Review: Manker U11. Built in charger, compact 18650 Eswitch Light. 3.6A on Turbo, Beamshots added.

So, quite possibly these are very dumb questions. Figured I’d ask them anyway.

Is there enough play in the wires on the MCPCB that you can remove and replace the stock emitter without disconnecting the board from the driver? Or is that just a dumb idea? If you try to reflow an emitter on a board with wires attached, are you likely to inadvertently desolder the wires?

There’s one video that uses a soldering iron to reflow the emitter, and one that uses a lighter (and I saw another that appears to use a small butane torch)—what heat source did you use? And what would you recommend? Could you go totally crazy and use a candle? (I get that, at a minimum, you’d have to clean some soot off the board before putting it back in…)

I use a cheap (harbor freight $3) plug in iron for my reflow. It gets way too hot with N regulation, so a 20-30 second press on the bottom of a board is all I need to get the old emitter off. To put the new one on, it is about the same time.

As for the emitter wires, yes, they would desolder themselves. It is best to take the board out first and put it into one of this helping hands thingies (harbor freight $7).

I like the soldering iron method, the torches are hotter, and I like the slower soldering iron way, gives me time…

Not dumb questions…

Thanks for the replies.

I’ve ordered the equipment and tools I should need, I’ll post how it goes once I get a chance! Plenty more tutorial videos and such to watch in the meantime…

One other option: I reflow my stuff, including my mods to this light, on my stove top. If you’ve got a glass-top stove that isn’t inductive then you’re set, just do it right on the “eye”. If you’ve got electric coils or gas you can do it in an uncoated frying pan or on top of a chunk of steel plate.

Just drop the mcpcb (or any other single-sided board) on the surface, turn heat to 8ish, almost all the way on, and watch it heat up. If youre doing an emitter swap the new one should be close to the heat so its kinda getting slightly preheated, but not directly over the heat. When you see the solder liquify again, do the swap. Carefully drag your mcpcb off of the hottest parts, turn off the stove and walk away. Let it cool normally. 10 minutes later put it back in the light.

Please keep in mind that most solders melt at about 200C, not a kind thing to do to a dry pan. A coated pan would be outgassing some nasty stuff at that point, and a thin pan could warp. So don’t use your best kitchenware for modding.

Huh, that’s an interesting suggestion too.

I’ve got some cast iron I could use for that, a pan that may be thoroughly ruined already but at a minimum needs to be reseasoned.

Its really no different from using a laboratory hot plate, which is a perfectly acceptable way of reflow soldering, except you have a lot less heat control with your stovetop so you have to pay a lot closer attention. It works very well though.

Can anybody owning a Manker U11 confirm that there is a noticeable difference from low1 to low2 and low3 ? Same on the mid levels ?
I have got a ZL 62w and there is a obvious difference among those levels.

I do not have a ZL, but the U11 I have does show three separate levels on the pro mode when setting the levels. If I recall, they also showed difference on the clamp on meter. The levels are not giant steps between L1- L2-L3 or M1-M2-M3, but they are visually different.

Hope this helps

I’ve got a U11 and some Zebras. Yes I can definitely tell the difference in all the sublevels on the U11, but my recollection is that they’re not as significantly different as with a Zebra. The Zebra has wider spacing. It’s almost like the U11 modes are “clumped” together and the zebras are more linearly spaced.

But that’s just my recollection. I’m not near my lights to check at the moment.

When you go to set the sub-levels on the U11, it cycles through L1-L2-L3 until you pick one, and then the same for medium and high. You can definitely tell the difference between the sub-levels in each group, especially when you’re seeing them on a continuous uninterrupted loop like that.

This flashlight looks really nice. I am looking for a flashlight of this size that is primarily for self defense. I have a few Surefire lights, and they are amazing pieces of equipment. Everything they make is great…from flashlights to silencers (a bit on the expensive side though). I have lots of their equipment and nothing has ever failed me.

