I don’t believe many have received their light yet, but does anyone know how to remove the bezel? I’ve tried just twisting with foam, lid rings, etc.
My new Jetbeam RRT-01 hasn’t arrived yet, but I did get one back when they were first released in 2021. I’ve successfully emitter swapped all my magnetic ring lights.
The RRT-01’s bezel is glued. Hopefully, in your sample they didn’t use so much glue that it is impossible to remove. The method I’ve had the most success with is the following:
- Cut two strips of 3M Safety Walk indoor grip tape. This is very sticky and thick grey rubber tape. When done, the tape removes cleanly without damaging finish. Any glue residue can be easily removed with a fresh piece of tape.
- Wrap the first strip around the bezel. It should be the same width as and wrap around the the bezel.
- Wrap the second strip around the portion of the head just below the bezel, but above the ring. This strip should not extend onto or below the ring.
- WARNING: Do not grip around or below the rotating ring when unscrewing.
The head comes apart in 2 sections with a join right below the ring. If you grip too low it is possible the glue holding the head together below the ring might give way before the glue holding on the bezel ring does.- If you grip above and below the ring and unscrew hard enough, you can disassemble the head further to gain access to the ring. This is useful if you want to change the ring’s lubricant to increase the friction.
However, if you did that with the driver installed in earlier versions of the RRT-01, it would torque the driver wires and probably destroy the driver.
- If you grip above and below the ring and unscrew hard enough, you can disassemble the head further to gain access to the ring. This is useful if you want to change the ring’s lubricant to increase the friction.
- Once the tape is applied, use 2 pairs of plastic jawed pliers on top of the tape to grip the bezel and head and then unscrew. This may take a lot of musclepower.
- Alternatively, you can try Smallrig super clamps either on the bare light or in place of the pliers on top of the 3M tape. They don’t really work any better than pliers/tape, but might be easier to use since there is no need to hold the pliers shut while unscrewing.
- Once the bezel is unscrewed, emitter swapping is fairly easy. Inside the front of the head, it’s just like any other light.
The methods above works for probably 80% of the lights I’ve tried them on (including 2013 RRT-01, 2021 RRT-01, 2021 RRT-03, and 2025 RRT0-Pro). However, I have some glued lights that absolutely won’t come undone no matter how hard I try. On those lights, the tape rips or the rubber on the smallrig superclamps slips or deforms without the threadlocker giving way. For those lights, the only alternatives I can think of to try are:
- Unscrew using 2 pairs of metal jawed pliers. This is a last resort where the previous methods fail due to lack of grip as it WILL damage the finish (I used this method on my 2013 TCR-01. Fortunately scratches were minimal as it was a Titanium light); or
- Cook the light past the melting point of the glue. I’ve never tried this method as it could damage the anodizing and/or internals of the light. And I haven’t figured out a good way of trying to hold a light that’s at several hundred degrees while unscrewing.
- I also vaguely recall reading about some method involving putting solvent into the threads to dissolve the threadlocker, but I haven’t tried that either. It probably would not work since there is an o-ring between the threads and the outside of the light.
UPDATE: The methods I posted above work to remove the bezel on the 2013 RRT-01, 2013 TCR-01, 2021 RRT-03, and 2025 RRT0-Pro. It is NOT how to remove the bezel on the 2021 RRT-01, which is the version in this group-buy.
The 2021 RRT-01’s bezel consists of a small stainless steel retaining ring inset in the bezel and just above the lens. It is not glued. There are 2 methods that might work:
- Option 1: Press bezel into something grippy and rotate.
- Press the bezel firmly into the bottom of a shoe, rubber jar opening pad, or a mousepad and rotate. Hopefully the grippy pad will stick to the edge of the bezel ring and rotate it.
- If that doesn’t work, you can cut a square of 3M Safety Walk Tape (thick rubber grip tape), and press its adhesive into the front of the light. then hold light in one hand, while pressing the bezel firmly into the palm of the other hand and rotate.
- Option 2: Insert something into the notches inside the bezel ring and rotate.
- needle-nose pliers, or a camera lens spanner wrench might work.
