# [Review] Manker T01 (XP-L HI V3, 1x AA / 14500)



## _UPz (Nov 3, 2015)

*MANKER T01*
*LED:* CREE XP-L HI V3
*Battery:* 1x AA / 1× 14500
*Modes:* 15 (12 output levels, 3 strobes, programmable)
*Switch:* Electronic switch on head
*Date:* November 2015
*

INTRODUCTION:*
Manker is a new manufacturer that seems to be working very hard to gain a foothold in the competitive market of power LED flashlights. After seeing their Manker Godmes recently, an original flashlight with innovative features, today we’ll review its latest offering, an ultra-compact high performance flashlight that works both with AA batteries (primary, rechargeable) and also with full support of 14500 li-ion rechargeable batteries, promising spectacular performance figures.
Before starting this review I’d like to highlight that this sample we have on the desk today corresponds to the first mass production “batch” and differs slightly in some features from the early pre-production units which were assembled and distributed to other reviewers worldwide some weeks ago. This second batch of T01’s can be easily identified by having a black anodization color and bearing the label “GODMES” instead of “MANKER” engraved on the main body. This detail can lead to some misunderstandings.






The flashlight comes in a rather compact cardboard box, in which we find the flashlight perfectly protected in a custom foam cut-out. Along with the flashlight (unlike as we saw with the Manker Godmes) we find a manual in two languages (English, Chinese) and a pair of spare o-rings.


*EXTERIOR FINISH:*
The machining of the T01 is rather peculiar. Unlike the early test units shipped weeks ago to reviewers, this new production T01 has a matte black anodization instead of natural anodization color/light green as seen in those previous samples. The flashlight is fully machined in aluminum.


 


For those not familiar or those who haven’t read the already published reviews on the early units, it is a compact flashlight with a very clear EDC character, but still with a very high performance and specially focused on throw for the size.



The main identifying features of the T01 are a slightly oversized head, with an electronic switch on it.


 


The head hosts a stunning smooth and deep reflector which is relatively free of dust particles (which were reportedly present in the pre-production units) and perfectly centered on a CREE XP-L HI, the domeless version of XP-L. We have a glass lens treated with AR coating and padded by an orange-colored o-ring (instead of the green GITD o-ring in the previous version).



The bezel is detachable, and inspecting the lens o-ring we find that its profile is not “O” but “L” shaped, allowing to embrace the glass lens and improving both the waterproofness and drop impact resistance, as the lens “floats” between the o-ring and walls of the bezel.
The bezel, machined in aluminum, has light crenellations and a classic temperature warning symbol engraved.



On one side of the head we find a protruding area in which the electronic switch is mounted in a slightly recessed manner such that it is more or less protected against accidental activation and also provides convenient access even for large thumbs like mine. The button finishing is quite curious, because it’s surrounded by a stainless steel frame and the silicone switch cover boot is extruded with a brand logo.



Surrounding the head there are three discrete cooling fins for heat dissipation which provide extra help to ward off the heat generated by the powerful LED emitter in this critical area.



The head of the flashlight is machined together with the tube, without the classic “three main parts” construction and also without the threaded interconnection, improving the thermal path of the flashlight. The tube shows a rather complex external machining, with three flat tracks surrounding it, one of them being chosen for the engraving of the model identification.



The lower part of the tube has a groove for the pocket clip and a knurling finish that matches the tailcap. The clip is quite deep-carry, so to secure the flashlight through this into the inside of a pocket the light will be fully protected. The clip has a titanium coating with sandblasted finish, and has a rather low rigidity, but as I have been told by the manufacturer the clip thickness will undergo a change in thickness (+ 0.2mm) to add more stiffness.



The threads have a trapezoidal finish, are anodized and come sufficiently greased from factory.


 

 


 


 


Finally, we have the tailcap of the flashlight which is machined with a pretty flat base to allow stable tailstand. It is finished with knurling on the exterior, which greatly facilitates grip when screwing-unscrewing the cap.








 

 


 


When fully disassembling the flashlight I’ve found some very interesting details that deserve mention:


 

 


On the one hand, we have the pill that contains both the electronics and the LED emitter. The driver is potted: you can see how, in a pretty brass housing, the dark sealing compound prevents deterioration of the components, protecting them from vibration or shock. The dimensions of the pill are considerable, and have pretty generous walls that increase the contact surface with the chassis of the flashlight.


