Review: Jetbeam TH20 (XHP70.2 and 3150lumens)

JETBEAM JET TH20 FLASHLIGHT REVIEW:

Specifications:

Brand/Model Jetbeam TH20
LED XHP70.2

Working voltage

3-6V
Battery 1x18650 / 2xCR123A
Switch Tail-cap
Modes 4
Blinkies Strobe
Mode changing Buttons
Anodizing HAIII

Tailstand

No
Lock-out No
Momentary On Yes
Lens Coated
Reflector Orange Peel
Waterproof IPX8

INTRODUCTION:

The TH20 is a Tactical light. This means that it can be used in combination with arms. Your thumb is positioned near the switch to control the light. The Jet-TH20 (as the name on the flashlight indicates) has something special, it uses only one battery but with a 6Volt LED. It uses a boost driver to boost the voltage from 3.6V (4.2V) to 6V. Jetbeam is a popular brand in the flashlight world, but is not keeping up with brands like Acebeam, Lumintop or Fenix. But let's see what the TH20 has to offer. I have to say that the packaging is so weak that it arrived bashed. A 18650 2600mAh battery was included, as well as a lanyard, and an extra rubber boot.

WHAT YOU'LL GET:

  • Blue package (flimsy)
  • Lanyard
  • Spare o-ring
  • User Manual
  • Warranty Card
  • Holster

HANDLING OF THE LIGHT

When I opened the package I was a little surprised by the size of the flashlight. I thought it was similar in size as my Sunwayman V20C. But the head is quite a bit larger. It is longer and wider. It has a rear (mechanical) switch to turn the light on and off, and can be used as Momentary on. The negative side of this switch is that it is quite stiff and more difficult to press in than a regular switch on other flashlights. On a positive note, it doesnt have any parasitic drain...LOL In addition to the normal switch there are 2 little buttons that are used to change its brightness. And if the lamp is off, they are used for direct access to strobe mode.

Tailstanding?

  • No! It's too unstable.

BUILD QUALITY AND ANODIZING

Anodization is the coating of a flashlight. The quality of anodisation Jetbeam is using is in my opinion one of the best in the world. When I was holding the light, it reminded me directly of my Jetbeam RRT21 while I wasn't thinking about the brand for a moment, and then realized this is a Jetbeam as well. The coating and finish are like no other, and give the flashlight a rather premium look and feel. Well done Jetbeam! The build quality is top notch. Unfortunately though, the parts of the flashlights seem to be glued. I couldnt unscrew the head from the body. So if I ever had to change the driver, that could be a little difficult. I hope this is never going to be needed though.

THREADS

The tailcap can be unscrewed and has some gorgeous threads.. LOL. Nicely done and no problems to be found. The parts screw in very nicely without any squeky sound. They came lubed.
LED, LENS BEZEL AND REFLECTOR

The reflector is made of aluminum and has an orange peel effect. This means that the reflector is not smooth, but has a kind of coarse finish, so that the light beam is not focused so much on one point but gives a wider beam. This gives it some smooth edges instead of sharp corona/spot/spill.

  • Diameter inside of the head 33 mm
  • Diameter outside of the head: 40 mm

The bezel is black aluminum, and not shiny stainless steel unfortunately...hehe bling bling... The bezel can be loosened by hand without too much power! The O-ring behind the lens was unfortunately not in place, and I had to push back a little bit. The pill seems to be made of copper! THE LED (at the time of writing) is rather unique in combination with only 1 18650 battery, the XHP70.2 LED . The driver is a boost driver in order to increase its voltage up to 6Volts. Take a look at the pictures to see the LED, the reflector etc.

You can however also use 2x CR123A rechargeable batteries. 6V-8.4V?

DIMENSIONS AND WEIGHT:

  • Length: 163 mm
  • Diameter head: 40 mm
  • Diameter reflector 34 mm
  • Diameter body: 27 mm
  • Weight empty: 235 grams
Below is a size comparison picture with the Convoy C8, the Lumintop ODF30 (with a 26650 battery) and a red Convoy S2 + (thanks Djozz). As you can see the head is as wide as the C8 and ODF30.

USER INTERFACE:

There are 2 types or buttons on the flashlight. The main switch, and 2 switches next to the main switch. The main switch is used to turn the flashlight on and off, and the 2 smaller switches (both have the same functionality) are used to change modes.

