Manker MK41 HI & HD (XHP35 HI / HD | 4 x AA / 14500) In-depth Review

Nice review, thanks
Love this format.

Good review! I bought one based on your review because I like lights that have that versatility of cells, and it’ll be a very usable light and Manker makes decent stuff. I’m almost married to my E11.

Edit: I got my HD version today. Yes, again I’m reminded as I hold this solid light that Manker makes nice lights. I have yet to test it outside tonight. :slight_smile: It can’t get dark soon enough. I have 14500s in it right now, but I suspect that I’m going to run Eneloops in it. Moonlight mode is valuable to me.

The light is small enough for a “finger lanyard” so I assembled one and it’s wearing it as I write. It’s also small enough to drop into a jacket pocket if one doesn’t want to use the case.

So I tested the MK 41 further tonight. Even with eneloop pros this light is a powerhouse of light. I have the HD version and it easily brightly illuminates things out to 100 yards. I have my moonlight mode set to 6 and that’s plenty bright enough even for these old unaided eyes in the house with other lights off. What would setting #1 be good for? Night vision. I didn’t test it but I have no doubt that if one adjusts the gain of the NV unit it would work fine at this light level. But an active emitter would be my last choice for NV as an aggressor; it would be a “shoot here” target if one uses emissive NV for targeting. But it would be OK for use in a trench, foxhole, or under a poncho as long as it was shut off if one was above the cover. Exceedingly dim white light is also perfectly OK with dark adapted eyes; that’s why red light works for pre night ops. But I’m no longer discussing moonlight mode now.

Sure, it’s more impressive with 14500s in it, but I can’t see me ever putting those in this light again. It just begs for eneloop pro cells with little meaningful performance lost but huge runtime gained.

thanks for turboBB 's great review.

I’m impressed…going to look into this light.

Anyone happen to know the best/cheapest place to buy it?

Great review, Thanks!

Do a ’net search for it. I saw it for $55.95 or more everywhere the search turned up sellers. I ordered directly from Manker to give them the profit from their design, but if you want it sooner there are Ebay sellers. It took 2 weeks for mine to arrive.

Fantastic review and photography TurboBB!

Nice review. Thanks. Esp’ for the hidden turbo engineering mode.

I like the little light and particularly it’s ability to use any AA that I can put into it. In keeping with that my 2nd, and last, mk41 arrived today and the packaging is more for the mass market. It arrived not in a brown cardboard box, but in cutesy packaging designed for display and 4x bigger than what is required. Too, my first light wasn’t serial numbered, this one is. Otherwise it appears to be the same light.

Nice light! Thanks for the review. I had not heard of this light before. It’s great to see 1500 lumen output in a 4xAA light. All the others I’ve seen cap out in the 900-1100 lumen range, so this is a big improvement.

Yeah, 4xAA lights certainly are not EDC, but I don’t find 18650 lights small enough for EDC either. So once you put a large reflector on an 18650 light to give it some throw (like a C8), it’s almost as big as a 4xAA light anyway.

Running this on 4x14500 unprotected sounds kinda worrisome, though. Do the extra length of protected 14500’s fit?

Maybe a

- Emisar D4 or

  • FW3A
    are OK, both are under 10cm

Fantastic, very informative review.

Thank you :slight_smile:

Awesome

How do you turn off the side switch?

If you mean the LED's in the switch, AFAIK, you can't disable those.

Thanks for the good review. I ordered the MK41 HD NW last night. Looks like a really solid, good performing light.

Got my MK41 HD NW today. Definitely wins out in the coolness factor compared to all my other 4 x AA lights. It's a good looking light. I should have chosen the cw as the nw that came with mine is very yellow and far from neutral. Manker does not list their cw or nw values on their website. I think for the price they are asking, they should include what K each emitter is using in order to gain some confidence with future purchases.

Amazing review and images.

Would anybody who owns the light be so kind to measure the diameter of the shelf that the MCPCB sits on?
Also, would be curious to know the diameter of the reflector opening on the LED side.

Thanks!

Hi, I have Manker MK41 HD NW, and I use Eneloop Pro. So, in 0.1 lumen mode, I block the flashlight, unscrew the battery cover, screw it back in, unlock the flashlight, and 0.1 lumen mode works again. And the flashlight does remember the moon mode that I chose. But if you don’t block the flashlight and unscrew the lid, the 0.1-5 lumen mode disappears and the flashlight burns brighter. If you lock it again, unscrew the cover, screw it back in, unlock it, then the flashlight will turn on again in 0.1 lumen mode.

On Eneloop Pro in dragon eye mode, the diode is lit in very minimal mode and the power button flashes slowly. On Mankers’s Li-Ion battery works fine.

Hi there old thread! Does any body have one of these they are interested in selling? Sorry to ask in a "non sales" thread, but I figured I would go right to the source! Thanks!