Posted: 9/1/2011 2:44:40 PM EDT
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I just picked up two of these bad boys. I've been a hardcore Surefire dude in the past, with the exception of an original Night Ops Gladius, which is still going strong I might add.
I felt it was time to finally ditch the incandescents and make my way into the 21st century.  So far I am very pleased with these things. I got a Jet-III M and a Jet I Pro V3. I also got the bad@$$ crenelated strike bezels from hell––these things are serious. Overall I am very impressed at the build quality and attention to detail, especially being that they are made by the Chi-com, these things are easily as well made as any Surefire I've ever owned (at least the bodies are, the jury is still out on the electronics). Why cant US manufacturers make lights of this quality with this price point??? Surefire, are you listening??? I like the IBS system but my only gripe is that it should be a little easier to change the settings, that and I wish the Jet I had a forward clickie switch like the Jet III M.
In addition I also bought a couple 18650s from Redilast as well as a couple 14500s from AW, plus a Pilo charger (supposedly the best there is). I'm really tired of buying cases of CR123s to feed my incandescents. I'd post photos, but they are all over the Jetbeam website and there are loads of reviews and photos at the candlepower forums. Brian |
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wait until you start using them for edc and realize the 123 batteries run for months. Check out quark tactical 123 and the fenix PD20 for edc lights that are tiny and very long running. Thats good to hear. I really like the size and feel of the little Jet I pro. As soon as I rectify the lack of a forward clicky it will be perfect. I will probably get the Quark at some point, but for my EDC light I really wanted a strike bezel and the Jetbeam is the only option besides the Surefire E2D that I'm aware of. The fact that it can run on a single AA or single 14500 is also a bonus in my eyes. I really cant get over the machining/build quality/attention to detail on these lights. I got my girl a new olight m20 and it is just meh compared to the Jetbeams. |
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wait until you start using them for edc and realize the 123 batteries run for months. Check out quark tactical 123 and the fenix PD20 for edc lights that are tiny and very long running. A. I do EDC my JetBeam BA-10 and it and with it's single AA battery it has been fine so far. Same single AA going on 3 months now B. If you are really that hung up on CR123's then most (all?) JetBeam models are available in either AA or CR123 models I think the OP's original point was simply that JetBeam has some very nice products for the price and are worth checking out. I was leary of them at first too and with only ~ 3 months of experience with them under my belt with them so far I can't speak to their long term durability but so far I'd put it them right there with Quark or Fenix (if not a tad bit nicer?) for typically a little less money. All I can really say is I am very happy so far with the one I have. |
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I think the OP's original point was simply that JetBeam has some very nice products for the price and are worth checking out. I was leary of them at first too and with only ~ 3 months under my belt with them so far experience with one so far, I can't speak top their long term durability but so far I'd put it right there with Quark or Fenix (if not a tad bit nicer?) for typically a little less money. All I can really say is I am very happy so far with the one I have. Correct, I was just commenting on their quality. I have plenty of 123s, I was just getting tired of burning through them. I love how many of the modern lights are "dual fuel", so to speak. Very nice. |
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Welcome to the dark, errr light side. I have a few jetbeams in my collection, oldest is going on 2 years now and is still great. Went to Iraq with me this last trip. Its a M1X. Also have a RRT-0 which is very nice since it works with AA or CR123s. Use to EDC it but have since moved back to a LD01 on a keychain and a pocket carry LD10 since together they are cheaper than the RRT-0.
Enjoy the new light. |
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I like my jetbeam lights, and another one that has great build quality is Olight. very well built, and they keep up with the latest technology I just bought my girlfriend an Olight M20. Its a nice light too, I just think the Jetbeams have a little better attention to detail. Brian |
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JETBeam makes good stuff. Their newer lights with the infinite adjustment rotary rings are a lot of fun and very handy in actual use.
Their new B series is definitely worth a look. The output is solid, the quality is great, and the price is very reasonable. The BC40 is the light sitting by my back door for when my dog refuses to come inside. |
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Wait til you drop your Jetbeam and the damned thing just stops working ...