I successfully removed the bezel on the group-buy RRT-01 today by wrapping the bezel in 3M safety walk tape and inserting the light head-up into a vise. Then I used a camera lens spanner wrench with outward canted spike tips into the notches inside the bezel ring. The wrench wasn’t rigid enough so I used the metal handle of a utility knife as a brace to rigidly keep the tips of the wrench in place. I then rotated. After about a half turn, it was loose enough I could use a piece of 3M safety walk tape to unscrew it the rest of the way.
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I use a mousepad and cover the lens with a microfiber
Wow, thanks for the detailed explanation! my goal is just to put some DC fix on the lens, and figured it would be easier if the lens was removed. I’ll need to ponder if I want to gather up all the materials or just try to cut and apply the DC fix verrrrry carefully.
It’s handy to have those materials in case you get any other lights with glued bezels. 
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Can anyone tell me briefly what is so special about this flashlight. Looks cool to me but its generating an awful lot of commotion.
Classic cool infinitely variable rotary light that’s been around for ages, upgraded over the years. There were competitor versions from Sunwayman, and they’re a whole lot more accessible than HDS.
So Sunwayman copied this one? Not the other way around? I have the Sunwaymam, its super cool.
That I can’t say, as I was too broke to pick these up when they first came out, but I really liked the look of them. Unfortunately, discovering that these lack low voltage protection has me down. We’ll see how these go once they arrive.
Fortunately the cell that is included does have LVP.
What’s special about the RRT-01? Answer: the interface:
The control ring smoothly ramps the light from off to max over about 120 degrees of rotation. There are no steps. The control allows VERY fine tuning of your brightness. It’s far easier to use and more intuitive than the control for other lights. It makes Anduril 2 look clunky.
That said, the tailcap button on the 2021 RRT-01 makes the light less easy to use. You can leave that depressed and just use the control ring, however there is a risk of accidental pocket activation.
Everything else about the light is nothing special. It’s well-built, but the output, beam pattern and stock emitters are all far below par for what is available in the best modern lights (like the Emisar D3AA). It’s also quite heavy and large for an 18350 light.
The only interface I’ve seen that is even faster and more intuitive to use is that in the new Nitecore EDC17. The EDC17 has a slide switch that ramps from off, through the different brightness modes and ends at max. It takes less than a quarter second to operate making it, in my opinion, superior to the RRT-01 in speed and ergonomics, but inferior in that it only has fixed brightness modes and isn’t infinitely variable like the RRT-01.
As far as Aluminum RRT-01 variants go the 2013 version is still the best. It’s smaller and lighter than the 2020 and 2021 versions and doesn’t have the unnecessary tailcap switch of the 2021 version. Note that the 2013 version can accept the driver from the 2021 version.
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Jetbeam with control rings predated the Sunwayman I think. However, I think Sunwayman was the first to make control ring lights with tailcap switches.
The addition of the tailcap switch in the 2021 version RRT-01 is probably a copy of Sunwayman.
I know I can always just stick with protected batteries, but when there’s already a stash of unprotected button tops available, it’d be nice to be able to utilize them without fear of damaging them. Granted. I’ve also used unprotected 18650 with the Malkoff MD2, but it’s not ideal. Not the end of the world, but having LVP integrated into the light would be nice, if they ever decide to update the light. Newer emitters, LVP, ooh, maybe making it dual fuel and offering AA/14500 spacer. Just random thoughts.
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Well now you’ve piqued my curiosity. Here’s hoping it arrives soon so I can get some testing in. I appreciate you taking the time to provide answers.
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@Jetbeamlight When my order will be shipped? Check PM for order nr.
Mike
If you wanted to go completely nuts, you could use a single extension with 17500 cells (which are almost impossible to find nowadays, unfortunately) or NiMh A-sized cells.
Saft make Lithium Thionyl Chloride 17500 (non-rechargable) with 3600mAh capacity, but they’re awfully expensive.
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Is “duel fuel” the same as “rage bait”? 
I’m just kidding lol
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Mine has arrived, the tracking number from the email is not correct.
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