that could beat down jet's incredible nice design, output and runtime and price? Olight warrior is nice but design for me isn't even near than jet's. Nitecore Extreme's reliability is also under question 'couse i found some threads about their mulfunctions.

And one thing: How "yellowish" is a warm tint of jet's LED? I saw a beamshot in a jet-3m thread, taken from some fenix light with warm led, but there it looked like a undepowered old incan. Is it worth buying or should i stay with ordinary led?

Thanks for replies.

 

[Outdoors Fanatic]

Hello!

Again i'm frustrated because there's so many good lights, so few extra $ to spend on them and a giant wish to have them all:).Well, as far as i know jet-3 m is closest to fulfil my needs. I'm looking toward compact size(well, compact enough for carrying in a pocket) good runtimes, moderate side-spill and good throw. As far as i know the closest rival is Nitecore Extreme, considerably smaller but with tradeoffs of shorter runtimes, less throw and lower output. Is there any light that could beat down jet's incredible nice design, output and runtime and price? Olight warrior is nice but design for me isn't even near than jet's. Nitecore Extreme's reliability is also under question 'couse i found some threads about their mulfunctions.

And one thing: How "yellowish" is a warm tint of jet's LED? I saw a beamshot in a jet-3m thread, taken from some fenix light with warm led, but there it looked like a undepowered old incan. Is it worth buying or should i stay with ordinary led?

Thanks for replies.

Warm-White LEDs are NOT like real incandescent sources at all. It's still an ordinary LED with a different tint, nothing more than that.

 

[pulstar]

Well, i didn't mean like that. It's just too yellowish for my opinion, since i'm used to whiter leds. Any suggestions for other lights?

 

[Norm]

Since buying a Jet III M with the warm option I've been busy swapping LED's in other lights to 5A tint, for me there is no going back.
Norm

 

[pulstar]

Well, could you give me a small description of tint, how it's comparable to other lightning appliances(if there's any). Your post made me even more uncertain which tint to buy :)

 

[Norm]

The Q3 5A LEDs I've been using are a creamy white tint, when compared to any other LED I have makes all the others look cold and slightly blue. The colour is in between the LEDs you probably used to and an incan. Seoul P4 U2SW0I on the left - XR-E Q3-5A on the right. White balance on the camera is set to daylight, when seen on its own the p4 doesn't look quite that blue but you can get an idea from the picture.

Norm

 

[pulstar]

Thank you Norm for your time...

 

[flashy bazook]

the JetBeam III M seems like a pretty amazing flashlight and I am also tempted to order it.

But when I consider buying a (yet another) flashlight, I try to think it through in a systematic way, ie, where does it fit into (a) my usage patterns; (b) the rest of my flashlight collection; and (c) the upgrade path over time as new LEDs come out.

No doubt the JB III M would fit well with the way I use flashlights, as it seems pretty versatile and I've already put in the money for battery chargers and rechargeables (those 18650's are pretty expensive, $12-15 per, and the RC123's are not cheap either, don't give you a very long runtime, and don't work well in series, but are still better than buying primaries).

But, I've also got a bunch of similar lights using the Surefire 6P (clone) plus Leef plus accessories system plus powerful Q5 drop-ins (with an MC-E rated at 500+ lumens on the wish list).

Also, the system with the accessories can be updated over time just by buying a new drop-in, while the JB III M, as any self-contained flashlight, will be difficult or expensive to update (you sell it at a discount or mod it or give it away as a gift...).

So really the best thing to do is to think through all the possibilities as they apply to your case: if you need a new flashlight and you are the sort of person that will keep that going for a while and not want to upgrade for the next best thing (do you really NOT want 500+ lumens?:laughing:) you get it.

 

[Norm]

Also, the system with the accessories can be updated over time just by buying a new drop-in, while the JB III M, as any self-contained flashlight, will be difficult or expensive to update (you sell it at a discount or mod it or give it away as a gift...).

The Jets I've swapped LEDs in have been fairy simple.