 


The interior of the flashlight head has a nearly polished finish in areas of contact with the pill which is fixed to the chassis by two screws placed on both sides.



The actual body of the flashlight has a ring machined in the battery housing neck which acts as a mechanical protection against reverse polarity, which is nothing but a ring around the inner diameter of the housing of the battery in top.



Finally, we have the tailcap spring design. To achieve the extreme performance that T01 promises, it has been used a double gold plated spring to enhance the conductivity of this critical point, seeking to avoid the bottleneck effect especially when we demand high current to the battery. You can see how the spring has two separate threads, being the one inside something thinner to avoid compromising its elasticity.





*USER INTERFACE:*
The Manker T01 has a really complete user interface, with two separate groups of modes. We have the mode group “General”, in which we find four fixed output levels and three hidden strobe modes, and a second mode group “Pro”, in which we can program the intensity of each output level and in which the hidden modes have some interesting features not present in the “General” mode group.
(Note: The unit we are reviewing today has 1 small change in the user interface not documented in the printed manual).








 




*On and off:* You have to keep the switch pressed for half a second to turn on the light, and repeat to turn off the flashlight.


*Changing Modes:* With the flashlight on, a simple press on the switch toggles between the four output levels, in ascending order.


*Strobe modes:* The hidden modes are activated by a quick double click, no matter whether the flashlight is on or off. In the “General mode” we have a strobe mode, followed by an SOS and finally a beacon mode.


*Direct access to low mode:* *(NEW)* A simple click with the flashlight off goes straight to the Low mode.


*Memory:* This T01 remembers the last mode used and will activate (by half a second press) on this in its next activation. The strobe modes doesn’t have memory support.


*Mode groups:* As mentioned before, we have two different mode groups. The “General” mode group has default values, which include four predefined intensities (L1, M2, H2, T3) and the three hidden strobe modes. To switch between the “General mode” and “Pro mode” we have to keep the switch pressed for 5 seconds (or 10s, according to the manual) with the flashlight off, emitting a confirmation signal at the end of the selection (a single flash for “General mode” and two flashes for “Pro mode”).


*“Pro Mode”:* This is a group of alternative modes in which we have greater control over the output levels of each mode, as well as a “constant” mode for the Turbo and a battery state of charge indicator.


*Programming:* In the “Pro Mode” group, you can select the brightness intensity that we like best for each mode, to choose between three different available levels. To program, you need to access the hidden strobe modes and progress to reach “custom setting”: The torch will begin with the low mode, alternating between different intensities available (L1, L2, L3) with intervals of about two seconds. When we have the desired intensity, simply make a simple click to memorize and go to the next mode in which we repeat the operation on the remaining three modes. These memorized modes are only available within the “Pro mode” group, so in the “General mode” group will be the default fixed intensities (L1, M2, H2, T3).


*Charge status indicator:* In “Pro mode”, in the hidden strobe modes we find a battery status indicator. It is a sequence of flashes that will approximately indicate the state of charge (SOC) of the battery with a flash for every 25% of battery capacity available: Four flashes mean fully charged, three for a ~ 75%SOC, two flashes for ~ 50% and a flash for ~ 25% or less. This indicator works correctly with both AA (primary, rechargeable) and 14500.


*Constant turbo:* As we will see in detail in the next section of this review, the T01 is controlled by default timed stepdowns on its Turbo modes. Being aware of the controversy this practice generates among users, Manker has provided a “constant” Turbo mode as a hidden feature along with the strobe and programming options. This function will use the programmed Turbo mode and will try to maintain “constant” output throughout its runtime with no stepdown at all. This function causes an excessive temperature, so it should be used with caution.


*Lock-out:* Thanks to the anodized threads we may lock out the flashlight by partial unscrewing of the tailcap, preventing accidental or unintentional flashlight activation when transporting it in a pocket. Also it avoids the standby current draw, always present in devices without a mechanical switch. After my own measurements, with a 1.45V NiMH AA I get a current just under 6uA (0.0057mA), which should fully discharge a 2000mAh Eneloop in 38 years … With a Li-Ion battery at 4.20V the standby current scales up to 22uA (0.0224mA), which will completely discharge an 840mAh 14500 battery in around 4 years, of course in both cases ignoring the own self-discharge of the battery. One could say, especially with a NiMH, the parasitic energy consumption of this flashlight is completely negligible.