Olight and Jetbeam are the same folks, IIRC. Decent product, but I'd still take a SF or Streamlight for any true hardcore duty. A cheap 6P and a $20 drop in LED would give you most of the benefits of SF and LED efficiency, with better robustness and similar price point. But still, it's fun to play with new flashlights. I have 5 sitting in my desk right now! |
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Wait til you drop your Jetbeam and the damned thing just stops working ... Olight and Jetbeam are the same folks, IIRC. Decent product, but I'd still take a SF or Streamlight for any true hardcore duty. A cheap 6P and a $20 drop in LED would give you most of the benefits of SF and LED efficiency, with better robustness and similar price point. But still, it's fun to play with new flashlights. I have 5 sitting in my desk right now! You are saying that you have personal experience with this? I have 50+ lights and a very low failure rate with all of the brands. My Quark tactical AA gets dropped a lot and never quits working. Everyone makes a lemon once in a while. Wait until you drop your surefire on the floor and it stops working. (see how easy that is?) Also, many of us don't like the non clicky switch on the old 6P and G2 lights. There are a few lights from Surefire that have clicky switches, but they are very expensive or don't function the way we want. |
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Wait til you drop your Jetbeam and the damned thing just stops working ... Olight and Jetbeam are the same folks, IIRC. Decent product, but I'd still take a SF or Streamlight for any true hardcore duty. A cheap 6P and a $20 drop in LED would give you most of the benefits of SF and LED efficiency, with better robustness and similar price point. But still, it's fun to play with new flashlights. I have 5 sitting in my desk right now! You are saying that you have personal experience with this? I have 50+ lights and a very low failure rate with all of the brands. My Quark tactical AA gets dropped a lot and never quits working. Everyone makes a lemon once in a while. Wait until you drop your surefire on the floor and it stops working. (see how easy that is?) Yes, I have personally experienced it. Dropped a JB off the nursing station counter onto the linoleum floor - maybe 4 feet? DOA from then on. I've never had that problem with SF, Mag, Fenix, 4Sevens, my CountyComm light (forget the brand on that, iTP?). I mean, sure, I've had lights die, but they were usually well used and typically incan. This was maybe a month old. In all fairness, my other JB did fine (a Jet-II IBS). Never had a SF fail, yet. Own a 6PL, 2 Z2's, E1L, E2L, L4, and a red-led something. I forget what the red was since it's a E series head and I swap it around depending how big I want to carry. Actually found another E2L about a month ago, half buried in the dirt of a DFAC parking lot. Still works and looks good, so I assume it wasn't run over too much. I probably have 15 or so lights currently, sold probably a similar number after playing with them. The one Jetbeam is my only failure of any of them. Yes, every brand makes a lemon. But JB is the only lemon I've had so far! Also, many of us don't like the non clicky switch on the old 6P and G2 lights. There are a few lights from Surefire that have clicky switches, but they are very expensive or don't function the way we want. |
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Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Wait til you drop your Jetbeam and the damned thing just stops working ... Olight and Jetbeam are the same folks, IIRC. Decent product, but I'd still take a SF or Streamlight for any true hardcore duty. A cheap 6P and a $20 drop in LED would give you most of the benefits of SF and LED efficiency, with better robustness and similar price point. But still, it's fun to play with new flashlights. I have 5 sitting in my desk right now! You are saying that you have personal experience with this? I have 50+ lights and a very low failure rate with all of the brands. My Quark tactical AA gets dropped a lot and never quits working. Everyone makes a lemon once in a while. Wait until you drop your surefire on the floor and it stops working. (see how easy that is?) Yes, I have personally experienced it. Dropped a JB off the nursing station counter onto the linoleum floor - maybe 4 feet? DOA from then on. I've never had that problem with SF, Mag, Fenix, 4Sevens, my CountyComm light (forget the brand on that, iTP?). I mean, sure, I've had lights die, but they were usually well used and typically incan. This was maybe a month old. In all fairness, my other JB did fine (a Jet-II IBS). Never had a SF fail, yet. Own a 6PL, 2 Z2's, E1L, E2L, L4, and a red-led something. I forget