Mini Review of On The Road M3 Pro

I’m a fan on the original M3, but the lack of built-in charging made it difficult to use as an everyday carry light. So for a while I was carrying the Jaxmnve M3 which is a clone of the OTR M3. That clone has some pretty annoying levels, though. I was glad to see that On The Road has release their new version called the M3 Pro that has built-in USB Type-C charging.

OTR says the new Pro model is 3mm longer, but you can hardly tell.

It’s got an xpl emitter compared to the xml2 of the original M3, on the right.

The new one has a black switch cover which seems to be installed from the back side instead of the front. This switch cover can be rotated if you push and spin. So I’m not completely sure how waterproof this is.

The original M3 clip had a shiny black finish, the little nub that catches on your clothes is a little bit tighter and the fit to the light was a bit tighter. The new clip is almost the same except for a matte black finish, a little bit more space under that nub and a more appropriate tension to attach to the light.

Here is my chart of amp draws on all five levels. This was taken using the UNI-T UT210E clamp meter. The M3 Pro is in the bottom right. You can see that most of the levels are the same as the original M3, in the top left, except for medium and high.

Parasitic drain was a super low 43 microamps.

Here are the lumen outputs from my TA Lumen Tube calibrated with a Maukka light. I tested all 3 at the same time using the same battery. They are all CW.

As you can see, the medium and high levels are a little bit higher on the new model. The Moonlight levels were too low to register so I’m assuming somewhere below one or two lumens. The turbo level is just a little bit less even though their amp draws were very close. I’m not sure why, but it’s probably not a big deal.

The charger pulled 0.94A at 5v. Just like the U16, the M3 Pro has a blue switch led that blinks when power is first applied. A red led turns of when charging (and for the low voltage warning) then turns blue when fully charged.

There’s still room for improvement in this light. I’d like to see them get rid of the high mode and add a level between Moonlight and Low. Going from 1 lumen to 120 lumens is a pretty big jump.

Thanks and good review.

Thanks for the review, it is a very nice light.
I agree on the mode spacing. Manufacturers are very stubborn in doing that wrong.

What’s the difference between the M3 Pro and the U16? Also, where did you purchase the M3 Pro from? Everywhere I see it, it doesn’t come with a pocket clip.

The U16 is approximately double the weight of the M3. It is noticeably bulkier and was too big and heavy for me to want to carry around on a daily basis. Other than that, they are very similar and have the same functionality.

I bought mine from the On The Road store on AliExpress. Just send them a note that you would like the pocket clip. They included it for free.

http://s.aliexpress.com/eU7BzqaQ

Awesome, thanks so much for your help! One more question, do you have the CW or WW M3 Pro? Since it seems like you don’t use it, just a thought, but would you consider selling your U16?

I have CW. These lights (M3, M3 Pro, U16, U18) are a bit warmer than normal. People say the NW versions are warmer than expected ( borderline warm white) and all my CW versions are a bit warmer than I like, maybe 5700-6000K instead of the normal 6500K you typically see with CW lights. So keep that in mind.

I’m not interested in selling.

Jason, have you noticed severe parasitic drain in this light?

I charged a battery some weeks ago, used the light few times and put it aside, with the tailcap tight.
Now I measured voltage and it is 3.20V :zipper_mouth_face:

Once it drained a battery below 2.0V and now I noticed this…

Any clue?

I measure a super low 43 microamp parasitic drain. Have you tried measuring yours?

Hum, I’m not sure if I could measure it accurately with my multimeter. It gave me a value of 002 or 0.02 depending on the setting I was using. But again, I am not sure if I did it correctly nor if I have the proper tool for that.

In any case, I find it very weird. BTW, this time the light had the tailcap tightened while on the first time it happened, it was slightly loosen…
I took the battery out now so that it doesn’t drain again, in one way or another. :person_facepalming:

Just remove the tail cap and put one probe on the battery negative and one on the bare metal part of the battery tube.

You need to move the positive probe to measure amperage. Preferably uA, but if you don’t have that setting, use mA. The negative probe stays on COM/negative. Be careful not to turn the light on while measuring these low currents and put your positive prove back to Volts when your done.

43 uA (microamp) is the same as 0.043 mA (milliamp).

Here’s the best picture I have. It’s showing how to measure a harder type of light. The probes are backwards, but my meter works both ways.

I can turn the selector switch to uA for more accuracy if I want.

I have the M3pro and the original.When I screw tho bottom sometimes the button blinks with a blue light.Is it normal?This happens only in m3pro

Mine does the same: otherwise the light only comes on when charging (red then blue). I really appreciate the mode lock feature but miss a moonlight or firefly mode.

The blue light is normal.

It has moonlight mode. They call it ultra-low.

I didn’t know what you were referring to so I looked through the manual. Sure enough it has a feature I didn’t even know about, I can choose a brightness level and then hold down the button for 2 seconds and it will give me a confirmation blink. Then I can turn the light on and off at that level with a single fast click instead of having to press and hold to turn the light on and off. This is a really nice feature!

Thanks Jason. Will try again tonight and check the values!
I guess I was doing it differently, but will try this way!

Thanks again :+1:

And BTW, the mode lock is quite nice indeed :wink:

Nice review. Good insights as well.

Instead of making this kind of measurement, I did another type of experiment with the M3 Pro to check the battery drain.
2 days ago (21st July, night) I measured the voltage of the battery outside the M3 Pro. It marked 3.58V. I put it back into the light and never turned the light ON. Only the blue LEDs from the switch gave signal when screwing in the tailcap completely.

Yesterday (22nd July) I repeated the process and in the morning it marked 3.48V. Yesterday at night, it marked 3.43V.
This morning (23rd July) it marked 3.41V.

NOW, 23rd at night, it marks 3.01V!

I cannot explain this.

I will leave the battery inside the light and check it again in the morning, to see how drained or depleted it will be…
It is annoying to perceive that this light is draining the battery somehow… :zipper_mouth_face:

Can you turn this flashlight on while it is charging? That is one of my favorite Thrunite features.

Yes, it functions normally while charging.