 
_(All measurements are taken following the ANSI NEMA FL1 procedure, taking as value the highest reading between 30 and 120 seconds after activation. More details here.)_
The test of modes in the sphere shows a fairly consistent deviation between what Manker specifies and what the sphere collects. This percentage deviation appears to be constant throughout all modes, so it is possible that the method by which the official lumen figures were obtained lacks proper calibration. Still, I find the measured lumen figures pretty spectacular.


*PERFORMANCE:*
Let’s dive into, in my opinion, the most interesting part of this review, in which we will analyze the performance of this flashlight, as usual with the help of our flashlight performance charts.




For the above chart we have analyzed the three Turbo modes and two of the three High modes with a Ni-MH battery. For T3, the most powerful of all output levels, I have made two separate tests, one from the “general” group (with stepdown) and the other constant. The flashlight turns off when the battery voltage reaches ~0.84V under load.




Now we repeat the previous pattern, this time feeding the torch with a rechargeable Li-Ion 14500 battery. We can clearly see how the regulation is quite different from one battery chemistry to the other, except for the H3 which for some unknown reason seems to keep the linear regulation. Similar to Ni-MH, the flashlight has a cut-off voltage under 14500 and it turns off when the 14500 voltage reaches 2.5V under load, so there is no danger of completely discharging the battery if we leave the flashlight on by mistake. Of course, the battery recovers when stopped being discharged, so don’t be surprised if when removing the battery and measuring the offline voltage you find it has some more voltage.




To perceive more clearly how the T01 performs its stepdown, I have slightly modified the horizontal X axis of the chart to display the time in seconds, while using the default 2Hz sampling rate of my logging tool. We can see how at start up, the torch by far exceeds initial 700LM, which are dwindling rapidly, beginning to stabilize after about 60 seconds. At 120 seconds, the flashlight starts a slow sequence of progressive stepdowns, reducing its output (at that time about 565LM) to 350LM. Being progressive, this downturn is not easy to realize for the naked eye. You can even see as a result of the stepdown that the flashlight manages to “recover” some output as a result of the lower temperature generated.




It is time to compare the performance of the new T01 against other widely known AA flashlights. Yes, I know. Too many lines. That’s why I put at your disposal a higher resolution image of this chart here. As shown, the T01 even being apart from what is specified, has unmatched performance among which we have seen to date, beating both efficiency and maximum output of the almighty Zebralight SC52, and by extension the rest of the AA gang.




We change the battery chemistry to enter the marginal world of AA flashlights that can be operated with 14500’s… Again too many lines, yes, I know, sorry, that’s why again you have at your disposal an enlarged version of the chart here. T01 again shows a clear superiority in maximum output, but regulation and runtime are now put into more perspective.
And finally, where anecdotal turns into empirical evidence, here’s a direct comparison between the T01 and the SC52:






 

We’re comparing the two flashlights in their maximum output modes. For T01 I selected both types of regulation (constant and stepdown) to facilitate the understanding of the data.


*BEAM PROFILE:*
For quite some time now, modders and enthusiasts have ventured into the world of DIY emitter dedoming, i.e. manually removing the dome that covers the emitting surface of the LEDs through various and varied methods, which in many cases succeeds in multiplying the center peak beam intensity of a flashlight. The problem with this DIY method is “uncontrolled” LED tint as a result, and of course the risk of damaging/destroying the emitter during the dedoming attempt.
Apparently CREE, the world’s famous LED manufacturer has taken well note of such community experiments, and recently announced a new family of factory-dedomed LEDs.








The emitter employed in the Manker T01 is a CREE XP-L HI V3. The HI (High Intensity) acronym refers to this new family of LEDs, which are produced with only a thin coating on the emitting area, but with warranty and tint binning according to manufacturer’s chart.















Manker T01 beam profile is pretty clean, and personally reminds me of the classic and widespread beams of an XR-E of yesteryear, yet so much more powerful. We have a very defined tight central focus, with a quite homogeneously illuminated large spill area albeit including one concentric ring.


 

 


 


Compared to other AA flashlights it is hard to find anything like it in my collection, so to have something comparable I would have to go for a much larger reflector size.


 


The XP-L HI tint is pretty good cool white without a dominant color. According to the manufacturer the emitter tint binning is 1D.