what the red was since it's a E series head and I swap it around depending how big I want to carry. Actually found another E2L about a month ago, half buried in the dirt of a DFAC parking lot. Still works and looks good, so I assume it wasn't run over too much. I probably have 15 or so lights currently, sold probably a similar number after playing with them. The one Jetbeam is my only failure of any of them. Yes, every brand makes a lemon. But JB is the only lemon I've had so far! Also, many of us don't like the non clicky switch on the old 6P and G2 lights. There are a few lights from Surefire that have clicky switches, but they are very expensive or don't function the way we want. anything can fail my surefire failure rate is 25%- I have 4 g2s, on one the tail switch stopped working before I even got through 1 set of batteries. Not very fair to call your jetbeam light a lemon unless you sent it back and they returned it unrepaired, which I doubt happened. So what did you do with the failed light? |
| While I have never had a structural or switching failure from a Surefire I have had the incan lamp modules shit the bed at inopportune times enough to lose faith in Surefire.Combine that with the fact that SF stays a year behind in emmitters while charging cutting edge prices and I have lost my interest. I have had very good service out of the "better brands" of Chicom lights. |
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While I have never had a structural or switching failure from a Surefire I have had the incan lamp modules shit the bed at inopportune times enough to lose faith in Surefire.Combine that with the fact that SF stays a year behind in emmitters while charging cutting edge prices and I have lost my interest. I have had very good service out of the "better brands" of Chicom lights. Honestly I have only had one Surefire fail me. It was an older L1 Lumax. The switch went bad right after I bought it. It took me a year to talk to surefire. A year for them to send me the right switch after several failures. I still have it and it finally runs like a champ. I had two Fenix heads go bad. One of mine and one that I gave away. Only one totally stopped working and the other just lost it's high mode. That is out of many Fenix lights and only a couple generations ago. |
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[/quote] anything can fail my surefire failure rate is 25%- I have 4 g2s, on one the tail switch stopped working before I even got through 1 set of batteries. Not very fair to call your jetbeam light a lemon unless you sent it back and they returned it unrepaired, which I doubt happened. So what did you do with the failed light? [/quote] Agreed, anything can fail. Now that I've though about it, I did have a surefire helmet light whose mount failed. Not the actual light. If I recall correctly, I threw the light away. For the price I didn't care. If it was that fragile I wasn't going to trust it. |
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Wait til you drop your Jetbeam and the damned thing just stops working ... Olight and Jetbeam are the same folks, IIRC. Decent product, but I'd still take a SF or Streamlight for any true hardcore duty. A cheap 6P and a $20 drop in LED would give you most of the benefits of SF and LED efficiency, with better robustness and similar price point. But still, it's fun to play with new flashlights. I have 5 sitting in my desk right now! I drank the SF coolaid for a long time too but got sick of buying those damn CR123s. I have a 6P LED, 9P, G2, M300A and a few Streamlights including a TLR-1. The problem with all of them isn't the brightness, durability, or fit/finish. It's the damn batteries. I picked up an Olight M20S in March with a couple 18650 batteries. The only little thing I can find that's better about the Streamlights (Surefire is still lacking here) is the color of the light is slightly better when the output is similar on the LEDs. But the Olight is awesome. Best light I've ever owned and less than $100 shipped. I charged up a new 18650 battery in March and have yet to recharge it to this day. I use it every day at work (LEO), take it to field drills/AT (.mil reserve), and run it in a Larue LT606 mount on my rifle for carbine courses and LL/NL shoots. It's as bright as the day I bought it. None of the "name brand" lights I've bought or been issued can stand up to this thing. And now they've got a M20SX conversion that puts out 500 lumens. That's brighter than any SF/SL I've seen in the same pocket size and a fraction of the price of anything they do make at that output. |
