JBL PartyLight Beam Hands-On Review

Patch Bowen By Patch Bowen - January 23rd, 2025
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The JBL PartyLight Beam is a compact and affordable lighting accessory designed for casual users who want to add atmosphere to their events or gatherings. 

It's a premium option in a relatively limited market, standing out with its sleek, sturdy design. There aren’t many competitors that offer this level of performance and functionality unless you’re willing to spend thousands on a professional setup. 

While it has some limitations, including a lack of battery power, basic customisation options, and less-than-perfect audio synchronisation, it’s a good choice for those looking to create a fun, low-effort lighting setup without breaking the bank.

Design

Measuring 152 mm (W) x 156 mm (H) x 96 mm (D), and weighing just 0.92kg, the JBL PartyLight Beam is small, compact and light, making it easy to set up almost anywhere. Unfortunately it does need to be plugged in, which can limit its ability to be used outside, it would’ve been nice to have a battery power option like the JBL PartyLight Stick.

In the middle of the light there’s a cylinder where the lights are housed, this is attached to an arm that allows it to be placed on a flat surface. It's sturdy and well-built, feeling significantly more premium than similar devices. 

The arm allows you to rotate the lights to get them facing the direction you want. It rotates 330°, you can have it shooting up a wall or even onto the roof, but it doesn’t shoot straight down, in fact, facing it downwards turns the lights off. It’s important to know that it won’t rotate autonomously, once you set it up it will stay in that position. 

It has a sleek look, the familiar black and orange colour scheme synonymous with other JBL products, and I like that it's unassuming enough, so it doesn’t stick out or look out of place at a gathering or a party. On the bottom there are three buttons, the power button, the Auracast button (more on that below) and a button that allows you to change between lighting patterns. I like this, it means you don’t have to have your phone on you to customise the lights.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t have an IP resistance rating, so you won’t want to get this wet, or dare I say, spill a drink on it, but overall, it’s a functional design that feels premium, solid and well-built

Picture of JBL PartyLight Beam front.
The JBL PartyLight Beam.
Picture of JBL PartyLight Beam buttons.
The JBL PartyLight Beam buttons.

Lights

The PartyLight Beam features two lights with a combined output of 20 watts. JBL claims it can illuminate an area of up to 40 square metres, though I found it difficult to fully verify this. 

The rotating light adds movement and energy by projecting a base colour onto walls, ceilings, or other surfaces, with customisable colours available via the PartyBox app. It enhances the overall atmosphere, making it a great addition for parties or even something like a Dungeons & Dragons session.

The static light provides additional movement by projecting circular patterns onto the surface. These are always white, and they blend into the background created by the rotating light. It provides a good amount of movement, again enhancing the vibe, however I would’ve liked to have been able to change the colour of the circles as well. 

You can change the way the lights are projected within the JBL PartyBox app, there’s six options, Neon which generates a rotating base colour with individual circles flicking on and off, Loop which again projects a rotating base colour with the difference being all six circular lights flick on and off simultaneously, Bounce which has the base colour and all six circles breathing slowly, Trim which turns the circles off and just has a shimmering base colour, Switch which turns off the background colour and just has the circles flicking on and off and Freeze which prevents the main light rotating and projects a single base colour. You can also randomise this, so it flicks between all options. Unfortunately, there’s not a huge amount of variety here, but I particularly liked the Freeze option which allowed me to set it up as a backlight. But overall, the options here feel very similar.

The Beam syncs with other JBL speakers however you’ll need a speaker from the PartyBox range, and it needs to support Auracast. If you have a speaker that isn’t in that range or doesn’t have Auracast capabilities, the PartyLight Beam has an in-built microphone for sound detection. With this turned on the Beam does its best to synchronise with the audio that’s playing but it's not great. Because it's reacting to audio, it’s always slightly offbeat and if the audio changes tempo at any point, it takes a little while for the lights to adjust. If you’re looking for perfect synchronisation between your lights and the PartyLight Beam, you won’t get that here. 

Picture of JBL PartyLight Beam from above.
The two lights found on the JBL PartyLight Beam.
Picture of JBL PartyLight Beam with light on.
The JBL PartyLight Beam with lights on.

App

Within the app there are a number of features that will allow you to get the most out of the PartyLight Beam, but it's relatively barebones

You can change the brightness, however since it's powered, I’m not too sure why you’d want to do this, you can change the lighting patterns, the colours of the rotating light and you can change the speed of the patterns. This is also where you turn on audio detection and Auracast synchronisation.

It’s quick and responsive, straightforward and easy to use. 

Screenshot of JBL PartyBox app.
JBL PartyLight Beam customisation options within the JBL PartyBox app.

Verdict 

The JBL PartyLight Beam is a simple yet effective way to add atmosphere to your events, but it comes with notable limitations. Its compact and sleek design, combined with adjustable rotation, makes it easy to set up almost anywhere. However, the lack of battery power and IP resistance means it’s less flexible and more vulnerable to spills or outdoor use.

The lights themselves are vibrant and versatile enough to enhance a party, game night, or even serve as a backlight for video content. That said, the limited variety of patterns can leave users wanting more. The app provides basic functionality but lacks depth, and the audio detection feature struggles to keep perfect synchronisation with your music.

If you’re looking for a straightforward lighting accessory to elevate your gatherings, the PartyLight Beam does the job. Just don’t expect groundbreaking effects or seamless integration with your music. It’s best suited for casual use and works better at night when its strengths can shine, literally.


Written By

Patch Bowen

I’m an independent tech journalist who enjoys exploring the gadgets people want and the ones they didn’t know they needed.

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