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.
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.
| BEAMO | BEAMO MINI | |
| Weight | 0.134 kg | 0.11 kg |
| Powered by | Built-in Lithium | Built-in Lithium |
| Bluetooth Ready | Yes | Yes |
| CRI (Color Rendition Index) | 95 +/- | 95 +/- |
| Battery Life | 40 mins +/- @ 100% brightness 100 mins +/- @ 50% brightness | 40 mins +/- @ 100% brightness 100 mins +/- @ 50% brightness |
| Beam Angle | 60º | 55º |
| Color Temperature | 5100K | 5100K |
| Dimmable | 5 steps by button 0-100% continuous by app | 5 steps by button 0-100% continuous by app |
| Mounting Method | 1/4″-20 tripod mount cold shoe mount x 2 | 1/4″-20 tripod mount cold shoe mount x 2 Magnetic (rear) |
| Number of LEDs | 1 | 1 |
| Charging Compatibility | USB-C charging cable Wireless | USB-C charging cable |
| Dimensions | 4.7 x 5.1 x 5.1 cm | 3.9 x 5.1 x 5.1 cm |
| Material | Aluminum ABS Plastic TPU | Aluminum ABS Plastic TPU |
| Color | Gray | Gray |
| Lumens | 1500 | 1000 |
| Waterproofing | 30 m | 30 m |
| App | iOS/Android | iOS/Android |
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).
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 AIR | BEAMO MINI | |
| Size | 1.6″ x 1.6″ x 1.1″ | 1.5″ x 2″ x 2″ |
| Weight | 2 ounces | 3.88 ounces |
| LED Temp | 5600k | 5100K |
| Lumens | 1000 | 1000 |
| CRI | 90 +/- | 95 +/- |
| Beam Angle | 60º | 55º |
| Waterproof | 10m | 30m |
| Settings | 4 manual brightness levels Strobe | 5 manual brightness levels Strobe Flash |
| Wireless Controls via App | Yes | Yes |
| Battery | Internal Non-Replaceable Lith-Ion Polymer | Built-in Lithium |
| Charging Compatibility | Micro USB | USB-C |
| Run Time | 150+ mins @ 50% brightness 30-45 mins @ 100% brightness | 100 mins +/- @ 50% brightness 40 mins +/- @ 100% brightness |
| Mounting | Built-in Earth Magnet (rear) Tripod Mount (1/4″-20) | 1/4″-20 tripod mount cold shoe mount x 2 Magnetic (rear) |
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.
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.