 

[gilly]

Hello Pulstar. I got a Jet III - M about two months ago and am very happy with it. Build quality is really outstanding and it is very solid and substantial feeling in the hand. If you haven't read it already, check out Selfbuilt's review on this light in the Reviews section. My only gripes are that the rubber clicky boot is a bit on the thin side (so you can actually feel the shape/size of the button underneath it) and the ramping sequence takes so long (about 40 sec). Other than that this is one very nice and VERY versatile light. Very easy to adjust the user-defined mode which I often use at minimum. Any light that can go from less than one lumen (selfbuilt measured his at about the same on low as a Novatac) to 200+ lumens is a serious and valuable tool to have at your disposal. I think you will enjoy it very much. I upgraded my lens to a UCL from flashlightlens.com and it seems a bit brighter out the front.

Good luck to you! :thumbsup:

 

[pulstar]

Hi Gilly. Thanks for your input in this thread. Only one thing: which tint did you choose? Warm or ordinary(cool white) and why? Well, decision had been made, i'm gettin' myself a new Jet-3M now i only need to decide which tint to get and that makes me some really hard times of uncertainty :)

 

[ryts100]

I have a Jet III M, and I love it. Beam comparison with a Surefire G2 LED in a few minutes.

http://s329.photobucket.com/albums/l394/ryts100/?action=view&current=DSC00371.jpg
Just a few notes; the beam of the Jet(the top one) is a circle, not an oval. It's just the angle that I took the picture at. There was also quite a bit of light coming from a window behind me. I just turned down the brightness. The Jet has a much tighter beam than the Surefire. One more thing, my Jet has a hybrid reflector and cool white tint.

 

[flashy bazook]

The Jets I've swapped LEDs in have been fairy simple.

thanks, I was not aware of that, some flashlights are not possible (or easy) to upgrade. Is this with a JetBeam provided pill (drop-in)?

Since I posted here, I saw there are now a few Titanium JetBeam III M left from the special edition batch, and I must say I am getting VERY tempted...maybe I can make an exception to my "rules?" (what are rules without exceptions?)

now that I know I can also upgrade over time, I'd like to have a programmable flashlight (I don't currently have one).

 

[JML]

If you act quickly, you can get one of the 20 pieces of the Jet-III SlimTube with the broad voltage driver and an R2 bin Cree.

 

[Kremer]

If you act quickly, you can get one of the 20 pieces of the Jet-III SlimTube with the broad voltage driver and an R2 bin Cree.

Wow, I diddn't know there were only 20. Flavio did say 'limited number' though I guess.

 

[flashy bazook]

If you act quickly, you can get one of the 20 pieces of the Jet-III SlimTube with the broad voltage driver and an R2 bin Cree.

but what is the advantage of these special edition JB-III's over the JB-III Military? They seem to be pretty similar with the changes to the special ed ones now. The Ti JB-III Military is also R2 LED'd (but of course the special ed will be much cheaper vs. the Ti version).

 

[Kremer]

The special edition BVC/R2 ST's are the guts and operation of a M in an ST body, Twist-head 2-mode and all. Consider it an M that fits better in your pocket.

 

[pulstar]

Yesterday i noticed that there are some vendors that offers "normal" Jet-III M's with R2 LED. Where's difference between previous and R2 LED, stated output looks the same, but prices went higher for about 9€/~12$? Is there something about color rendition, better efficiency, ...?

 

[pulstar]

How many cells do you guys think i would need to power my jetbeam? Since it has a very good runtimes in every modes i think i'll get only one AW 18650.. Will be enough or should i buy some more? How is it with shelf life of li-ion batteries? I have magcharger with stock and batteryjunction battery pack and i must say, that i only use one... What do you guys think?

 

[flashy bazook]

shelf life is very good, one cell can work fine for you. The only downside is if you run out and want to continue using the flashlight immediately. So if you have a backup light (or just 2xCR123A primaries at hand, to tide you over--by the way, you haven't said which JB you have, this idea works only for some of the JBs which take different types of batteries, which not all of them do) you can satisfy your needs.

I have more than 1 flashlight that uses the 18650 Li-Ions, so my idea is to use one of them into the other light (if necessary) while the first one can be recharging.