Gear Best Manker U11 Torch Deal
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Manker U11 Torch Review
Roger Caffin
(Photos courtesy GearBest web site)I was able to review one of these torches, courtesy of May Tang of GearBest. The torch is available at an 8% discount to BPL members with coupon code gbled2016.
Overall, it proved to be a well-made unit, with a fairly solid machined aluminium construction and an interesting range of software options. The butt end could also be used as a martial arts weapon. In brief: 82 g (without battery), 105 mm long by 31 mm diameter, variable power levels (more on this below).
The torch runs off one 18650 rechargable lithium battery (3.7 V) or two CR123a lithium batteries (2 x 3.0 V). In addition, there is a USB port on the torch for recharging the 18650 battery (USB mania). However, some words of caution are required here: you cannot recharge the CR123a batteries via the USB port – they can’t be recharged anyhow, and the torch will NOT take the rechargable CR123R batteries (2 x 3.6 V). The extra voltage (7.2 V vs 6.0 V) may blow up the electronics inside the torch.The CR123a battery also comes as a DR123, an EL123 and a K123. Exactly what the differences are I know not. For a single CR123a I have seen ratings of 1,400 mAh, 1,500 mAh and 1,700 mAh; doubtless someone will try to exceed those claims. A word of warning here: I have also seen the rechargable CR123R batteries advertised as CR123: these would likely destroy the torch.
To be sure, the 18650 may have a greater capacity then the CR123as – I have seen ratings of 2,500 mAh, 4,000 mAh, 6,000 mAh and 9,900 mAh for a single 18650 cell, plus values in between. Whether I believe any of the higher claims – that’s another matter. It does seem that the more respectable the battery brand, the lower the rating. One of these 18650 batteries is about the same length as two CR123as, so you can use whichever is available.
A short USB cable is supplied for recharging the 18650, but it won’t reach back to your car. Somehow I doubt many walkers will be able to recharge the torch except when at home. Ah well, I guess a USB cable is cheaper than a proper battery charging station (the bottom line). And before you ask, I don’t think your desktop can actually <i>talk</i> to the torch via the USB connection. It is just a power supply.
The ‘globe’ is a Cree XP-L V5 white LED, with peak luminous intensity of 16,000 cd or >1,000 lumens. Needless to say, at peak power the battery life is ‘not long’ (1.5 hr is quoted), the head of the torch gets hot, but the beam does go a very long way – across my farm at night. In fact, there is a little printed warning on the head of the torch that it can get hot.
Well, high power is all very well, but I never use it. Fortunately the torch has 5 different power settings: Moonlight (0.07 lm), Low (40 lm), Medium (180 lm), High (470 lm) and Turbo (the one which gets very hot). In Low mode, which is rather brighter than I need, the life on one 18650 battery is quoted as 41 hr. The ‘Moonlight’ mode is very low, but it is sufficient to see your way around inside a tent at night – without killing your night vision.The real smarts are that Moonlight is the first mode activated when you turn the torch on. Successive brief clicks of the single button will ramp the brightness up; one long button depression will turn the torch off. This is far better than one headlight I tested some time ago: the first click gave you maximum brightness!
To turn the torch off (without blinding yourself), press and hold the button for a second. Then the light will go out. If you just ‘click’ the button, the brightness increases one level. It has been claimed that there is a memory mode which means that turning the torch off from (say) Medium will turn it back on to Medium. I was not able to do this.
There is also a ‘Breathe’ mode: a little blue LED on the side of the torch cycles up and down in brightness, slowly. Perhaps so you could put the torch down during the night and find it again? You get to this mode by double-clicking the button when the torch is already on – which also gives you two blinking modes: ‘SOS’ and ‘Strobe’. I believe the blue LED is also activated when the USB cable is recharging the 18650 battery.
The torch manages to have immense software complexity, activated by short clicks, long depressions, and double clicks. Normally you just go into ‘General Mode’, but a very long depression will get you into ‘Pro Mode’. Unfortunately the instruction sheet (and the instructions on the web site) do not fully explain what you do with this Pro Mode. You can activate four different flashing modes for getting rescued – if you can remember how they work when you are lost.There is mention of three different power settings for the normal modes. If you go into Pro Mode, the torch will start to cycle through the power level for Low: click when you are at the one you want and it will proceed to medium and do all this again, and so on. However, whatever you set up in this Pro Mode will not be available in the General Mode. You could probably flatten a set of batteries just playing with all these modes.
I can only repeat what others have written about all this: do not lose the instruction sheet! Although, if you ignore the instructions and just poke the button, the torch works fine. Press&Hold to turn off. Not that bad.
It seems that running the torch at high power will get the LED and the torch very hot,so after a few minutes the electronics starts to drop the power through the 3 levels. I would imagine this might also help save the battery. However, in Pro Mode you can have the torch stay in Turbo mode without any decay in brightness (until the battery dies), but the instructions warn you against actually holding the torch for very long. It gets hot!
The torch is claimed to be waterproof to IPX6 standard, but other users have reported that water can get in at the bezel. I have not tested this. A spare O-ring for the battery end is provided with the torch.
The Moonlight mode is rather dim, but apparently you can hack this. I will quote with paraphrasing (but without testing):
<i>There is a hidden Engineering Mode on it (there often is!).
Off — long press over 10 seconds (flicker twice) — Pro Mode — Double click — one click — (into engineering mode I think).
Click to Custom settings Low 1/2/3 (brightness changed automatically)
Choose the brightness you need, then One click to medium for similar.
Double click again into another Engineering mode. If you can get to Moonlight mode (I am not sure how) you can choose a brighter output setting. The reason is to accomodate slight variations in the LED forward voltage, ‘So we have to calibrate the value to get the same brightness on moon light mode before sending them out.'</i>There are more reviews at the Candle Power Forum.
Cheers
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