Jetbeam has reintroduced an updated RRT01 for 2019. This an exciting EDC light because it has a infinitely variable control ring meaning it’s a new affordable rotary light. It comes with a USB rechargeable 16340 battery but also takes 18350’s. Thanks to Banggood for sending this to me to take a look at.
*Full Image Gallery: *Jetbeam - RRT01 - Album on Imgur
Youtube Version of this Review:
Packaging
Pretty standard packaging from Jetbeam on this light. It’s a retail blue and black hanging box, with a picture of the light on the front. Banggod has kindly placed a large sticker and a piece of yellow tape on mine. On the back you get the features and specs. Included accessories are the light, a Jetbeam branded 16340 700mAh battery that is USB rechargeable, a decent lanyard, extra oring and small hex wrench for removing the clip, and small MicroUSB recharging cable.
Construction
The light is made from aluminum and anodized a dark gray with the control bezel being a silver. It’s nice to see something that’s not black. Machining is very good. Starting at the tail, it’s flat, with 3 places for 12mm long tritium vials, it’s flat so the light will tail stand provided it doesn’t have a lanyard attached. There is a place for the lanyard in the side but doing so makes it not sit very flat anymore. The body section of the light has knurling around it with 2 flats with the minimal labeling on each side. The light then grows to match the size of the head and control ring.
The rotary control ring has some areas milled into it to give grip. It has a detent on both ends of the control area. From 0 to 100% is about 150 degrees of rotation. The detent in the control ring isn’t super crisp, but a little mushy, it also takes a decent amount of effort to get over the detents but once over them it turns easily but has enough resistance to stay where you leave it. The rotary really allows you to dial in the exact amount of light you want very quickly.
The head has a aluminum bezel with shallow crenelations. It is not glued in place and is easily removed. I think this will be an easy and popular light to modify because of that. The glass lens is double anti reflective coated and it has a deep smooth reflector.
Size/Weight/Carry Comparison
While not the smallest 16340 light on the market for me this makes a really nice EDC. A big part of that is a good pocket clip, and while the stock one is decent, Jetbeam wisely decided to make this compatible with a wide variety of aftermarket clips such as, Steelflame, Okluma, Oveready, and others. The stock clip for me had just a little to much upward flare on the tipI measured the length at 81mm, maximum diameter at 26mm, and minimum diameter at 20mm. Weight with the included cell and clip was 93g.
LED/Beamshot/Runtime
The RRT01 is using a Cree XP-L HI LED in cool white. No tint data is given but it is cool white, with no undesirable tints (green). The beam is has a slight donut that you notice with lower power levels. Around the hot spot there is a thin reflection an additional small artifact in the beam that’s brighter. It’s noticeable but not a deal killer given all the lights other strengths.
I did 2 uncooled runtime testes, one with the included 700mAh 16340 and the other with a 1200mAh 18350. With the 16340 the total output on the highest output lasted a total of 24 minutes. During this output decreased slowly and pretty linearly, before the LVP on the battery itself kicked in. The runtime using the 1200mAh unprotected 18350 was a similar but different story. Output was a little more stable at the top, and total output increased to over just under 40 minutes (Technically longer). Outputs were pretty smooth and similar but at the 30 minute mark we saw lots of very little steps and then at the very end the light flashed to let you know the cell was very low. However then instead of cutting off output the light continued to run since the light itself has no LVP. My recommendation would be to run this with a protected battery or just charge frequently to avoid damaging the cell from ultra low voltage running.
UI
UI on this light is super simple, Instead of buttons and modes it uses a rotary switch in the bezel with a detent on both ends. The detents are a little mushy, and do require some force. As mentioned earlier it’s about 160 degrees full rotation with detents. Low on this light is super low, sub lumen which is nice to see. I find the rotary switch to be faster than ramping UI with a ebutton too.
The light also has strobe if you rotate the rotary to maximum brightness past the detent, then reverse slightly over the denent and reverse again (Twice). Doing this twice gives you strove and then you can decrease brightness to the level you wish. Doing this 3 times gives you SOS. Rotate past the off detent to end the blinking modes.
Recharging
Included is a Jetbeam branded 700mAh 16340 battery that has recharging built in via MicroUSB on the battery. Charging speed was 0.4A which is what you want for these smaller capacity batteries. It took right at 2 hours to charge completely. The LED indicator on the battery goes Red when charging and Green when charged.
The light will take 18350 batteries too, these fill up the cavity better (Although no rattle with the 16340 that’s included) but if your using a protected 18350 it might not screw down completely flush. This doesn’t harm the IPX8 water resistance.
Pro
- Love that it takes 18350’s including protected cells (Protected will have a bit of brass sticking out)
- Great size and clip for EDC
- Rotary switch in a small affordable package
- Easily modifiable emitter
- Takes standard clips if you want to upgrade.
Cons
- There are some beam artifacts
- No LVP (Running a protected battery is a good idea)
- Not a completely smooth beam profile, there are some extra rings around the hot spot.
Conclusion
The Jetbeam RR01 2019 edition is a really nice little EDC light. It’s been my EDC since I got it, and that’s saying something. Rotary control rings this small are not common, and I think they should be used more. It allows you to get exactly the amount of illumination you need for your specific application. The RRT01 does a lot of things well for an EDC in my book.
The stock clip is pretty good for a fairly deep carry, and can easily be swapped out to a steelflame style clip from a variety of manufacturers if you would like. The modding potential for this light is big too, there is some talk of someone trying to make a triple in this light too which would be pretty awesome, and something I will definitely be paying attention too. I will probably look into an LED swap here in the coming weeks too, to get something high CRI and a touch warmer. Overall it’s a great little EDC light and I am glad Jetbeam revived the design and updated if for 2019. I definitely recommend it.
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