*PERSONAL CONCLUSION:*
I’ll be honest and will open this conclusion by first saying that when first details about the performance of this flashlight were revealed on forums and blogs where I am a regular reader I called into question the spectacular figures of this small flashlight. After having tested my unit thoroughly, I can say that I was somehow right to think that way, but I must also admit that, even without being completely truthful to manufacturer’s specifications, Manker T01 performance is just spectacular.


 


 
*Nitecore MT1A · Fenix LD12 · EagTac D25A Ti · Fenix E12 · Manker T01 · Zebralight SC52 · 4Sevens Quark AA
*
*Negatives:* Although I am personally not a fan of lanyards, the absence of a wrist strap and especially the absence of an anchor point to secure it is the main noteworthy negative aspect of this flashlight. Another point possible to become focus of controversy is the existence of different versions distributed among reviewers: the first units we saw had a natural anodization color, and now others appear in black with a different engraving and some other small change in the user interface…




*Positives:* Leaving aside the consistent percentage deviation between specified and measured lumens figures, the performance of the T01 is simply spectacular. Either by output or by efficiency, the T01 scores at the head of the pack, with a leap ahead I would say. The design and machining is really well done and feels like a sturdy flashlight, well-rounded and pleasant to hold in hand. The throw achieved by the XP-L HI is overwhelming, with a clearly defined profile reminiscent of the XR-E era, but multiplied by 3 or 4 times the performance. The user interface is nice and rich, with a “general” modes group which will cover all the classic requirements of an EDC flashlight, and a “pro” group in which gourmet users can tune each and every one of the modes to customize the sequence of output level at wills or needs. The feature detail to allow you to access (even being so impractical) a timer-less regulated constant turbo seems like a very successful wink to the community. Undoubtedly, the new Manker T01 is the new benchmark in the AA category, the new rival to beat.




_*Manker T01 sample provided by manufacturer for test & review.​_​


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## kreisl (Nov 3, 2015)

Excellent review, very helpful!

Thank you very much for your efforts.

So your unit is the final production version? Earlier cpf reviews were titled "pre-release" or "pre-production".

In the pre-production units the electronics, for example the inductor coil, were just like that, bare naked:





They seem to have potted the electronics now, whoopee:


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## jabe1 (Nov 3, 2015)

Thanks for the excellent review!

I prefer the natural ano finish, they should stick with it, as most manufacturers offer only black.


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## KITROBASKIN (Nov 3, 2015)

Impressive. It would be nice to get corroboration with selfbuilt.

For those wanting a 14500 sized 'thrower', this looks to be a contender. Turbo 3 constant mode is impressive (and hot to hold?) but with the current state of Li-ion technology, it is a 20 minute flashlight. That might work very well with some users, being that the lower modes are entirely useful. And the Ni-mh lowest-low mode might work OK with fully night-adapted eyes. (not as well as a ZebraLight, one opinion)

The photo of this light 'on top' of a ZebraLight SC52 is a little silly to me. What about the SC5? And Let's not forget that the ZL's are more suited to general use (close range, more diffuse beam) than the hotspot beam profile of this one.


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## snowlover91 (Nov 3, 2015)

I would like to see this reviewed by Selfbuilt or someone else on here who does a lot of reviews. It's strange to me the number of in depth reviews being posted for this light by those who don't often review or with low post counts. 

Having said aid that there are a few things from this review that I noticed. The output is well below manufacturer claims with 14500 batteries and quickly drops off under 600 lumens. Likewise the AA support showed initial 425 lumens with rapid drop off which again is a little disappointing for a light with plenty of thermal mass in the head. The LED also appeared off center, is that the camera angle or the actual way it is? 

I would also also add that the phrase "the new benchmark in the AA category, the new rival to beat" is a little overdone. While a great light for throw, this light weighs more than the already heavy ZL SC5 and is far bulkier. Those who use lights for EDC use may be far less likely to use the Manker light due to the extra weight and size. Not everyone needs a thrower either, the light to which its compared is designed as a general purpose, all around EDC light and excel at that. If one makes a claim that something is the new benchmark for a category it would be nice to see evidence for that. Less output on NIMH, heavier weight, bulkier size and the inferior UI would call this claim to question. The Nitecore MT10A light achieves 900+ lumens with a 14500, smaller size and with plenty of throw. 

Overall this looks like a decent light for the money with good throw and output. However the inflated lumen claims, large size, extra weight and complex UI are reasons I wouldn't purchase this light. The direct comparison to Zebralight is fine but I don't see how this light is better except in the throw department, and most don't get the Zebralights for throw anyways they buy them for General EDC use. Thanks for the pics, the potting is a nice feature I hope more companies follow in the future.