In any case, when working….I often carry a FURY P3X single output tactical flashlight. I can turn it on and zap about 1000 lumens in a suspect’s face. Thing is…the light is a bit big and I have to carry a lot of other equipment on me. There is the smaller FURY P2X…that is closer to the size of the U11. BUT…it lacks half the power (500 lumens) and there isn’t a USB charger. The U11 is about the same size but has double the strength. I just need one mode though…HIGH. I have a Surefire Sidekick that I keep on my key chain. When I hit the button on that, I can program the cycle of modes. I can have it fire 300 lumens, or I can have it fire 15 (I think). It works well, but need more light for my purposes.

So, I am looking for a flashlight that is small and compact that can fire as much light into someone’s face as possible. I read that I can go from OFF to TURBO with the M11 (the highest mode) with a push of a button….but there is a slight delay. This is my question. In my line of work (protective services)…I can’t have a delay. If we are talking 10ths of a second….perhaps I’ll be ok. I read .5 of a second. I don’t know. In any case, if the delay is too long…I can’t use it for work. If it might be too long…perhaps someone can suggest another light? Thank you, gentlemen. (OR….can the M11 be modified to fire just one mode, TURBO?)

Welcome to BLF!

According to what you need, let me tell you right away that you don’t want the Manker U11, while it is many times more compact it won’t very impressive compared to the SF P3X in terms of brightness. It doesn’t have permanent direct access to turbo and takes a while to turn off.

For a P2X-size tactical light with 1,000lm output and direct access to turbo there are quite a few options, this is one I can think of right now but there are many more:

Eagletac T25C2 with XP-L HI, brightness level is pre-selected so it will always turn on the the desired mode:

Of course we also have members who can build custom lights that can outperform any off the shelf lights of the same size, and you’ll be surprised at the price :wink: we have builds where you can get 3,000lm+ for the same size of the P2X, momentary brightness of course due to extreme heat.

Thank you for the welcome and for the advice. What you showed me looks nice, but it’s still a little on the large side. Looking for something shorter….a USB set-up would be nice, but if there isn’t anything like that available, I guess I’ll have to do without the USB.

Nitecore MH20GT with XP-L HI, has integrated USB charging and press-hold access to turbo.

And feel free to start a new thread so we don’t derail this one…

My bad, you are right….I will start a new thread. I looked at Nitecore…but only found the MT10C model. This looks far better. THANKS!!

Well I finally did the swap, and let me say I was astonished when the light turned on when I was done putting it back together.

Beamshot of the original XP-L V5 (look at that sickly green!):

Beamshot of the replacement Nichia 219C (much better!):

(Both beamshots taken with the same settings, and ‘daylight’ white balance)

Original emitter in place:

Turns out there was very little play in the wires:

MCPCB before:

And after (I ended up reflowing by touching the soldering iron to the bottom of the MCPCB, rather than going the stovetop method):

My crappy solder joints:

I ended up resoldering the wires to the MCPCB in place, with it back inside the head of the light, because otherwise there just wasn’t enough play in them. There was much swearing but apparently it worked!

Thanks for your encouragement!

That looks fantastic to me… You can clean the MCPCB with a qtip and alcohol, otherwise all looks good… Glad it was successful and you like it more now…

Thanks for the compliment and the tips. I was in a hurry to reassemble it and see if it worked, so I skipped cleaning it — and now the ugly buildup on the MCPCB is conveniently hidden behind the reflector where I can’t see it. I might eventually clean it off anyway, but I’m too lazy to do it right now…

I searched for any mention of PWM and didn’t find any. I apologise if this was asked already. Does this light use PWM to achieve lower modes?

I’m about to do an emitter swap as Somnabulism did. BUT:
I can’t decide between the two emitters lying on my work desk before me:

Nichia 219c….OR….XPL Hi V2 3C

What do you think folks? What will be the dis/advantages of both options in this light?

Please help me decide!