Review : Manker E14 II , pocket rocket flashlight (+teardown w/ interesting driver !)

[giorgoskok]

Thanks for your kind words !

I was excited with the driver , now that it is a fet+1 and charging is in a different circuit someone can have a ramping firmware without a stepdown for the cost of 1-2 resistors (for the lvp)

@SteveMidwest

Thank you giorgoskok! :+1:

Do you see signs of the clear coat in any way, on the copper head?

This is most certainly on my ‘soon to-get’ list. I LOVE that it has two pocket clip grooves also.

I am thinking about tearing mine apart, and removing the (reported) clear coat. So I can get a tad better cooling, but more importantly. That all so wonderful patina, later on down the road. :sunglasses:

Yes it has a very thin layer of clear coat or something similar .

I polished my S41 and created a patina , the one in one of the pics , it has a cool uneven patina … (i will try to get a better pic )

[SteveMidwest]

Yes, I saw that. It really is getting a nice look to it.

Did you take that coating off with some MEK solvent, or did you just buff it off with a wheel polisher?

[giorgoskok]

Just polished it

[djozz]

Thanks for the review (in progress). I see the great performance of this light but can not get over the looks, it is plain ugly to me :innocent: .

I see that the head does not have the rim that the opic can sit on (the fix that Astrolux had for the S41S) and that prevents twisting the optic when closing the bezel. So a modder’s question: are the dimensions in this light such that the optic is the correct height above the leds without damaging the domes, and that the bezel can be closed without chance of shearing off the led domes?

[giorgoskok]

If i remember correctly , optic sits better than S41 , sits all the way down …

I’ll be disassembling the light to flash another firmware , so i’ll post pics for that matter Djozz , just to be sure .

[zak.wilson (Zak)]

That stepdown is ridiculous. It’s reasonable enough for a FET quad to have a significant stepdown, but to less than 10%? Good thing it isn’t too hard to get to the MCU and flash a different firmware.

[tantrik77]

@zak.wilson

That stepdown is ridiculous. It’s reasonable enough for a FET quad to have a significant stepdown, but to less than 10%? Good thing it isn’t too hard to get to the MCU and flash a different firmware.

I completely agree. It is ridiculous. I mentioned it in the Manker thread, and haven’t gotten a response back.

[firedome]

Outstanding light! Nice review!!

[Box]

I think you should have a look again. In the description is says goes to high mode after 40 secs of turbo. They even replied saying in the final version that’s how it’s gonna be.

@Mankerlight

@tantrik77

This light needs better regulation. After 40 seconds on turbo, it steps down to almost 100 lumens. It also needs a mode between turbo and high, like a high 2. If Manker addressed those issues, this light would be fantastic.

E14 II final products Turbo: 2200 lumens last on 40 seconds then stepdown to 850 lumens

[SteveMidwest]

@giorgoskok

Just polished it

[Firelight2]

@Box

I think you should have a look again. In the description is says goes to high mode after 40 secs of turbo. They even replied saying in the final version that’s how it’s gonna be.

@Mankerlight

@tantrik77

This light needs better regulation. After 40 seconds on turbo, it steps down to almost 100 lumens. It also needs a mode between turbo and high, like a high 2. If Manker addressed those issues, this light would be fantastic.

E14 II final products Turbo: 2200 lumens last on 40 seconds then stepdown to 850 lumens

Ah that sounds much more reasonable. Slightly lower peak turbo coupled with a much more reasonable stepdown.

I have one on order set to arrive end of next week! :sunglasses:

[Box]

@Firelight2

@Box

I think you should have a look again. In the description is says goes to high mode after 40 secs of turbo. They even replied saying in the final version that’s how it’s gonna be.

@Mankerlight

@tantrik77

This light needs better regulation. After 40 seconds on turbo, it steps down to almost 100 lumens. It also needs a mode between turbo and high, like a high 2. If Manker addressed those issues, this light would be fantastic.

E14 II final products Turbo: 2200 lumens last on 40 seconds then stepdown to 850 lumens

Ah that sounds much more reasonable. Slightly lower peak turbo coupled with a much more reasonable stepdown.

I have one on order set to arrive end of next week! :sunglasses:

Lucky you. I got the s42 instead because of price. I think the manker version is so much better looking.
Did you get the XPG3 Or Nichia?