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## rickyro (Nov 4, 2015)

the international and national confuse me a lot.

Is the reviewer located at Barcelona or not? Is he a Chinese or not? Referring the Chinese reviews here as "national" sounds a very seriously mistakenly play for me.

Oh, just found out the first response was not coming from the reviewer. How weird...


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## rickyro (Nov 4, 2015)

CPF allows us to define the location as we want. I am afraid some ID is playing with this.

That "brucejiang" says he is located in England. But his post showed clearly he was in China when reviewing Manker T01. And he did not even care to hide the screen shots of his China mobile phone.


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## Trevilux (Nov 4, 2015)

rickyro said:


> the international and national confuse me a lot.
> 
> Is the reviewer located at Barcelona or not? Is he a Chinese or not? Referring the Chinese reviews here as "national" sounds a very seriously mistakenly play for me.
> 
> Oh, just found out the first response was not coming from the reviewer. How weird...



UPz, the reviewer is the best reviewer of the spanish forum forolinternas.com, and sure one of the best reviewers of the world. (most of their review are in spanish so you do not know them).
I think it should be appreciated greatly, for taking the time to present this review in this forum in English.
His technical equipment and knowledge about flashlights has nothing to envy to any of the best reviewers in this forum


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## _UPz (Nov 4, 2015)

Hi,

AFAIK, I'm not chinese. 
Due the nice bunch of recent reviews of this particular light, I find it pretty understadable the feeling/concerns some users are showing in the comments. I am not new to CPF, but I ussually don't post much. Same applies to other english language forums such BLF, mainly due lack of _proper english skills_.

For those interested, I am RdL blog owner and ForoLinternas moderator.

Thank you all for the comments!


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## snowlover91 (Nov 4, 2015)

Would you be able to post a 5 minute graph of the run times of the turbo modes using both NIMH and 14500 batteries? It looks like the step down occurs at 1-2 minutes but it's hard to say exactly when this happens. A graph of the first 5-10 mins would be great! I think this light is sort of in a category all on its own for AA. It's more of a thrower light which is unique in the AA space as there aren't any others using XP-L HI emitters. My main concern for this light is how it seems to be a very close copy of the Zebralight in most ways and has been marketed and reviewed by many in this way. I guess imitation is the best form of flattery, but it's still a concern for me when companies do this. It looks like a good light if you want a thrower but I'm not sure how it would do as an EDC due to the weight/size factors.


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## Dubois (Nov 6, 2015)

Trevilux said:


> UPz, the reviewer is the best reviewer of the spanish forum forolinternas.com, and sure one of the best reviewers of the world. (most of their review are in spanish so you do not know them).
> I think it should be appreciated greatly, for taking the time to present this review in this forum in English.
> His technical equipment and knowledge about flashlights has nothing to envy to any of the best reviewers in this forum



+1. Great review, as always, UPz. There is more than enough information in this review for me to decide that I want this light. Many thanks.


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## kreisl (Nov 14, 2015)

_UPz said:


> *Negatives:* Although I am personally not a fan of lanyards, the absence of a wrist strap and especially the absence of an anchor point to secure it is the main noteworthy negative aspect of this flashlight.





candle lamp said:


> *[Addition 12.11.15**]
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I received my *T01 production version* from Banggood, what a fun light! :twothumbs

UPz, i can confirm that my version has the same UI as described by you, 0.1LM true moonlight and for example accessible through 1 click from OFF. 

The only shortcoming of the light is imho the thin-feeling pocket clip. It's merely 0.8mm thick, quite an unusual thickness for a pocket clip. In the next days i'll compare it against my own Zebralight SC52w L2 flashlight…



mbzeitz said:


> Also does one click to moonlight (low) allow you to click again to medium, and again to high, thereby bypassing annoying mode memory?



Yes.


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## chrisp (Nov 21, 2015)

*Re: [Review] Manker T01 (XP-L HI V3, 1x AA / 14500)LUELLA*

An interesting light-always happy to see a new manufacturer enter the marketplace.

i also worry about the chunkiness of the head, more than I do about the weight. My Olight S15 is not nearly as potent, but it is tiny (thin) and the option of an extension tube for 2x NiMH is handy.
i can easily put the S15 in my shirt pocket, the the Manker would not fit.

regards,
chris


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## Swedpat (Nov 22, 2015)

*Re: [Review] Manker T01 (XP-L HI V3, 1x AA / 14500)LUELLA*

Thanks for the review UPz,

This light has impressive performance runned by an Eneloop. But a 2AA body should be a nice option because it lacks a true 2AA thrower on the market. 2AA eneloop should provide a good stable output at the higher levels.


