The new hottest light on the market seems to be the JETBeam RRT01. It’s a rotary light!! That’s very unusual, and I’m very pleased that JETBeam revisited this light, which has been discontinued for a long while. Read on to see what makes it special, and if it really stands out!

Official Specs and Features

Here’s a link to a product page.

Versions

There’s just one version of the current generation of this light, but there was an original RRT01, which also featured a rotary interface, and was fairly popular among the flashlight crowd.

Price

These are going for $79.99 at BangGood right now!

Short Review

The more I use the rotary mechanism, the more I like it. The build quality is very good, and I love that both 18350 and 16340 cells are accepted! I wish the light had LVP, and there doesn’t seem to be any consideration for temperature during use (so the light can get warm).

Long Review

The Big Table

* Measurement disclaimer: I am an amateur flashlight reviewer. I don’t have $10,000 or even $1,000 worth of testing equipment. I test output and such in PVC tubes!! Please consider claims within 10% of what I measure to be perfectly reasonable (accurate, even).

What’s Included

JETBeam RRT01 Rotary Flashlight

JETBeam 700mAh 16340 (not pictured)

Lanyard

Charge cable (for the cell) (USB to micro-USB)

Hex driver

Manual and paperwork

Package and Manual

Typical JETBeam box in typical JETBeam colors. Banggood has added an inventory sticker to the back of the box.

The manual (seen below) has two languages. It’s a nice manual.

Build Quality and Disassembly

The RRT01 has a nice build quality. The anodizing feels like high quality anodizing, the knurling is great, and the rotary mechanism is smooth.

The threads that the head screws into are unanodized, which makes physical lockout impossible (without just removing the cell). The threads are very smooth though, so if you need to remove the cell no issues should arise. Standby drain on this light is fairly low though.

Inside the cell tube is a spring – the type of spring that usually holds in a magnet. In this case there’s no magnet, but there is absolutely room to add one if you’d like (probably 2mm of depth, too.)

Here is the head of the light. It’s unusual, much like the MechTorch (but no the parts aren’t interchangeable). Usually the head screws onto (not into) the body. I suppose this has to do with the rotary mechanism but either way it works just fine. See too how the threads are square cut, brass, and very well made.

Here’s the part that goes into the body. The positive contact is a small brass button, with not much relief – you’ll probably need to use a button top cell with this light. I didn’t remove that Philips screw, because honestly as far as I’m concerned, the guts of a rotary light are filled with unicorn hairs and pixie dust, and I didn’t want to let any out.

Size and Comps

I am not seeing any official measurements, so here are my own:

Length: 81.41mm

Thinnest diameter: 21.26mm (cell tube)

Thickest diameter: 25.76 (rotary ring)

Unfortunately I failed to take any photos with other 18350 lights. Side by side on my desk right now, I can say that the RRT01 is no bigger than a BOSS 35, which is a feat. Shorter, and possibly a mm or so thicker, but negligibly different.

Retention and Carry

A pocket clip is included and attached, and interestingly it’s the “Steelflame standard” sized hole spacing. In fact those clips (and Oveready clips, etc) work just fine on this light.

The included clip is nice enough though. The mouth is quite wide (easy placement on the pocket) and there are lanyard attachment points too. Not deep carry, but none of the “Steelflame class clips” are. It’s a shade thin for my tastes, but that in turn makes it very springy.

Also included is a lanyard, which can attach on the pocket clip (multiple places) or (more ideally) on this hole in the tailcap.

Power and Runtime

JETBeam provides a cell in all packages of this light. It’s a 700mAh 16340. The cell has built-in micro-USB charging, which isn’t my thing at all…. Fortunately there are other options.

As you can see, the 16340 cell basically swims in this cell tube (but doesn’t rattle!)

Here’s Turbo on the included cell. I didn’t test other modes with the included cell because really, there are no other discrete modes. So it’d be fairly meaningless (though there is info we could glean.)

Note that at the end of this run the cell was at ZERO volts. So the lack of LVP will really not be great for this cell in the long term. The light does provide a warning though, with the emitter basically flashlight on and off in a strobe-ish way. So you get a warning, for sure.

As stated excitedly above, this light also has room for a 18350 cell. I tested the light not with the Efest shown below, but with a button top Imren cell (reviewed here). It’s a good enough cell for this light, and the button top is required.

The 18350 cell fits the cell tube much more fully.

Turbo with this cell proceeds just about like with the JETBeam cell, but output overall is slightly higher. That’s more than likely due to the cell being capable of a higher max drain, but I haven’t confirmed that against the JETBeam cell. Either way, I strongly prefer the 18350 for this light, as there are some higher capacity, great cells out there (even if you have to add your own button).

Here’s the included cell. Typical sized 16340 cell, but with a micro-USB port.

I only did one charge test with this cell, and it works just as it should. Charge rate is around 400mA during the CC phase, and capacity is proven at ~700mAh. Charging took a strangely specific 2 hours exactly.

Doesn’t seem to have LVP.

Modes and Currents

Mode Mode Claimed Output (lm) Claimed Runtime Measured Lumens Tailcap Amps Turbo (16340) 950 25m 679 2.64 Turbo (CR123) 420 1.5h – –

PWM

No PWM at all, over a few different test outputs. Yay!

For reference, here’s a baseline shot, with all the room lights off and almost nothing hitting the sensor. And here’s the worst PWM light I have ever owned. Also one of the very first lights I ordered directly from China!

User Interface and Operation

Yay, the most important point on this little light. This light has a rotary interface. Technically it’s an e-switch, since current is always flowing if a cell is in. But basically it’s a dial that starts from off, the after the first detent is “on” (but so low you won’t see it) and then ramps up absolutely smoothly, all the way to the turbo output (at which point you can pass another detent).

No need for my usual table. The UI is very simple. But there are two “hidden” modes. With the light on, twist quickly past the detent for high, and you’ll get strobe. Once in strobe, the output may be modulated with the rotary. The other mode is SOS – with the light on, twist quickly past the detent for high three times, and you’ll enter SOS. SOS output may also be modulated with the rotary dial. To turn either mode off, simply turn the light off. When the light is turned back on, the special modes are not memorized.

Interestingly the light actually comes on in a … “low” output – probably 1 lumen, as claimed. But if the light is on, and the dial is rolled in the “off” direction, the output can go much lower.

LED and Beam

JETBeam has chosen a Cree XP-L HI for this updated RRT01. The reflector is smooth, broad, and average depth.

If you wanted to swap the emitter, be advised that the bezel unscrews very easily.

Also I’ve seen talk of throwing a triple in there, and wow I can’t tell you how excited I’d be for that mod. The reflector sits atop an anodized shelf, and the mcpcb and emitter are under this shelf. I’m not sure what that means for modding, but I’m told it’ll work just fine.

These beamshots are always with the following settings: f8, ISO100, 0.3s shutter, and manual 5000K exposure.

Tint vs BLF-348 (Killzone 219b version)

I compare everything to the Killzone 219b BLF-348, because it’s inexpensive and has the best tint!

Conclusion

What I like

Rotary interface is awesome

18350 support

Low is so low that it’s impossible to even see the output

Standard clip hole spacing makes replacing with a “higher end” clip possible

What I don’t like

No LVP

Unregulated output

Notes

This light was provided by BangGood for review. I was not paid to write this review.

This content originally appeared at zeroair.org. Please visit there for the best experience!

Whether or not I have a coupon for this light, I do have a bunch of coupons!! Have a look at my spreadsheet for BangGood and GearBest coupons. Please subscribe and get notifications when the sheet is edited!!