Disclaimer
This flashlight was sent to me by Banggood for an honest review. I receive no further payment or commission on links or sales.
Product page: AMUTORCH JM30 XM-L2 U4 1000 Lumen 4 Modi Taktische LED Taschenlampe Sale - Banggood Deutschland sold out-arrival notice-arrival notice
36% off code: YJM30
Introduction
Amutorch is another fairly new Chinese flashlight brand. The Amutorch JM30 shadow is a 26650 based light with Cree XM-L2 emitter, rated at 1000 lumens on high.
Packaging
The Amutorch JM30 Shadow arrived in a padded cardboard box. The box contains the flashlight, Chinese only instructions, a lanyard, replacement switch, switch boot, and lens. This is the first light I’ve seen that has come with both replacement switches and lens!
Construction
The Amutorch JM30 is a single 26650 light, with a fairly large head. The head contains a large orange peel reflector, and Cree XM-L2 U4 LED emitter. There are multiple fins on the head for heat dissipation. The flashlight is quite lightweight, certainly not solid like a Haikelite. This is not necessarily a bad thing if you are holding it for a long time.
The battery tube unusually unscrews at the head end. The tail of the light contains holes for the lanyard, and the single reverse clicky tail switch. There are springs at both ends of the battery tube allowing for flat top and raised/button top 26650 batteries. Protected 69.6mm x 26.4mm Keepppower 5200mAh battery fitted with no issues. I’m not sure if wider 27650 batteries will fit. There is reverse polarity detection, but was not tested.
I found the Amutorch very comfortable to hold - 26650 lights are well known as being a good diameter for hand holding.
I am not a modder, but to me the Amutorch has potential for modding if a new driver is installed.
User Interface
The light has a simple old skool user interface. The tail switch cycles Off>Low>Off>Mid>Off>High>Off. A tap will advance through modes faster. A double click enters strobe mode, though this is fiddly to enter. Mode is memorised if you turn off and back on again within 10 seconds, otherwise the next turn on is in Low mode.
Beam, Output, and Runtime
The Amutorch JM30 is has a large orange peel reflector and XM-L2 U4 emitter. This creates an impressively wide floody beam, but still with a well defined hotspot. The hotspot has a yellow tint, the inner spill beam has a slight purple tint, and the outer spill beam has a slight yellow tint. I would estimate the CCT to be around 6000 to 6500k, which is much cooler than the claimed 5000k. There is no hint of green.
There are three main modes:
High - 1000lm
Medium - 300lm
Low - 50lm
I measured output to be within +/-10% of these claimed figures at 30secs.
Runtime of high is impressive. Tests showed output gradually reducing from 100% (at 30 seconds) to 80% by 15 minutes, and 80% of original output being measured until 50 minutes. From 50 minutes 64% of original output was measured until a drop to 50% at 55mins. The light then ran at 50% until 165 minutes, when output dropped to 39. I stopped testing at this point, due to time constraints, and the voltage of the battery read 3.26V (which was recharged with 5003mAh). So the light could probably have run for a little longer at lower output. Due to the conservative output, high mode can sustain more than 50 of the original output for 2 hours 45minutes on a 5200mAh 26650, which is an impressive runtime.
I don’t currently have the equipment for accurate peak beam intensity (candela) measurements. I would visually estimate the peak beam intensity to be around 75,000cd - a bit more intense than the Q8.
The light gets hot, but not too hot on high mode. As long as there is some heat sinking and airflow, as per normal use cases, there is no need to step-down output during the entire runtime. If left unattended in a limited air flow location (such as a tent), then the light may eventually get very hot on high.
No PWM could be detected when videoing the light on an iPhone, so either there is no PWM or it is very fast. The CRI appears to be the usual low 70CRI fare, OK for most tasks.
Conclusion
Things I liked:
Very comfortable to hold - great for night time walks
Very wide flood angle
Good heat handling, due to conservative output
2hrs 45mins runtime until output dropped below 50% (5200mAh 26650)
Spare lens and switch included
Things I didn’t like:
No English instructions
Old skool on>off>on>off user interface
No USB charging
The Amutorch JM30 Shadow It is a very comfortable to hold flashlight, that can run on its conservative 1000 lumens max output for long periods of time with minimal need to step-down. With its very wide flood beam and defined hotpot, it is a great flashlight for night time walks. The only major negative is the old skool user interface. This light may also have modding potential.
Outdoor beam shot on high - f/5, 3secs, ISO800. Trees in hotspot are 90m away.