A Collection of Threads in Support of the Jetbeam BA20...

My brother's Pelican 2440 flashlight is no more; with his personal light deceased and a lack of spare parts, it was time for a new light. Below is a list, a collection of threads in support of the capable BA20, which meets my brother's key criteria, namely:

-easily available cells @2xAA
-broader beam profile than XR-E or XP-E with the BA20's XP-G
-orange peel reflector (assists the XP-G)
-very long battery life

The other lights I have considered share one or more of the following:

-too expensive (greater than the going rate of $40 for the BA20)
-too focused
-don't share the BA20's very long runtime
-involve operating a complicated or serialized UI

I hope he likes the light when it arrives, and I hope this short collection helps someone else!

Threads:

selfbuilt's Peerless Review
BA20 vs. P2A vs. Quark AA^2
As a Budget Option for Travel
Amazon Reviews
E21 vs. BA20
energythoughts Excellent Video Review
The Light-Reviews Review
The Tony and Mike Review

I invite others to submit other reviews or threads for this little collection.

I will happily add them.

Pelican lights brought me to this forum! I had 2 3 C cell Saberlights for work, and Pelican came out with a 2AA. In my search for it, I found CPF, and it steered me to better value lights for about the same money. I have 2 Quarks, a Fenix, and a Nitecore, and my next purchases will be Jetbeam and Sunwayman.

Yes, Pelican makes some durable stuff, arguably their cases over their lights, but the real kicker is their lifetime warranty. They have quite a few niche lights, and by and large, their products are designed for batteries your average citizen of the world has heard of, making them useful when traveling. My brother's 2440 was a handy light, and I treasure mine, perhaps more for sentimental reasons than sheer output, but there is no doubt that its single mode simplicity is a deciding factor.

With respect to the BA20, there is a greater than 50% probability that if my brother likes his unit, and/or if after "pre-flight" checking on my end I like it as much as I believe I will, then a second one might join his.

The only beamshot I could find directly comparing the high and low beams of the BA20 in an authentic environment is this pair here (scroll down), but the photographer does not mention whether the exposure was locked or set to auto. Also, since the low beamshot was most likely taken before the dive down to its regulated mode, the hunt is still on for a pair of photos comparing the BA20's low and high beams in an authentic environment, when the low beam has entered full regulation (see selfbuilt's chart if in doubt).

By authentic environment, I mean somewhere the light would commonly be used, such as a basement, attic, yard, field, etc.

Low beam when dropped to the regulated level on Ni-mh is perfect in my opinion (also you can not tell it is dropping by eye before it reaches that level). 40-50 hours regulated on eneloops around 20 lumens, great beam profile. Just the perfect brightness for walking around outside at night, high mode is very impressive for a 2x AA, 250 lumens OTF is accurate.

On Energizer lithiums you get the same 250 OTF high mode, but for an estimated 3 hours instead of 1.5 with eneloops Low mode is bumped up to around 50-60 lumens and will run for an estimated 15 hours.

The light also runs at the same regulated outputs on alkalines for almost the entire discharge curve! (Though this is only 30 mins on high).

I genuinely think the BA20 is the best 2x AA light on the market right now for all-round use, and for $40 it is a really great buy. Perfect for gifting too. The shiningbeam caveman seems like a close second, but I haven't tried it so I can't comment directly on that yet.

Thank you very much for the input! I don't consider myself a fan of any one brand, and I've never owned a Jetbeam. But, everything just seems to fall into place so, so nicely.

One thing: you mention 40 to 50 hours on the lower of the two modes with Eneloops. selfbuilt's chart here says 27 hours, 49 minutes:

Link

Did you run a test and come up with a different result?

No, sorry, I didn't run a test myself. I just waited until the batteries were around 50% discharged and then measured current draw, I got 0.04-0.05A current and so if eneloops provide a true 2000mah and the first few minutes at higher current didn't waste too much it looks like 40 hours plus is possible. Of course actual runtime tests will always be more accurate/reliable, but they can only tell you the runtime for that one sample.

I understand.

By the way, I like your signature. I was originally going to get the TK20 for my brother because of its dead simple UI and insanely robust build quality. However, the spotty beam and dated emitter inclined me towards more research, yielding this thread and the intent to get him a BA20.

Yeah, the TK20 still is one of a kind in the 2x AA bracket. Nothing else ever really followed quite like it, which is a surprise given how successful it was. I know it is a little dated now, but in reality the XR-E is still the best LED available for relatively low power thrower lights without sacrificing too much in efficiency. The tint was very good also and all it needed was a slight OP reflector to perfect the beam and something to stop the slight pre-flash on low (though it's not too distracting, as low is a med mode more than a true low). I thought the Q2 would give relatively poor efficiency, but I always thought my TK20 seemed brighter than rated, and in my comparative ceiling bounce tests it came out at around 175 lumens OTF, runtime is around 1hr 10 on eneloops so very reasonable in my opinion.

I think the closest yet to matching/improving on it is the shiningbeam caveman. It has a similar (ish) UI with a low mode, reasonably big head, good efficiency (uses XM-L). All it needs is for Bryan to finally get his hands on some neutral XM-Ls and some time for it to prove it's toughness and durability, then it will be really worth consideration as a decent successor. If it could be made with an XP-G it would also improve throw, but that is a personal preference really.