AardvarkSagus
Flashlight Enthusiast
JETBeam M2S - Posted for consideration for the review forum
The megalight arms race continues to heat up with the desire to provide discerning users with ultra powerful hand held illumination. JETbeam has responded by adding the M2S to their lineup, allowing them to reach even further heights in this ever expanding market.
JETBeam M2S
Meat and Potatoes
Behind its awkward, slightly ungainly appearance, the JETBeam M2S is a light where form follows function. The elongated body tube and large head are all purpose built, designed to power, focus, and cool the large Luminous Phlatlight SST-50 LED. This LED, the smaller sibling to the monstrous SST-90, allows the M2S to be pushed to an amazing 1,000 lumens at max output.
Unlike other multi-18650 lights the M2S stacks its cells in a single tube rather than side by side. This approach allows JETBeam to offer the use of either 3 CR123A cells or your choice of 4 CR123A's or 2 18650's with the optional cell extender. At a mere 45 minutes of runtime on "high" however, the use of primaries with the power requirements of this light could get quite expensive. Personally, I believe the extra length of the extender is a small price to pay for the freedom to use the light as you please with rechargeables.
With its large smooth reflector, the M2S is definitely designed for throw. Its tightly focused beam is more adept at illuminating small targets at distance than it is for lighting up your entire campsite while you set up the tent (you should have gotten there during the daytime!). The beam does have some fairly decent transitional corona to it, so you are not left with something completely useless at short to mid-distance, but you can very definitely tell what the intended purpose is. Incredible brightness that is capable of reaching significant distances.
Smooth Reflector
The user interface of the M2S has one particularly good feature. It is divided into two modes, based on head position, called "Max Brightness" and "Daily Use". The former is a wonderfully specialized mode that only gives the user on and off at full power. This mode definitely gives credence to the "Searchlight" labeling bestowed by JETBeam. It is nothing except a simple, single output mode that pairs wonderfully with the seemingly quality momentary forward clicky switch. I am not quite as fond of the "Daily Use" mode, but more about that later.
Constructive Criticism
Once again, I tend to find smooth reflectors to not be quite all they have stacked up to be. I can see some of the allure with having a light that has the extremely tight focus and can put a spot at the top of a tree hundreds of yards away, but I am far more interested in a light that produces a beam that is completely free from distracting artifacts. The M2S however does not quite fit that category. Between the fact that the LED is slightly off center and the reflector is an incredible mirror polish, the beam has seen some seriously detrimental effects. There is definitely still a transitional corona to this beam, but it really shows up only around half the spot, stretching lopsidedly outward like the petals of a dying flower. I would have drastically preferred a textured reflector which would likely have smoothed things out dramatically. In the wild, this isn't quite as apparent as when I am hunting the elusive white wall, but it can be slightly distracting.
Thankfully, the M2S lives up to its design quite well as a high power searchlight, because I find that its "Daily Use" mode is occasionally a little frustrating. In order to change outputs in this mode, you need to turn the light off for somewhere between .5 and 3 seconds. If you simply blink the light with slight half-presses before turning it on, you will not change the mode from where you are. Similarly, if you accidentally wait too long you will find yourself in the same mode that you started. Trying to change modes quickly or when distracted will often prove frustrating.
JETBeam M2S
The "Max Brightness" mode on this light does have one slight drawback that I didn't mention previously. Your output in that mode is time limited to 10 minutes before the torch automatically throttles back to "Medium" output as a matter of heat protection for the LED. This may seem like a significant issue, but thankfully the differences in output between "Max" and "Medium" are not as easily perceived as you might imagine. In a genuine emergency, a quick power cycle will bring you back to full output immediately for yet another 10 minutes allowing you to weigh the risks of the LED against your current need. My suggestion though would be for that limit to be genuinely temperature based rather than purely timed. That way you would be able to use the light for longer periods of time in the winter, or if there is a stiff wind helping to shuck the heat away from the light. I believe active thermal protection like this would be far more useful if it were dynamic.
Conclusions
The JETBeam M2S is quite a powerhouse of a light. Its far reaching capability will definitely astound you. With so many of these large format, super high powered LEDs starting to show up, I believe it is still a pioneer in this growing market. Solid build quality comes together with good electronics to make quite a showing.
