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Home»Featured»Photography»Joby Beamo Portable led light review
Photography

Joby Beamo Portable led light review

RobynBy RobynApril 27, 2020Updated:April 27, 20201 Comment7 Mins Read
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Joby Beamo Portable led light
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BUY FROM AMAZON

Ridiculously compact, powerful LED – perfect for vloggers.

I’ve been a fan of Joby products for a long, long time. Ever since I saw my first Gorilla Pod, I’ve thought the company was interesting and innovative and now they have a portable, pocket-size LED light that is perfect for any type of use you can think of. Beamo is an LED light for phones that is designed for the purpose of providing pro-grade lighting in any condition. Beamo is actually a family of products that includes the standard Beamo and Beamo Mini.

DETAILS & SPECS

The Beamo lights are compact and rugged so they can be used at any time, anywhere you might be. They are travel-friendly and waterproof (up to 30 meters). The lights have the capabilities of dimming or stepping down brightness 5 steps. Beamo also has a Strobo feature for creating different effects. The light has two cold shoe mounts built onto the body so it can easily be used with other accessories and the universal tripod mount makes it possible to use with a variety of stands and tripods including GorillaPods. The lights can also work with the myJoby app (for iOS and Android users) so that you can set the perfect brightness and create scenes with your favorite settings. With the app, you can control the lights at a distance so that you can set them and move to where you need to shoot and not have to bounce back and forth to get the perfect setting.

Joby Beamo LEDLights 004
Joby Beamo LEDLights 007

Beamo works for up to 40 minutes at 100% power and more than 100 minutes at 50% power. The differences between the two light models are listed in the table below. While the lights are nearly identical in design, they do have a few differences. For example, the standard Beamo can charge wirelessly, but the Beamo Mini cannot. Also, the Beamo Mini has a magnetic back that can be used to mount the light in many different locations. The standard Beamo does not have this feature. Both Beamo models come with the LED, diffuser, cold shoe adapter, and USB-C cable.

BEAMOBEAMO MINI
Weight0.134 kg0.11 kg
Powered byBuilt-in LithiumBuilt-in Lithium
Bluetooth ReadyYesYes
CRI (Color Rendition Index)95 +/-95 +/-
Battery Life40 mins +/- @ 100% brightness
100 mins +/- @ 50% brightness
40 mins +/- @ 100% brightness
100 mins +/- @ 50% brightness
Beam Angle60º55º
Color Temperature5100K5100K
Dimmable5 steps by button
0-100% continuous by app
5 steps by button
0-100% continuous by app
Mounting Method1/4″-20 tripod mount
cold shoe mount x 2
1/4″-20 tripod mount
cold shoe mount x 2
Magnetic (rear)
Number of LEDs11
Charging CompatibilityUSB-C charging cable
Wireless
USB-C charging cable
Dimensions4.7 x 5.1 x 5.1 cm3.9 x 5.1 x 5.1 cm
MaterialAluminum
ABS Plastic
TPU
Aluminum
ABS Plastic
TPU
ColorGrayGray
Lumens15001000
Waterproofing30 m30 m
AppiOS/AndroidiOS/Android
Joby Beamo LEDLights 005

USER IMPRESSIONS

I’ve used several different types of portable LEDs over the years. Some of them are just heavy and have difficult controls. One of the things I like the most about the Beamo lights is that they are simple and super easy to use. While they have an app, you can still use the light as a continuous light source without it. The app, however, unlocks the full potential of the Beamo lights. With the app, you can use the flash and strobe modes without having to fool around with the button combinations that are needed to use those modes with the controls on the lights. I’m not a huge fan of the instruction manual. The instructions are provided as illustrations and I think it would have been easier to understand if the instructions were written out along with the illustrations. For example, in order to enable the strobe mode using the button controls on the light, you have to press/hold both buttons for 3 seconds. the illustration demonstrates this, but it uses arrows that are trying to point inward, but it doesn’t look quite right (in my opinion).

