Review: Manker MC12 (EDC Compact Thrower, 1x18650, Micro USB rechargeable, Osram)

MC12 was sent to me from Manker for the review.
The MC12 is a small EDC thrower, powered by a 18650 cell and with a OSRAM KW CSLNM1.TG emitter.
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It comes in this box, with a micro USB Rechargeable Manker 18650 with 2600mAh capacity, clip, lanyard, manual.






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The light is longer that most regular EDC lights (134mm long and 40 mm of head diameter), and with a wider head because the MC12 is dedicated to throw. You can see the very small OSRAM emitter, in a smooth and wide reflector. The glass has AR coating.


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The tailcap (only part you can take apart from the light) is U shaped and offers a compromise between easy of access to the forward mechanical clicky, and tailstanding.

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The positive contact pole is a spring

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The threads are square cut and anodised, so physical lockout is possible

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UI
The UI is pretty straight forward: You keep progressing between the modes (Low, Medium, High, Turbo, Strobo, in loop) with a soft press, and then click fully when you reach your desired level. After 5 seconds, the light will memorise the output.
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Output and runtime
Measured with the provided battery




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Beamshots
Three at 140 meters.


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The house is at around 300 meters.

Note that I use the 3.2” exposure time for most pics, but this time was lowered to roughly match the what my eye saw.
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My thoughts
The light is well built and finished.
The Output matches the specs and the runtime curves are flat. Note that the battery I used is a 2600mAh battery, using a higher capacity battery will produce noticeably longer runtimes.
The outputs are well spaced and the UI is fine, although I would prefer not to go through strobe each time I pass through the levels.
I was surprised by how much does this little light throw, without resorting to huge reflectors or high output. A relatively low output, small LED focused in a well designed reflector, is able to reach considerably long distances even at high mode (around 300 lumens). The spill is narrow and starts a few meters from the user, but it is quite bright for a thrower light.

I would like this light to come with a pouch and a NW emitter.

Thanks to AntoLed, P.P, Won, Zampa.

The horrible Manker UI that groups turbo with strobe is what prevents me and a lot of people from buying their lights. Manker is killing their own business with their UI that almost everyone dislikes. Otherwise, they have interesting flashlight designs.

Thanks for your review.

I’ve had mine for 2 months or so and love it. Its a very impressive little thrower. Cycling through strobe wasn’t an issue for me since I rarely ever cycle trough levels though. And the led is noticeably warmer than 6000k, using a phone app I measured 5100k. Dependability has been good too I’ve used it several times a day every day and its functioned flawless.

Manker has this wonderfull sawtooth UI with turbo/strobe/beacon/SOS/whatever on a second mode layer (double click to switch between layers). Why hasn’t it been used here?

Beautiful little pocket thrower, btw.

Also I wanted to add a couple photos. The op’s show off the light well and are very high quality but the “in the hand” shot makes it look bigger than it really is in my opinion. (thats what she said lol) The small size is one of its best qualities though. I have what I would consider average or a bit smaller that average size hands.

Gotta add the super foggy (almost raining) shot too. It looked like a 100ft light saber:)

Does it have tactical momentary use without fear of jumping into other modes?

And why is there still a step-down with such low lumens?

Negative. The ui is very basic. You could just always have/leave it in turbo or strobe if your main priority was tactical use though.

I have a green light version

Is the head completely glued? This light would be a good candidate for a driver with better UI :smiling_imp:
Thanks for the review :wink:

Couple of quick questions about this light:

  • Does it take normal flat tops too? I’m guessing the cell it comes with is extra long if it has USB charging built in.
  • What’s the body diameter? Looks like about 25mm from the photos.

Thanks

I like the look of it. UI is not so good.

I decided to buy the light a few days after writing that and wrote a review of the MC12 so I could answer my own questions.

To save you having to read through the 2500 words and loads of beamshots:

  • Normal flat tops work but if you shake the light then it can change modes :frowning:
  • I measured the body diameter at 23.9mm

Just curious, may I ask what phone app measures tint? I understand light sensors on phones vary, but sometimes I’d just like to find out if one flashlight is slightly warmer or slightly cooler (our eyes can probably be “fooled” easily at times, and hoping the sensor in a phone may be less “fooled”)?