[Firelight2]

@Box

@Firelight2

@Box

I think you should have a look again. In the description is says goes to high mode after 40 secs of turbo. They even replied saying in the final version that’s how it’s gonna be.

@Mankerlight

@tantrik77

This light needs better regulation. After 40 seconds on turbo, it steps down to almost 100 lumens. It also needs a mode between turbo and high, like a high 2. If Manker addressed those issues, this light would be fantastic.

E14 II final products Turbo: 2200 lumens last on 40 seconds then stepdown to 850 lumens

Ah that sounds much more reasonable. Slightly lower peak turbo coupled with a much more reasonable stepdown.

I have one on order set to arrive end of next week! :sunglasses:

Lucky you. I got the s42 instead because of price. I think the manker version is so much better looking.
Did you get the XPG3 Or Nichia?

Ordered the XPG3. Also have an s42 XPG3 on order.

[SteveMidwest]

A batch of these Manker E14 II’s have made their way the the U.S. this week, Wednesday. But with the Blade Show going on in Atlanta, Friday through Sunday. No one has had time to unpack them yet. :weary:

[Viperkeeper]

Long time flashoholic here and first post on BLF.
I ordered a Astrolux S41 and 2 days later I saw the Manker E14ii was coming out so I ordered one from Manker before they even had it on their site. The light arrived today in a production box(smashed) not a plain brown box. I got the Nichia version and my step down happens at 1 minute and it steps down to high mode not the 100 lumens. I was worried about the 40sec step down to 100 lumens and had ordered the light before they listed the specs. I also wasn’t sure if the Nichia version would be 4000k HCRI or the 5000k 80 CRI. I received the 4000k. Just thought I’d share for anyone interested in the light as I was worried what tint and the step down.

[ToyKeeper]

Thanks! I’ve been really curious what they did with the driver, and now I know.

If the Astrolux version uses the same driver, it could be a decent mod-friendly e-switch host. Manker’s version seems a bit funky though.

[giorgoskok]

I already made a hex file of a ferrero rocher ramping firmware without led indicators , and i should test it soon on the light .

[ToyKeeper]

That’s what I put on my mother’s SRK. I would rather have used Narsil, but I only had a tiny13 available so I went with the closest thing I had.

BTW, Ferrero Rocher still needs a bug fixed… the ramp direction doesn’t always go up when long-pressed from off. And it also otherwise doesn’t reset the direction when off. IIRC, I tried to fix it 3 years ago but it made the ROM exceed 1024 bytes with indicators enabled, so I didn’t keep the fix. So… that’s a thing which could really stand to be changed as soon as I have my office reassembled.

Oh, um, and Ferrero Rocher never did get FET+1 support. It’s so old that those didn’t exist yet. That’s probably a lot more relevant than a minor ramping quirk, and modernizing the code will involve some slightly deeper changes.

[Box]

@Viperkeeper

Long time flashoholic here and first post on BLF.
I ordered a Astrolux S41 and 2 days later I saw the Manker E14ii was coming out so I ordered one from Manker before they even had it on their site. The light arrived today in a production box(smashed) not a plain brown box. I got the Nichia version and my step down happens at 1 minute and it steps down to high mode not the 100 lumens. I was worried about the 40sec step down to 100 lumens and had ordered the light before they listed the specs. I also wasn’t sure if the Nichia version would be 4000k HCRI or the 5000k 80 CRI. I received the 4000k. Just thought I’d share for anyone interested in the light as I was worried what tint and the step down.

Thanks for sharing this info mate

[fuzun]

@Viperkeeper

Long time flashoholic here and first post on BLF.
I ordered a Astrolux S41 and 2 days later I saw the Manker E14ii was coming out so I ordered one from Manker before they even had it on their site. The light arrived today in a production box(smashed) not a plain brown box. I got the Nichia version and my step down happens at 1 minute and it steps down to high mode not the 100 lumens. I was worried about the 40sec step down to 100 lumens and had ordered the light before they listed the specs. I also wasn’t sure if the Nichia version would be 4000k HCRI or the 5000k 80 CRI. I received the 4000k. Just thought I’d share for anyone interested in the light as I was worried what tint and the step down.

Thank you for information. I hope you are satisfied with your purchase.

I want to buy this too but I have a question.

This is 219c 5000k:

This is 219b 4500k:

Since you have received 219c 4000k. I want to know that which is more similar to that.