[viperxp]

Good day, this is a review of a new flashlight from JETBeam ,the SRA40





SRA40 intelligent charging forerunner;
CREE XM-L2 led made brightness increase by 15%, with life span of 50,000;
Lightweight design with aircraft-grade aluminum alloy;
Max output of 960 lumens;
The latest “Crystal Coating Technology” along with “Precision Digital Technology”
provides extreme reflector performance of 390m beam distance;
Toughened ultra-clear mineral glass with double-sided anti-reflective coating
ensures the highest optical efficiency and light transmittance.
Three level of brightness
SOS strobe function
4*AA rechargeable batteries or 4* 1.5V Alkaline batteries
Intelligent charging function
Low power warning
CREE XM-L2 led with life span 50,000
Intelligent dual switches
Max output: 960lumens
Throw beamshot 390m
Impact resistant: 1.5m
Waterproof: IPX-8

The flashlight uses very popular AA battery factor. It can use Ni-MH and alkaline battеries. The special thing about this flashlight is that it can charge batteries as well, of course not alkalines that will explode if attempted.
The charging socket is open, but the flashlight is rated IPX-8 water resistant so I will test this claim later on.


On-paper comparison of 3-4 AA battery flashlights







I took the table from: http://www.candlepowerforum...


Conclusion - no ideal light. If you wish to have SS bezel you will have to use cassette for batteries, and if you want maximum throw - you will have to pay extra and know the meaning of Step-down.



Package







The flashlight arrives at blister package, and the whole flashlight can be seen. The package can be re-closed for storing the flashlight later on.

Kit







There are not too many bundled accessories. The flashlight comes with lanyard, spare O-ring, user manual, power adapter and warranty ticket. Lanyard is of a decent quality, just like Nitecore/Olight.



The flashlight















Build quality is just beyond any praise. The machining is perfect, no defects can be seen absolutely anywhere. The flashlight has very special color - not black or grey like the most but matte grey-dark brown. Looks great and feels very nice in hand. Due to the size and weight the flashlight cannot be easily carried just in just any pocket. Lack of SS bezel is very strange, if such a heavy flashlight lands with it's bezel on hard surface it will make the owner very sad I think.



Comparison, a kitty












The flashlight near AA Cola cans and a ragdoll cat. Note the weight of the flashlight in grams - with and without batteries. The cans are of 330 ml .



Detailing













The finishing is just superb, as I early remarked. The flashlight easily tail-stands and has a special hole for using it on a tripod or connecting to a spike for self-defence or window breaking (similar to some SUNWAYMAN flashlights)


Indicators, controlling the flashlight




The buttons are covered with silicone and not too stiff or too soft, I think they will not suffer from accidental presses.
Controlling the flashlight is easy. The round button turns the flashlight on and off, and keeping it pressed from any state turns the strobe mode on. The flashlight has memory, it turns on from last mode used, unless it is a stobe mode.
The other button changes modes in this order : high-med-low-high-med.... When modes are changed the light output changes smoothly, it looks really good. Keeping the mode button pressed when the flashlight is on turns on the SOS mode. When the flashlight is off the mode button turns on the easy battery status monitor. Two lights batteries full, on - not full. One flashing - time to change batteries.
When the charger is connected one light is being lit at a time. When charging is completed both lights are being lit steady.


Light, a swim




Beam slices of the JETBEAM






As I don't have any other multi AA flashlight I compared it to the Olight M22. It also has a big reflector and XM-L2 with 950 lumens. So .. the JETbeam out-throws the Olight , it can easily be seen at night. When comparing flashlights side by side, the Olight has more of a purple tint and the Jetbeam is more green-yellow. When viewed without comparison the light is simply cool white.

The Olight is on the left, JETBEAM on the right.

Swimming





The flashlight survived the swimming, so the patented jacket without external cover really works



Some numbers, step down





So .. A bigger reflector and some clever flashlight knowledge allows the JETBEAM to beat its opponent in face of the Olight.
But not all is as good as I wanted , there is that step-down thing. Chinese colleagues measured 0-3 minutes ~960lm 3-13 minutes ~652lm 13-123 minutes ~441lm . the steps are easily seen.

I kept the flashlight on for more than a half an hour, it became warm but not much more. The turbo mode can be reactivated instantly after the flashlight steps-down.



PWM/HISSES

No PWM detected at any mode, and the flashlight is completely silent too.


Summary

The good

• Outstanding build quality
• Integrated charger that did not make the flashlight much larger then its competitors
• Great thrower

The bad

• Not many accessories included
• "Evil" step down
• No SS bezel

My conclusion

If what I noted as "bad" has little importance to you, then I can recommend the flashlight. The quality is outstanding, I have not seen a flashlight like this before, and I own some. The charger works great, and the light output is good too.




* English is not my mother tongue, so sorry for the typos.


Thank you for reading. I would love to read your comments and suggestions.

Special thanks to samgab for the proofread.