JETBeam M2S
Provided for review by the kind folks at JETBeam.
The megalight arms race continues to heat up with the desire to provide discerning users with ultra powerful hand held illumination. JETbeam has responded by adding the M2S to their lineup, allowing them to reach even further heights in this ever expanding market.
JETBeam M2S
Meat and Potatoes
Behind its awkward, slightly ungainly appearance, the JETBeam M2S is a light where form follows function. The elongated body tube and large head are all purpose built, designed to power, focus, and cool the large Luminous Phlatlight SST-50 LED. This LED, the smaller sibling to the monstrous SST-90, allows the M2S to be pushed to an amazing 1,000 lumens at max output.
Unlike other multi-18650 lights the M2S stacks its cells in a single tube rather than side by side. This approach allows JETBeam to offer the use of either 3 CR123A cells or your choice of 4 CR123A's or 2 18650's with the optional cell extender. At a mere 45 minutes of runtime on "high" however, the use of primaries with the power requirements of this light could get quite expensive. Personally, I believe the extra length of the extender is a small price to pay for the freedom to use the light as you please with rechargeables.
With its large smooth reflector, the M2S is definitely designed for throw. Its tightly focused beam is more adept at illuminating small targets at distance than it is for lighting up your entire campsite while you set up the tent (you should have gotten there during the daytime!). The beam does have some fairly decent transitional corona to it, so you are not left with something completely useless at short to mid-distance, but you can very definitely tell what the intended purpose is. Incredible brightness that is capable of reaching significant distances.
Smooth Reflector
The user interface of the M2S has one particularly good feature. It is divided into two modes, based on head position, called "Max Brightness" and "Daily Use". The former is a wonderfully specialized mode that only gives the user on and off at full power. This mode definitely gives credence to the "Searchlight" labeling bestowed by JETBeam. It is nothing except a simple, single output mode that pairs wonderfully with the seemingly quality momentary forward clicky switch. I am not quite as fond of the "Daily Use" mode, but more about that later.
Constructive Criticism
Once again, I tend to find smooth reflectors to not be quite all they have stacked up to be. I can see some of the allure with having a light that has the extremely tight focus and can put a spot at the top of a tree hundreds of yards away, but I am far more interested in a light that produces a beam that is completely free from distracting artifacts. The M2S however does not quite fit that category. Between the fact that the LED is slightly off center and the reflector is an incredible mirror polish, the beam has seen some seriously detrimental effects. There is definitely still a transitional corona to this beam, but it really shows up only around half the spot, stretching lopsidedly outward like the petals of a dying flower. I would have drastically preferred a textured reflector which would likely have smoothed things out dramatically. In the wild, this isn't quite as apparent as when I am hunting the elusive white wall, but it can be slightly distracting.
Thankfully, the M2S lives up to its design quite well as a high power searchlight, because I find that its "Daily Use" mode is occasionally a little frustrating. In order to change outputs in this mode, you need to turn the light off for somewhere between .5 and 3 seconds. If you simply blink the light with slight half-presses before turning it on, you will not change the mode from where you are. Similarly, if you accidentally wait too long you will find yourself in the same mode that you started. Trying to change modes quickly or when distracted will often prove frustrating.
JETBeam M2S
The "Max Brightness" mode on this light does have one slight drawback that I didn't mention previously. Your output in that mode is time limited to 10 minutes before the torch automatically throttles back to "Medium" output as a matter of heat protection for the LED. This may seem like a significant issue, but thankfully the differences in output between "Max" and "Medium" are not as easily perceived as you might imagine. In a genuine emergency, a quick power cycle will bring you back to full output immediately for yet another 10 minutes allowing you to weigh the risks of the LED against your current need. My suggestion though would be for that limit to be genuinely temperature based rather than purely timed. That way you would be able to use the light for longer periods of time in the winter, or if there is a stiff wind helping to shuck the heat away from the light. I believe active thermal protection like this would be far more useful if it were dynamic.
Conclusions
The JETBeam M2S is quite a powerhouse of a light. Its far reaching capability will definitely astound you. With so many of these large format, super high powered LEDs starting to show up, I believe it is still a pioneer in this growing market. Solid build quality comes together with good electronics to make quite a showing.
JETBeam M2S
Provided for review by the kind folks at JETBeam.
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