MODES:

Turbo-High-Medium-Low. It does the reverse thing, probably because this light is a tactical flashlight, and you probably want to have the brightest setting first. Unfortunately I couldn't find a way to enter the lowest mode directly. So no short cut as far as I know.
From the OFF position with the main switch:
  • 1 full click: On
  • Half click: momentary-on (for morse coding etc)
From the OFF position with the side buttons:
  • Long press: Strobe
From the ON position with the side buttons:
  • 1 short click: changes output
  • Double click: Turbo
  • Long press: Strobe

MOMENTARY ON:

  • If you press the main switch you can use it as momentary-on. This means that you can use signals such as Morse coding. The output of this setting is the same as the last used mode (mode memory) .

MODE MEMORY:

  • Yes. This setting is also used when using the momentary on setting. (half press when turned off).

LOCK OUT:

  • No, it is also not necessary, because it has a mechanical switch.
PWM:
  • Not that I could detect

And beamshots.

C8 + TH20

ODF30 + TH20

TH20

ODF30

PERFORMANCE:

I couldn't get any readings on the tailcap. Probably because of the double switch. I dont know why, but I couldnt get it to work. Also the head is glued, so measuring it at the LED is also too difficult.

RUNTIME:

After the runtime test, the battery showed 2.97 Volts on the charger. So it must have dropped a little more than that under load. I had to do the runtime test twice, because the Android app I used first, produced too much data that froze my pc. Next I used another app, called simply LUX. No idea anymore where that came from. This is also to remind myself of using the correct app. The light actually increases its brightness when you turn it into Turbo.. this is rather interesting. Usually its instant, but this one ramps very quickly to max output.
After 8 minutes the light drops out of Turbo into High mode. Please don't look at the time stamps..
They dont make sense (because of my struggling with spreadsheets) between about 20 minutes and 1 hour. But you get the idea. After 1 hour and 13 minutes the light shuts off. The runtime is done with the 2600mAh battery that was included in the box.

BEAM:

It definitely is more of a flooder. The hotspot is very very wide. See the shots above.

LOW VOLTAGE WARNING:

Not really, it decreases its output, and then shuts down.

THROW:

I have a problem here. I bought another lux meter recently, but the numbers are much different from my old lux meter. The new shows much higher values . Measured at 5 meters:
  • 483 lux on the old meter and 630lux on my new meter in Turbo (with the included 18650 2600mAh battery) That corresponds to 12000cd or 15750cd. This is far from the manufactur claimed 25000cd. But it wasnt supposed to 'throw' much anyway. I might have to try on a larger distance again.

OVERALL CONCLUSION OF THE JETBEAM TH20

PROS:

  1. Uses one of the latest CREE Led at the time of writing, namely the XHP70.2
  2. One of the few lights with a 6V LED off 1 single battery
  3. Direct access to strobe for tactical users.
  4. Jetbeam has one of the best coatings and finish that can be found on flashlights

CONS

  1. Slightly larger than expected, but this is more of a personal taste
  2. Switch is a little hard to press (stiff)
  3. The body parts are glued, so you can not remove or replace the driver easily.
  4. The battery that was included is "only" 2600mAh
  5. Throw is less than on paper.

The light was provided by Gearbest for review.

Link to the light: https://www.gearbest.com/led-flashlights/pp_900434.html?wid=1433363&lkid=15170581

Its currently out of stock, and the gearbest employee told me to use a discount code for 10% off.: CA%LA704

Is it from me or that runtime on almost “100%” in a light like this is very nice? Almost 3000 lumens for 8 minutes…
Thanks for the review ChibiM :+1: :open_mouth:

There is a big piece of copper inside I think, that can maintain the output for so long. I still have to test it up against my other lights to see how many lumens (approximately) it can deliver. But not bad for 8 minutes no.

8min at full throttle sounds really good. What was the best price for it? I just saw Fin17 has posted it for about 80$. Is/was there a groupbuy?

It was $65 during their sale.

They told me to share this link for othe lights instead: https://www.gearbest.com/promotion-Flashlight-Sale-special-2078.html?lkid=15221793

Thank you ChibiM! I mistook the TH20 with the WL20 when looking at Fin17’s deal-thread. Unfortunately, I missed the flashdeal.

Yes, not sure if they will come back in stock. But I understand the confusion, the WL20 kinda looks like the TH20... and not just the name.

I think the TH20 is going to be on my bedside as well, in case I need direct access to a lot of light or strobe. It's going to be busy near my bed.. I have the Enogear AA SS, a headlamp and the Sunwayman V20C sitting there... The BLF Q8 was there as well for a long time..And now the TH20...

Wow…you seem to be well-prepared for any usual and unusual night-time event. :smiley:

Yes, being prepared is everything..

The Sunwayman is one of my favorites.... just dial the ring to lowest mode, and you wont wake up anybody, and you can adjust the brightness. it doesnt have to be very bright.. but in case I need something bright I had the BLFQ8.. but I think the TH20 will fit the bill :)