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Wait til you drop your Jetbeam and the damned thing just stops working ... Olight and Jetbeam are the same folks, IIRC. Decent product, but I'd still take a SF or Streamlight for any true hardcore duty. A cheap 6P and a $20 drop in LED would give you most of the benefits of SF and LED efficiency, with better robustness and similar price point. But still, it's fun to play with new flashlights. I have 5 sitting in my desk right now! I drank the SF coolaid for a long time too but got sick of buying those damn CR123s. I have a 6P LED, 9P, G2, M300A and a few Streamlights including a TLR-1. The problem with all of them isn't the brightness, durability, or fit/finish. It's the damn batteries. I picked up an Olight M20S in March with a couple 18650 batteries. The only little thing I can find that's better about the Streamlights (Surefire is still lacking here) is the color of the light is slightly better when the output is similar on the LEDs. But the Olight is awesome. Best light I've ever owned and less than $100 shipped. I charged up a new 18650 battery in March and have yet to recharge it to this day. I use it every day at work (LEO), take it to field drills/AT (.mil reserve), and run it in a Larue LT606 mount on my rifle for carbine courses and LL/NL shoots. It's as bright as the day I bought it. None of the "name brand" lights I've bought or been issued can stand up to this thing. And now they've got a M20SX conversion that puts out 500 lumens. That's brighter than any SF/SL I've seen in the same pocket size and a fraction of the price of anything they do make at that output. Those "damn 123 batteries" can be had online for under $2 each for surefire brand. I use 4sevens brand. they are no challenge to find, have huge power to weight, and last 10 years on the shelf. The old surefireseat them like its going out of style though. Put led modules in those incandescent lights and you will not regret it. |
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Another thing I like about Jetbeam, 4sevens, etc, is on some lights you can choose the tint of the LED. I'm still getting up to speed on all the LED types, but my next light will have a warm or otherwise high CRI emitter. I like the brightness of the standard cool white leds, but not the poor color rendition. I want my cake and eat it too
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Wait til you drop your Jetbeam and the damned thing just stops working ... Olight and Jetbeam are the same folks, IIRC. Decent product, but I'd still take a SF or Streamlight for any true hardcore duty. A cheap 6P and a $20 drop in LED would give you most of the benefits of SF and LED efficiency, with better robustness and similar price point. But still, it's fun to play with new flashlights. I have 5 sitting in my desk right now! I drank the SF coolaid for a long time too but got sick of buying those damn CR123s. I have a 6P LED, 9P, G2, M300A and a few Streamlights including a TLR-1. The problem with all of them isn't the brightness, durability, or fit/finish. It's the damn batteries. I picked up an Olight M20S in March with a couple 18650 batteries. The only little thing I can find that's better about the Streamlights (Surefire is still lacking here) is the color of the light is slightly better when the output is similar on the LEDs. But the Olight is awesome. Best light I've ever owned and less than $100 shipped. I charged up a new 18650 battery in March and have yet to recharge it to this day. I use it every day at work (LEO), take it to field drills/AT (.mil reserve), and run it in a Larue LT606 mount on my rifle for carbine courses and LL/NL shoots. It's as bright as the day I bought it. None of the "name brand" lights I've bought or been issued can stand up to this thing. And now they've got a M20SX conversion that puts out 500 lumens. That's brighter than any SF/SL I've seen in the same pocket size and a fraction of the price of anything they do make at that output. Those "damn 123 batteries" can be had online for under $2 each for surefire brand. I use 4sevens brand. they are no challenge to find, have huge power to weight, and last 10 years on the shelf. The old surefireseat them like its going out of style though. Put led modules in those incandescent lights and you will not regret it. And 2 18650s plus a charger cost $30 and will charge a 1000+ times each. At the rate I'm going under heavy use, They'll last 1000 years before they wear out from charging. I'll never go back to 123s again, no matter how cheap you can buy them in bulk. It sucks to pull out your light when you NEED it for your job or possibly your life and those little bastards are dead. |
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Wait til you drop your Jetbeam and the damned thing just stops working ... You mean like I did with my Surefire 6P when it stopped working because the tail cap switch broke? 