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## kreisl (Nov 22, 2015)

*Re: [Review] Manker T01 (XP-L HI V3, 1x AA / 14500)LUELLA*

I tested the *cut-off voltage* and the *stand-by current drain*.

*Cut-off voltage* is tricky to measure because when the light turns off the battery voltage recovers (slowly). However it is possible to measure it accurately with a PSU. The following are my own voltage measurements:


*battery**SC52w L2 cut-off**Quinlan T01 cut-off*EneloopN/A ("0.0V")0.84V14500N/A ("0.0V")2.50V

Note that the Zebralight does not really have a built-in cut-off voltage. The SC52 does have a low-voltage indicator and at some point falls out of regulation ("direct drive") and then continues to drain the battery empty until the circuit collapses when the battery is long long fully depleted. The Quinlan T01 has defined built-in cut-off voltages, however these levels are so low that the batteries are also long long fully depleted (0.84V wtf? 2.50V wtf?). At least there is a cut-off, and when accidentally turned on, the T01 will not overdischarge (=damage) the battery further than that. To reactivate the circuit, one needs to open the circuit (tailcap lockout) and re-close it. 

*Stand-by current drain* is easy to measure. Break the circuit by removing the tailcap, re-close the circuit by connecting your multimeter in series, using the "mA"-range setting. The following are my own current measurements:


*battery**voltage
**SC52w L2 drain**Quinlan T01 drain*Eneloop1.08V0.015mA0.004mAEneloop1.51V0.024mA0.006mA145002.75V0.106mA0.010mA145004.17V0.130mA0.015mA

Note that both lights do have stand-by current drain. The drain is a function of battery voltage. It is lower for low voltages and higher for high voltages. No need for a PSU, a battery is equally helpful to determine the drain. As we can see, the drain in the T01 is incredibly low at all times, whereas the SC52 has rather high drain with a 14500.


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## Mr Floppy (Nov 23, 2015)

*Re: [Review] Manker T01 (XP-L HI V3, 1x AA / 14500)LUELLA*



Swedpat said:


> But a 2AA body should be a nice option because it lacks a true 2AA thrower on the market. 2AA eneloop should provide a good stable output at the higher levels.



Or a 3AA body. With the large head, a longer body would be quite fitting proportionally


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## marsalla (Nov 28, 2015)

*Re: [Review] Manker T01 (XP-L HI V3, 1x AA / 14500)LUELLA*

I received my T01 and wonder if there is a problem: 

Like was purchased from our favorite auction site """bay. With any AA battery light performs as expected this includes both alkaline and NiMH.

The problem is when I use 14500 batteries. Upon initial use the light will turn on and go through all functions as expected; no surprises. After I turn off light it will not turn back on until I loosen the tail cap. After I loosen and re tighten the cap the light will turn on again and work properly; until I turn it off again. 

The people I bought the light from claim this is normal and per their report they say Manker also states this is true. 

I do not buy this story but await any feedback from forum member

I have tested light with efest IM and eagletack protected batteries. 

they all do the sam


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## _UPz (Nov 28, 2015)

*Re: [Review] Manker T01 (XP-L HI V3, 1x AA / 14500)LUELLA*

This can't be normal. At least, my samples do not need to untight-tight the tailcap when using 14500 and the people I know who ordered their T01's from BG doesn't have such problem.


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## kreisl (Nov 28, 2015)

*Re: [Review] Manker T01 (XP-L HI V3, 1x AA / 14500)LUELLA*

My unit does not show this kind of behavior. I don't need to loosen the tail cap for 14500 re-operation, i use unprotected 14500 with magnet, Sanyo cell.

As described earlier, i do experience a related or similar phenomenon:
the light will cease operation when the voltage (measured under load) reaches the 2.50V mark. When that happens, then yes, i must loosen the tail cap. The recovered offline voltage, say 3.30V, will suffice to make the light operate again when you re-close the circuit.

If your battery is fully charged and new, then there should really be no such phenomenon imo since the voltage under load would not reach 2.50V.

