Jetbeam SSC20 Review

The SSC20 is Jetbeam's most pocketable 18650 light and although it's not quite as bright as the other 1" sized lights in its class, it uses an XP-G2 emitter giving it improved throw to compete with the others.

Manufacturer Specs/Features

• Light source: Cree XP-G2 LED
• Battery: 1x18650 or 2xCR123
• Beam distance 300m
• Intensity 6000cd
• Output regulation: Dual side control switches
• Circuit design: Constant current circuit, constant brightness.
• Working voltage: 3-8.4 V
• Waterproof: Certificated to the IPX-8
• Body: Aerospace aluminum

Battery Duration

Accessories/Body

The SSC20 comes with a screwed pocket clip (removable), lanyard, spare O-ring, manual, and warranty card (no holster). Dimensions: Head diameter 26mm, Body diameter 25.5mm, Length 119mm. The body of this light is very slim as you can see which reminds me a lot of the Olight S20 Baton and it's easily pocketable being just under 5" long. The one thing that worries me a little is the small amount of thread connecting the body to the head. It's almost like if it could easily snap if you ran it over but what are the odds of that happening. When I do hold it in my hand though and actually try to bend it at that weak point it does feel completely solid and durable enough to handle being bruised and battered. The protected battery was also a worry at first when inserted into the flashlight but turns out the Negative contact spring has a lot of leeway for all types of lengths.

The clip on Jetbeam's SSC20 is screwed on so it's fairly more secure over others that snap on but there is always that unfortunate chance of the screws becoming loose over time so pay attention to that. There are 2 extras included though which is nice. What's especially nice is that the end of the of the light rotates (fairly stiff though) so you can adjust the body/head of the light to rotate any way you like as to prevent accidental activation in your pocket. Even with that said, I did have a accidental activation in my pocket. I believe it was my chap-stick that activated it but it was a surprise. The buttons do protrude out quite a bit. This light tail-stands much better than the MH12 in the sense that it'd be less prone to tipping. If you did want to get a little more tactically defensive with this light, there is the optional DD01 Window Breaker (sold separately) which looks like it could do some damage.

User Interface

This light features separate power and mode buttons located on the side of the head with the mode being closer to the head. Power controls On/Off and once On hit the mode button to cycle from High, Med, Low and then back to High. There is also Strobe which can be instantly accessed from On or Off by holding the Power button for 2 seconds to activate it and hitting the Power button again to turn off. They probably could have shortened the 2 second hold to a 1 second hold though because it does feel like it takes longer than needed. From off this light also has instant access to High by holding the Mode button but it's only momentary and turns off once released.

Batteries

This light can use two CR123A, two RCR123A/16340, or a single 18650. Jetbeam's 3M Pro did state that it had a 10% increase in output when used with RCR123A batteries but they do not state any increase for the SSC20. Even if they did, a 10% increase in output is most likely not noticeable to the human eye but a 50-60% decrease in runtime using RCR123As is noticeable. Pretty much 18650 batteries are the way to go 95% of the time.

Personal comments

Don't get me wrong, I do like this light, it's just this light had so much potential to be great with the main thing being its throw capability. If you look at Pic #4 you'll see that the frame/bezel on the SSC20(middle light) is quite thick compared to the other two lights which makes the reflector noticeably smaller on it as well. Additionally as seen in Pic #5, you can see the thickness of the bezel which shortens the depth of the reflector which reduces the potential throw of this light as well. Because of the smaller surface area of the reflector, you're having less light focused towards the hot-spot which means a lower Max Beam Intensity and so less throw. Per my tests of the intensity I recorded as such below:

As you can see from my calculated throw, Jetbeam's SSC20 doesn't fall too short vs the MH12 but still isn't the 300m that their site shows. Because of the 300m error by Jetbeam though, there are also several website dealers with this error which is a strongly misleading claim for their customers^{it's not your fault BestLight} and even I was mislead which is why I wanted to set the facts straight and review this light. When looking at the manual that came with the light it does show 200m of throw but even this is inaccurate based off the 6000cd claimed intensity because 6000cd only calculates to 155m of throw. IMHO, if the SSC20 had a similar head/reflector as the other two lights, I'm sure it would easily match in throw as them and if it had an even higher output then it'd throw even further than the MH12 and the UC40.

I have no way to test the claimed 580Lm on high but if it is accurate then it's much higher than most lights that use an XP-G2 emitter. Of course it'd still be nice to see them pushing it a little harder in their next model but heat will always be a worry at these higher outputs. Not sure if it's just an unfortunate bin variation but the tint on this light was quite unique in the sense that on High there was a noticeable purple hue to it. Doesn't quite bother my eyes though vs the Cool white tints like the notorious XM-L T6 lights. The purple hue is not noticeable on Med & Low modes though. One last thing it could use is another mode. While the 3 modes it has are nicely spaced usable outputs, I'd prefer seeing an added moonlight mode with the others slightly altered accordingly.

It does feature a low battery warning in which a red light next to the Power button will start flashing. Although it's not technically a feature on the light, I did figure out how to activate this red light which is not convenient at all. First turn the light into Strobe mode, then hold the mode button for 2 seconds and the Strobe turns off and the red side light turns on. Not exactly helpful for preserving night vision but maybe if you covered the head while activating it then it might be useful. The red light only has a few feet of useful light though and that's when your eyes have adjusted to the dark.

Thanks for reading and I do have beamshots and such in the Album below for further comparison.

THERAPIST^album

^{-- McFarlie6996}