Joby Beamo LEDLights 002 2
Joby Beamo LEDLights 003

While I’ve been very impressed with these tiny LEDs, I know that some people will wonder about the comparison between them and the Lume Cube, which is kind of the brand that kickstarted these portable LEDs several years ago. I’ve pulled together a quick side-by-side comparison chart of some of the main specs between the Lume Cube AIR and the Joby Mini. You will notice that while the Beamo Mini is a bit different in size, it offers many of the same specs as the Lume Cube Air. The Beamo Mini also has some added features like the flash mode, cold shoe mounts, and a higher CRI.

LUME CUBE AIRBEAMO MINI
Size1.6″ x 1.6″ x 1.1″1.5″ x 2″ x 2″
Weight2 ounces3.88 ounces
LED Temp5600k5100K
Lumens10001000
CRI90 +/-95 +/-
Beam Angle60º55º
Waterproof10m30m
Settings4 manual brightness levels
Strobe
5 manual brightness levels
Strobe
Flash
Wireless Controls via AppYesYes
BatteryInternal Non-Replaceable Lith-Ion PolymerBuilt-in Lithium
Charging CompatibilityMicro USBUSB-C
Run Time150+ mins @ 50% brightness
30-45 mins @ 100% brightness
100 mins +/- @ 50% brightness
40 mins +/- @ 100% brightness
MountingBuilt-in Earth Magnet (rear)
Tripod Mount (1/4″-20)
1/4″-20 tripod mount
cold shoe mount x 2
Magnetic (rear)
Joby Beamo App
Joby Beamo App 2

The Beamo lights are bright. In addition to using them for lighting for product photos and video conferences, we actually used these lights to brighten up our backyard while we were filling some errant holes with dirt. While the weather has been nice, we’ve been trying to get outdoor projects around our house finished up. One of those projects ended up going late into an evening and we ended up losing daylight before the project was completed. Without batting an eye, we pulled out the Beamo and Beamo Mini to light up the backyard. They were perfect for this type of job for a number of reasons. First, they are rugged enough to hold up in an outdoor environment. We could place them on top of fence posts or above our shed’s door frame and not have to worry if the lights would get damaged in any way. Second, they had just enough battery life to allow us to finish the job we were working on. We didn’ t have to worry about running power cables across the yard in order to plug in work lights — the Beamos worked just fine. Finally, they were so powerful that we didn’t need any other lights. We were able to set the lights about 15 feet away from where we were working and still have enough light to see what we were doing.

Joby Beamo LEDLights 001
PHOTO USING BEAMO OVERHEAD (shot on iPhone 11 Pro)
Joby Beamo LEDLights 002
PHOTO USING AVAILABLE LIGHT ONLY (shot on iPhone 11 Pro)

One of the truly neat features of the Beamo lights is that you can group them together using the app. I was able to pair both the Beamo and Beamo Mini to the app and control both of them as a group. You can set one light for one brightness and then the other light at a separate percentage. Then you can increase or decrease all lights in that group at the same rate by using the sliders in the app.

Joby has quickly become the brand-of-choice for content creators with releases like these BEAMO lights. In addition to the lights, they have also recently released a diverse set of mobile accessories to equip creators with the gear they need to create in any situation. The GorillaPod Mobile Vlogging Kit includes the GorillaPod™ Mobile, Rig, Beamo™ Mini LED, and Wavo™ Mobile microphone. It’s the perfect package for content creators.

FINAL THOUGHTS

While there are different cube LED lights in the market, I really like the improvements that Joby made with their version of the device. The Beamo lights are easy to use and very versatile. They don’t warm up even after continued use and because they use USB-C to charge, they recharge quickly and efficiently. I do wish that both models had a magnet incorporated into the frame so that it was easier to place them in areas that don’t have an easy place to use a tripod. Aside from that, I think that Joby did a great job of designing these LED lights. They are great for multiple types of use and can brighten any scene.

For more information, visit joby.com, Facebook, and Twitter.

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Robyn
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I am an experienced marketing professional and published novelist. I'm also an avid movie fan and Apple enthusiast. To read my novel, follow this link. Shattered [Kindle Edition]

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1 Comment

  1. Avatar of Sunil
    Sunil on October 19, 2020 5:22 am

    Hi,
    Nice review.
    However, the unit heats up too quickly and more often reduces the power output from the highest (5th) position to lower position.
    Do not know whether this is unique to the piece which I bought.
    Br,

    Reply

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