Seriously, I like Surefire products and own a number of them but they are not infailible. I'm also not saying that Jetbeam products are equal to Surefires but then again, Jetbeams cost less then half as much too so what do you expect? If this was something I felt my life may depend on then I would consider a higher end product but for my purposes and the price, the Jetbeam seems just fine to me. |
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Wait til you drop your Jetbeam and the damned thing just stops working ... Olight and Jetbeam are the same folks, IIRC. Decent product, but I'd still take a SF or Streamlight for any true hardcore duty. A cheap 6P and a $20 drop in LED would give you most of the benefits of SF and LED efficiency, with better robustness and similar price point. But still, it's fun to play with new flashlights. I have 5 sitting in my desk right now! I drank the SF coolaid for a long time too but got sick of buying those damn CR123s. I have a 6P LED, 9P, G2, M300A and a few Streamlights including a TLR-1. The problem with all of them isn't the brightness, durability, or fit/finish. It's the damn batteries. I picked up an Olight M20S in March with a couple 18650 batteries. The only little thing I can find that's better about the Streamlights (Surefire is still lacking here) is the color of the light is slightly better when the output is similar on the LEDs. But the Olight is awesome. Best light I've ever owned and less than $100 shipped. I charged up a new 18650 battery in March and have yet to recharge it to this day. I use it every day at work (LEO), take it to field drills/AT (.mil reserve), and run it in a Larue LT606 mount on my rifle for carbine courses and LL/NL shoots. It's as bright as the day I bought it. None of the "name brand" lights I've bought or been issued can stand up to this thing. And now they've got a M20SX conversion that puts out 500 lumens. That's brighter than any SF/SL I've seen in the same pocket size and a fraction of the price of anything they do make at that output. Those "damn 123 batteries" can be had online for under $2 each for surefire brand. I use 4sevens brand. they are no challenge to find, have huge power to weight, and last 10 years on the shelf. The old surefireseat them like its going out of style though. Put led modules in those incandescent lights and you will not regret it. And 2 18650s plus a charger cost $30 and will charge a 1000+ times each. At the rate I'm going under heavy use, They'll last 1000 years before they wear out from charging. I'll never go back to 123s again, no matter how cheap you can buy them in bulk. It sucks to pull out your light when you NEED it for your job or possibly your life and those little bastards are dead. how would it be different with rechargables? except you have a spare rechargeable waiting for you? I use both. 123 batteries will last 10 years on a shelf or in a light that does not drain them while sitting. just make sure you don't over discharge those lithium ions or you will kill them quick. they are not for a novice. if the protection circuit kicks in you are damaging them. |
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Wait til you drop your Jetbeam and the damned thing just stops working ... Olight and Jetbeam are the same folks, IIRC. Decent product, but I'd still take a SF or Streamlight for any true hardcore duty. A cheap 6P and a $20 drop in LED would give you most of the benefits of SF and LED efficiency, with better robustness and similar price point. But still, it's fun to play with new flashlights. I have 5 sitting in my desk right now! I drank the SF coolaid for a long time too but got sick of buying those damn CR123s. I have a 6P LED, 9P, G2, M300A and a few Streamlights including a TLR-1. The problem with all of them isn't the brightness, durability, or fit/finish. It's the damn batteries. I picked up an Olight M20S in March with a couple 18650 batteries. The only little thing I can find that's better about the Streamlights (Surefire is still lacking here) is the color of the light is slightly better when the output is similar on the LEDs. But the Olight is awesome. Best light I've ever owned and less than $100 shipped. I charged up a new 18650 battery in March and have yet to recharge it to this day. I use it every day at work (LEO), take it to field drills/AT (.mil reserve), and run it in a Larue LT606 mount on my rifle for carbine courses and LL/NL shoots. It's as bright as the day I bought it. None of the "name brand" lights I've bought or been issued can stand up to this thing. And now they've got a M20SX conversion that puts out 500 lumens. That's brighter than any SF/SL I've seen in the same pocket size and a fraction of the price of anything they do make at that output. Those "damn 123 batteries" can be had online for under $2 each for surefire brand. I use 4sevens brand. they are no challenge to find, have huge power to weight, and last 10 years on the shelf. The old surefireseat them like its going out of style though. Put led modules in those incandescent lights and you will not regret it. And 2 18650s plus a charger cost $30 and will charge a 1000+ times each. At the rate I'm going under heavy use, They'll last 1000 years before they wear out from charging. I'll never go back to 123s again, no matter how cheap you can buy them in bulk. It sucks to pull