Review: Manker U12 (EDC, 20700, Rechargeable, XHP50 II)

I’m into 21700 lights because it seems the largest format that can be comfortably mouth-held. :wink:
Also, close to 26650 in capabilities while significantly smaller.
Also, being the next standard it’s bound to receive a lot of development, so we can expect it to be the largest format that has top-quality cells.

20700? They don’t appeal to me.

Yeah, also what I got, 20700 was “mistake” and 21700 should be produced now.
There are first cells with 4800mAh (pretty good for the size) and in future they promise around 6000mAh :slight_smile:

Thanks for the review.

is possible to buy somewhere or is it still just a sample? any issues now? looks interesting really

Just putting in my 2 cents worth. It’s 20700, I get it’s not 21700. But it’s a very small for the battery light with a built in charging port. 4000 mah instead of 4800 but still beats the 18650 3500 with the current needed for full LED potential. How often have you run a battery dead walking the dog at night. It is what it is and It’s smallish EDC. My complaint is their poorly designed bezels and NO warranty if you bought from anyone but them on their site.

Are there any other lights similar in size that have USB-C? If not I might have to get this one (once reviews confirm the sample issues are resolved).

I haven’t heard of ANY lights using USB-C. This is the first. Then again, I’m not really checking out all the latest flashlight designs. Micro usb can do 2A, so I’m not sure why they are switching. Maybe because newer phones use it?

I think Wuben uses USB-C as well.

For me there are 2 reasons to prefer type-C:

  • my phone uses it
  • it’s symmetric, so no time wasted trying to plug it the wrong side

Has anyone seen it for sale? I see it on ebay for $69.95, but I would hope there is a coupon price somewhere.

The extra battery length makes me wonder if it has a protection circuit added.

manker official sell it already…but…i would also waiting for any coupon…its almost emisar price…

AliExpress has them, on CW and NW! They stopped being on sale for a while, but they are back!

As far as I can tell, no coupons around for this one! :frowning:

soo,i never had a flashlight with this led…i am not able to compare it with my second choice Emisar…
but as i know,Emisar is extremly bright only for a few seconds?? so maybe this is more usable…or?runtimes are also important…who is able to confirm it?

well…if anyone is interested ….video on youtube shows,that this model is not brighter than the previous one with xpl…sadly…

What are you talking about?
Surely the xhp50 is going to outperform an xpl.
Do you have a video link?

i mean this:

i would like to be mistaken:) but …still is it too expensive…

I think your getting turned around by the person who made a comment on the video, not the video itself. Blackbolt2099 does not know what he is talking about.

The U11 has 1,050 lumen and the U12 has 2,000 lumen. So the brightness is double.

The U11 has a throw distance of 252 meters.
The U12 has a throw distance of 164 meters.

I think this is where the confusion is.

The U11 has a small hot spot that goes further, but does not light up a big area.

The U12 has a bigger hot spot that lights up a bigger area, but doesn’t go as far.

I tried to find hot spot sizes of both lights and the U12 looks about double the diameter (over 4 times the surface area) of the U11. Hopefully we will get some side by side reviews to see the difference in hot spot sizes.

Have you ever seen a zooming light? You’ll notice that the bigger spot does not go as far as a smaller spot. You can make the hot spot tiny and go really far, but you only see a small area. So you have to decide for yourself what is important to you. If you want maximum distance in a small light you can get a Convoy C8 for about 450 meters throw, but the hot spot is small and not practical for close up use.

I would say the big hot spot on the U12 is great for close up use. I would prefer it for walking around at night as opposed to the U11 which is weaker in brightness.

thank you Jason:)
hm…iam more into floody ones.they are bright enough…who need to see every night 300 meters?
i will see.thanks:) yes,the guy confused me:)anyway,its possible to buy it in Europe from local sellers…interesting:)

Got my U12 a few days ago. Some more info:

- Moonlight mode is customizable anywhere from 0 lm to around 50 lm in 21 steps.

- Finally, Manker is putting true NW led instead of WW, unlike the U11.

- Measured standby current is 240 uA (indicator off) and 2.8 mA (indicator on).

  • Serial number, better feel of the button (not stiff like U11).

Do you have anymore comments or updates on this light?

Any QC issues with your light?

Like mentioned earlier; I’m also guessing the battery has an added Protection Circuit added to it because otherwise I don’t think the OP would have had a problem fitting it in a modern charger. Have you been able to fit the battery into an external charger?

Have you tested to see if a bare 21700 flat-top cell will fit in the light?

My u22 came with moonlight set to 0, did your u12 come that way?

I’m wondering if they will start selling this with an updated tube for the 21700, they are using the 21700 in the u22. I have the u22, but bought it without battery since I have several 21700, but I don’t know if I can trust the built-in charger with an unprotected battery so I always charge it externally. I can’t find a place to buy the u12 without the battery or I would probably do that.

I think these lights (u12, and u22) remain expensive because they know with these batteries they will likely not sell a lot of them right now, and they may have trouble sourcing enough bare cells for their batteries also. The 20700 may be getting harder to get, not sure about the 21700, but based on price of these batteries I can see many people just sticking with the tried, true, and beautiful 18650.