Something's might be off with your sample, from what i can tell.


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## KeepingItLight (Nov 28, 2015)

*Re: [Review] Manker T01 (XP-L HI V3, 1x AA / 14500)LUELLA*



kreisl said:


> I tested the *cut-off voltage* and the *stand-by current drain*.
> 
> *Cut-off voltage* is tricky to measure because when the light turns off the battery voltage recovers (slowly). However it is possible to measure it accurately with a PSU. The following are my own voltage measurements:
> 
> ...



Your result contradicts this statement from the ZebraLight web page for the *ZebraLight SC52w*:



> Builtin over-discharging protection for 14500 batteries at 2.8V cutoff



This statement makes no claim for AA. Is it possible that your testing procedure somehow tricked the flashlight into thinking you were using AA?


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## kreisl (Nov 28, 2015)

*Re: [Review] Manker T01 (XP-L HI V3, 1x AA / 14500)LUELLA*



KeepingItLight said:


> Your result contradicts this statement


you're right.

i re-tested the SC52.

fortunately i wasn't too far from the full truth!


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## _UPz (Feb 12, 2016)

*Re: [Review] Manker T01 (XP-L HI V3, 1x AA / 14500)LUELLA*

I've recently received a new T01 for a good friend and there are certain subtle changes so I proceed to update this review.













The box in which the torch arrived is identical to the previous one, but now comes with a paracord strap, very similar to what can be found in Nitecore, JETBEAM or Olight flashlights.


The strap is made of a section of custom paracord with brand logo embroidered on the outer sleeve, and also a pin for adjustment to the wrist. The strap dimensions are rather short or small.
The pre-installed anchor point has been made directly to the base of the clip, as the flashlight still does not have any holes in its body.








Aesthetically, there are a few subtle changes. The most obvious of these is the change in logo engravings, now trey again refer to the "Manker" brand rather than "Godmes" as did the model we received for reviews and apparently also came to a small number of users who bought the flashlight from CN shops.








In addition to the "new" logo it has been engraved on another flat track a warning with the correct polarity as well as the typical RoHS, CE, etc... logos








While machining is virtually identical to the version we reviewed some time ago, you can be seen as a bit of work has been made to the edges, now soften especially in the dissipating fins.


The clip has also undergone a major revision, because as I was told the thickness would be increased to add more stiffness. Indeed, the clip is now 1mm thick, ~.3mm thicker than the previous one which was a bit flimsy. Now the tension is more than good!


There is also a small aesthetic and functional change in the clip, since there are now two small holes in the central zone, which could serve to anchor the wrist strap. Clip clamp has undergone a slight change, and looks to more rigidly embrace the torch, since the increase in the thickness of the clip is not limited to his lapel.


Finally, I tested the max output of this particular production unit:







The spectacular performance with a 14500 li-ion (Sanyo UR14500P) of the pre-production review sample is slightly overwhelmed by this new version.


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## nfetterly (Feb 12, 2016)

*Re: [Review] Manker T01 (XP-L HI V3, 1x AA / 14500)LUELLA*

I wanted this light when i saw it, now I really want it.

Anyone know how it compares to the BLF 14500 light that came out in a set with the 18650 light? 

The BLF 14500 light won't work with a regular AA - although price for the set was pretty spectacular with the BLF code.


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## kreisl (Feb 12, 2016)

Fasttech has the silver-grey ano version on CNY offer (20% off) but i am not sure if theirs is the latest version. I like the silver-grey Zebralight-like color version, but seeing that my black unit is in matt black, i like the black a lot too. Matt rulez.


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## Vlada1911 (Feb 12, 2016)

Nice review and this looks like a really great light.


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## kreisl (Jan 21, 2017)

_UPz said:


> *Programming:* In the “Pro Mode” group, (…) These memorized modes are only available within the “Pro mode” group, so in the “General mode” group will be the default fixed intensities (L1, M2, H2, T3).




 @UPz, on my unit the memorized modes are also available in the "General Mode" group. I tested it. The test is very easy, e.g. by programming L1 vs L3, because there is a monumental brightness difference between L1 and L3 on my sample. L1 is real moonlight, i can directly look into the reflector with bare eyes. Yet L3 is really intense, really bright, because of the focus hotspot.

Maybe there are differences between production versions.

In any case, i swear to godd that I am in General Mode now and it's got the memorized modes from the Pro Mode group.


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