My AAA Jetbeam-u impressions

[regulator]

My impressions so far of the AAA Jetbeam-u are mixed. To me, it is an absolutely gorgeous light and made very well. It kinda reminds me of a micro-Surefire. I really like the memorize last setting and find it very useful.

I only wish the reflector was a little deeper (2mm or whatever needed) to concentrate the beam more. I do not think this would matter much since the light is so small anyways. The light produces almost all flood beam.

I think the converter/regulator is mediocre at best. With a NiMH or alkaline, it draws approximately 210 mA on low which is not very bright. The amount of output on medium seems low as well considering it is drawings 450mA. I have a ultra power Peak that draws about this much from an AAA battery and it puts out a lot more light for much longer. I also noticed that the Jetbeam-u gets warm running in medium and believe it is power "wasted" in the converter. For the amount of light output is should not be getting warm. Other small lights that I compared it to were all cool and putting out at least as much light (from ceiling bounce test).

Now what has sparked my curiosity is the advertised runtimes using a lithium ion battery. I believe that the regulator boost portion is bypassed with a lithium ion cell and may operate more efficiently as a result (only speculation since I do not have a lithium cell to test with yet). In low mode using the lithium ion cell, you get 25% brighter light for 75% longer runtime than in medium mode using a regular cell!! A lithium ion cell probably has a little more capacity than a NiMh cell but not that much more. Maybe the best way to run the Jetbeam is with a lithium ion cell?

Anyone with a Jet-u tested this theory??

 

[mchlwise]

Anyone with a Jet-u tested this theory??

I ordered my Jetbeam yesterday, and my 10440's today, so hopefully I'll be able to take a look soon.

 

[mmmflashlights]

Maybe the best way to run the Jetbeam is with a lithium ion cell?

Somewhat off-topic, but if you can tolerate the inconvenience of using a battery that can't be bought anywhere locally on a whim, I'm really starting to grow on the idea of using only lithium ion for almost all of my single-battery lights. Cheaper lights, and even many not-so-cheap lights such as this one, are just too inefficient when compared to a lithium driven light. I just hate the thought of wasting that much of a 1.5V cell, even the most efficient 1.5V circuits are only around 70% from what I've read. I was looking to build a very simple 5mm AAA light, and particularly in the relatively low capacity of a AAA cell, the greater efficiency of a Lithium battery really becomes apparent.

 

[mchlwise]

Somewhat off-topic, but if you can tolerate the inconvenience of using a battery that can't be bought anywhere locally on a whim, I'm really starting to grow on the idea of using only lithium ion for almost all of my single-battery lights. Cheaper lights, and even many not-so-cheap lights such as this one, are just too inefficient when compared to a lithium driven light. I just hate the thought of wasting that much of a 1.5V cell, even the most efficient 1.5V circuits are only around 70% from what I've read. I was looking to build a very simple 5mm AAA light, and particularly in the relatively low capacity of a AAA cell, the greater efficiency of a Lithium battery really becomes apparent.

Yeah, I'm with you, and that's why I ordered the 10440's to run my JetBeam.

I've got a couple other JetBeams as well as a Dexlight, and run those exclusively on Lithium 14500's.

To me, the GREAT advantage to these latest lights is that they do give you the option. You can run them primarily on Lithiums, but if you're in a pinch, you can still throw in a regular old AA or AAA, and still have plenty of light (though obviously not as much or as efficiently).

I really love these latest offerings.

 

[regulator]

Yeah - I'm planning to use the light with lithium ion primarily in the low setting. Its this setting that the battery and LED seem to be operating most efficiently and should give a good amount of light for the intended purpose.

If using a lithium ion can give 15 lumens for the 3.5 hours, this would be pretty good to me and would make me happy. The runtime is "considerably" longer than using a NiMh (in medium) and it is brighter as well - can't complain with that logic. As cheap as the lithium ions are, I would get a couple to have on hand. And since they do not self discharge like NiMh (not including the new Eneloops) they would be charged and ready when needed.