out your light when you NEED it for your job or possibly your life and those little bastards are dead. how would it be different with rechargables? except you have a spare rechargeable waiting for you? I use both. 123 batteries will last 10 years on a shelf or in a light that does not drain them while sitting. just make sure you don't over discharge those lithium ions or you will kill them quick. they are not for a novice. if the protection circuit kicks in you are damaging them. Uh, you seem to have missed the point entirely. My problem with SFs was the 123s which last weeks, then they're dead. (Usually when I need them the most) My love of the Olight is the 2600mAh 18650s which last over 6 months. The 2600mAh 18650s will not fit in the SFs without a custom modified tube. Olight with 18650 last over 6 months of heavy use. SF/SL with 123s lasts maybe 3-4 weeks with heavy use. |
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Wait til you drop your Jetbeam and the damned thing just stops working ... Olight and Jetbeam are the same folks, IIRC. Decent product, but I'd still take a SF or Streamlight for any true hardcore duty. A cheap 6P and a $20 drop in LED would give you most of the benefits of SF and LED efficiency, with better robustness and similar price point. But still, it's fun to play with new flashlights. I have 5 sitting in my desk right now! I drank the SF coolaid for a long time too but got sick of buying those damn CR123s. I have a 6P LED, 9P, G2, M300A and a few Streamlights including a TLR-1. The problem with all of them isn't the brightness, durability, or fit/finish. It's the damn batteries. I picked up an Olight M20S in March with a couple 18650 batteries. The only little thing I can find that's better about the Streamlights (Surefire is still lacking here) is the color of the light is slightly better when the output is similar on the LEDs. But the Olight is awesome. Best light I've ever owned and less than $100 shipped. I charged up a new 18650 battery in March and have yet to recharge it to this day. I use it every day at work (LEO), take it to field drills/AT (.mil reserve), and run it in a Larue LT606 mount on my rifle for carbine courses and LL/NL shoots. It's as bright as the day I bought it. None of the "name brand" lights I've bought or been issued can stand up to this thing. And now they've got a M20SX conversion that puts out 500 lumens. That's brighter than any SF/SL I've seen in the same pocket size and a fraction of the price of anything they do make at that output. Those "damn 123 batteries" can be had online for under $2 each for surefire brand. I use 4sevens brand. they are no challenge to find, have huge power to weight, and last 10 years on the shelf. The old surefireseat them like its going out of style though. Put led modules in those incandescent lights and you will not regret it. And 2 18650s plus a charger cost $30 and will charge a 1000+ times each. At the rate I'm going under heavy use, They'll last 1000 years before they wear out from charging. I'll never go back to 123s again, no matter how cheap you can buy them in bulk. It sucks to pull out your light when you NEED it for your job or possibly your life and those little bastards are dead. how would it be different with rechargables? except you have a spare rechargeable waiting for you? I use both. 123 batteries will last 10 years on a shelf or in a light that does not drain them while sitting. just make sure you don't over discharge those lithium ions or you will kill them quick. they are not for a novice. if the protection circuit kicks in you are damaging them. Uh, you seem to have missed the point entirely. My problem with SFs was the 123s which last weeks, then they're dead. (Usually when I need them the most) My love of the Olight is the 2600mAh 18650s which last over 6 months. The 2600mAh 18650s will not fit in the SFs without a custom modified tube. Olight with 18650 last over 6 months of heavy use. SF/SL with 123s lasts maybe 3-4 weeks with heavy use. You seem to keep blaming the batteries for the inefficient lights you put them in. Put them in the Olight and compare apples to apples. |
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Wait til you drop your Jetbeam and the damned thing just stops working ... You mean like I did with my Surefire 6P when it stopped working because the tail cap switch broke? Seriously, I like Surefire products and own a number of them but they are not infailible. I'm also not saying that Jetbeam products are equal to Surefires but then again, Jetbeams cost less then half as much too so what do you expect?
If this was something I felt my life may depend on then I would consider a higher end product but for my purposes and the price, the Jetbeam seems just fine to me. Agreed. The chinese lights are decent for their price, their ability to take rechareable batteries, some you can select tint, etc. I'm a member of Candlepowerforums, and I own lots of various lights. There's only a select few I'd trust in a hard use environment. For example, in the sandbox I have my surefire E2L on my belt, a zebralight H51 in my backpack, and a Novatac storm in my dresser. A few other Fauxtons and a Petzl headlamp as well. A surefire helmet lamp. I may be a bit of SF fan, but by no means am I monogamous to the brand. 
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