Just got my JetBeam M2S....not all that impressed and what about the hum?

this is my first 'real' flashlight. I have a life+gear (~200 lumens) and metal lithium energizer (~90 lumens) to compare it to. I feel the bright setting on the M2S should be its medium, or 'daily' mode.

Maybe I am expecting too much?

high pitched hum on jetbeam M2S

out of all the reviews and searching I did before I bought this light, none mentioned anything about this light's potential for a loud high pitched hum. More specifically, my light has a very loud hum on medium setting and a noticable hum on low. When I say loud, you couldn't run for more than about 30 seconds to a minute without having it be annoying to the point it almost causes discomfort. It can be heard into the next room. No hum on strobe or max setting.

Do I have a defective product or is this the norm, or at least something not out of the ordinary?

I am running it on 2 AW 18650.

Re: high pitched hum on jetbeam M2S

Lot's of lights experience this "problem". It is usually caused by the inductor coil on the Driver board. There isn't much that can be done, and not every light is affected. Some lights, even of the same type/model, aren't as effected as others.

Re: high pitched hum on jetbeam M2S

We had a problem with a button at the test.
M2S shines very brightly excellent, but the button doesn't disable the light,
now M2S is the brightest in our test. http://fonarik.com/test/?model=75&scene=1&mode=0 and wait for the replacement button.

Re: Just got my JetBeam M2S....not all that impressed

I have the jetbeam m2s and at first wasn't really impressed by it also, but once you try it out in a dark field it would put a smile on your face.

Re: high pitched hum on jetbeam M2S

What light would you say was the second brightest? How is the throw of the m2s compared to the other lights you tested?

Re: Just got my JetBeam M2S....not all that impressed

Love my JetBeam M2S, Only thing is i do not find a huge difference from med-high :mecry:

Re: Just got my JetBeam M2S....not all that impressed

Yeah, 1000 Lumen is 5 times brighter than 200 Lumen, aren't they?

Nope, they are not. I'm disappointed each time when I get a new power-light, because I expect too much and because it isn't dark when I try it, daguy80 is right. Try it at night and you'll see!

I don't have an M2S, I'm into smaller lights, but each Jetbeam I have (except the E3P...) is among the brightest of its class...

Re: Just got my JetBeam M2S....not all that impressed

I am also disappointed every time I get a new light also because I am expecting a huge difference. I remember getting my Romisen RCN3 and it was super bright. After that I got a Tiablo A9 and thought that it would be a big upgrade. When I first compared the A9 against the Romisen indoors during the day time I was really disappointed. When I took it out side at night and compared the two, I finally saw the difference, especially for long range illumination.

Re: Just got my JetBeam M2S....not all that impressed

A guy on Light-Reviews.com reckons you can only run it on high for three minutes, before it drops to 480 emitter lumens. Surely this can't be correct, considering the M2S costs around AUD$250.

— Jack.

Re: Just got my JetBeam M2S....not all that impressed

henry1960 said:

Love my JetBeam M2S, Only thing is i do not find a huge difference from med-high :mecry:

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I also don't like the fact that there is not a huge difference on high and med. To me the 3 minute limit on max doesn't really bother me as much because after 3 minutes the heat generated would cause the brightness to go down considerably and continuing running it at 4 amps would just be a waste of energy. I would say the mid mode is about 70 percent of the high mode and it is pretty hard to tell the difference. The only time that I use the high mode is to show it off to my buddies.

Re: high pitched hum on jetbeam M2S

It was not necessary for you to start two threads about this light. I'm merging them.

Re: Just got my JetBeam M2S....not all that impressed

So the hum is something I need to learn to live with? It can be easily heard across the room or even into the next..... and becomes very annoying.

The more I use the light, I find myself liking it more and more. The throw is pretty impressive compared to my other lights. I farm and wanted a few lights to use around in the fields and the M2S sounds like a perfect utility light on paper. Now that I have had a chance to use it outside for more than a short time, it meets my expectations..... but the d@mn hum.... I have contacted the vendor I purchased it from about this issue.

As far as the three minute max mode thing..... not an issue. The medium mode is plenty bright and if you need more light, just click the unit off and back on again, and you can continue to enjoy max mode. Be aware that the head gets pretty warm, even on medium mode with continuous use.

Re: Just got my JetBeam M2S....not all that impressed

Jack Reacher said:

A guy on Light-Reviews.com reckons you can only run it on high for three minutes, before it drops to 480 emitter lumens. Surely this can't be correct, considering the M2S costs around AUD$250.

— Jack.

Click to expand...

You are correct Jack, the JetBeam M2S only runs on high for 3 minutes :

Per JetBeam:

"The M2S' built in circuit protection allows the user to run at the full output for 3 continuous minutes in High mode and then the M2S will automatically switch to Mid mode (450 lumen)."

I would imagine it's to prevent overheating and possibly damaging the internals, but someone correct me if I'm wrong...

Re: Just got my JetBeam M2S....not all that impressed

Zivman said:

So the hum is something I need to learn to live with? It can be easily heard across the room or even into the next..... and becomes very annoying.

Click to expand...

Just contact JetBeam. They'll re-write the manual for you saying "A loud hum that can be heard in the next room is normal, and to be expected" That seems to be the way JetBeam "Fixes" things these days.:thumbsdow

Re: Just got my JetBeam M2S....not all that impressed

Zivman said:

So the hum is something I need to learn to live with? It can be easily heard across the room or even into the next..... and becomes very annoying.

The more I use the light, I find myself liking it more and more. The throw is pretty impressive compared to my other lights. I farm and wanted a few lights to use around in the fields and the M2S sounds like a perfect utility light on paper. Now that I have had a chance to use it outside for more than a short time, it meets my expectations..... but the d@mn hum.... I have contacted the vendor I purchased it from about this issue.

As far as the three minute max mode thing..... not an issue. The medium mode is plenty bright and if you need more light, just click the unit off and back on again, and you can continue to enjoy max mode. Be aware that the head gets pretty warm, even on medium mode with continuous use.

Click to expand...

The medium mode does still get warm but not hot. I wouldn't really be worried about it in medium mode because of the huge fins on the M2S should be able to cope with the current which I guess around is 2-2.5 amps on medium. P60 host which are smaller can run this amount of current but it does get hot, but a light the size of the M2S should handle 2-2.5 amps just fine.

Re: Just got my JetBeam M2S....not all that impressed

HIDblue said:

You are correct Jack, the JetBeam M2S only runs on high for 3 minutes :

Per JetBeam:

"The M2S' built in circuit protection allows the user to run at the full output for 3 continuous minutes in High mode and then the M2S will automatically switch to Mid mode (450 lumen)."

I would imagine it's to prevent overheating and possibly damaging the internals, but someone correct me if I'm wrong...

Click to expand...

Yes to run on high without the 3 minute limit you need the RRT-3 which makes the price tag of the M2S look like a bargin.

My guess is it's strictly for preventing damage should someone sit the light down and leave it running for a long period of time. Turning the light off/on again restarts the 3 minute time limit.

Re: Just got my JetBeam M2S....not all that impressed

kengps said:

Just contact JetBeam. They'll re-write the manual for you saying "A loud hum that can be heard in the next room is normal, and to be expected" That seems to be the way JetBeam "Fixes" things these days.:thumbsdow

Click to expand...

I got a laugh out of this..... :laughing:

you have an M2S listed in your sig. Did you experience any hum with yours?

No hum with mine...but I got the mis-programmed UI. The manual stated the way it should be operated, but The lights didn't get built that way. So they changed the manual to reflect the messed up UI. That says all I need to know about JetBeam as a company.