Manker MK37 (sbt90.2) - anyone have it? Thoughts on it?

Everyone has been complaining about moonlight being too high. Now Manker offers you a choice where you should be able to find your sweetspot. I think the problem is the general ‘low’ mode not being low enough…. it should have been somewhere between between 50 and 80 lumen. Now you have this big jump from moon to low. On the E14 III at least.

And what ramping moonlight feature am I missing? My MC13 has 5 moonlight levels to choose from.

blueb8llz, I emailed Vinh, he said Turbo can only be activated by a double click, memory only works for the lower modes. The light is available on his site.

Thanks for that. Bummer, but it’s not a deal breaker. I will most likely purchase one over at Skylumen.

Any examples of an efficient driver, TIR optic, SBT90 LED thats much cheaper?

Yes, I’d be interested in a much cheaper equivalent of a light like this too.

Manker will be releasing the U22 III, using the same Optic and LED choice.
Essentially a more compact MK37, with less heat sinking and a lower price.

Very interesting if true. Glad I waited on purchasing the mk37

Would be very sweet If it comes with usb c and supports 21700. I’d love a K1, but the diameter is just too much.

Edit: just saw the pictures from their Instagram. It does look very nice. Extremely tempting!

^ that looks Awesome!

Just got my MK37vn in from Vinh. As far as I know all he does is a delid of the SBT90.2, which improves output and throw by ~5-7%.

First thing first is, the knurling on the tailcap and body is really rugged! Almost too sharp and course, but definitely very grippy. It digs into your skin quite well— good or bad. Overall size and heft, plus not being top heavy from a big head makes the light feel very nice in the hand, though.

The beam profile is more reflector like than I thought, and it’s like a narrow+deep reflector type beam profile, meaning smaller hotspot, and larger corona. There is definitely some spill, but not as noticeable as as a traditional reflector, because the edge of the spill is a little more diffuse than the hard edge of a reflector. Compared to the optics in my MF01/MT07, I can see noticeable spill. Compared to a traditional reflector, the spill isn’t anywhere as bright however, but still noticeable. So I wouldn’t say the output is almost entirely in the hotspot, because there’s definite spill this optic produces, but it’s a far-cry from reflector spill. One cool thing though, is you get very little off-angle glare as another person looking into the light compared to a traditional reflector, because of the way the optic is designed. There is also a ring around my corona as well,. On the positive side, the light seems very well focused, and there’s distinct pedal shapes on the corona itself, that are equally spaced out and sized, meaning great centering.

Comparing turbo burst to the MT07, which is modded to have 7 White 2mms (cslpm1.tg), putting out 7700 lumens and 115kcd (Vinh’s measurements), to the MK37, which has 1 sbt90.2, outputting 5100 lumens and 252kcd. The 1 sbt90.2 in the larger, beefier MK37 body gets hot much faster, and is almost too hot to touch at the heatsinks at around 30-40 seconds. The 7 White2s in the MT07 stay cooler longer. This makes the turbo on the MK37 purely a burst feature, and only useful for 30seconds to 1 minute at a time unless in freezing conditions, and that would only probably extend that runtime by mere seconds. The SBT90.2 is such a power-hungry LED, I just don’t think it’s a sensical choice for any host that’s under the size of say, a BLF-GT. If manker’s numbers are to be believed, however, and if the light can sustain constant output at 1100 lumens while achieving 40kcd, that seems to be the sweet spot for this light.

The UI was a bit disappointing to me. On paper it reads fine, but I really miss the option to cycle to regular output levels from a long press from off. From Anduril or Zebralight UIs, you can long press from off to enter moonlight, or the lowest mode, and keep it held down to progress in brightness. Doing so on the Manker leaves you on moonlight cycling purgatory. Double click from off or while on still gives turbo however, which is very welcome.

These are all initial impressions without outdoor use, but so far they’re mixed, mostly due to UI and beam profile. (I knew what I was getting into with the SBT90.2’s heat output based on my experience with the Acebeam K75.).

I can’t wait to take this outside and let it shine! I will also do a runtime test with the 1100 lumen mode to see if it can handle the heat.

Edit: doing the runtime test at 1100 lumen setting, and the light is only warm after 15 minutes, and output seems to have stayed the same over that amount of time, so having 1100 lumens and 40kcd that seems very sustainable in something the size of the MK37 is really nice!

Thanks for your impressions Twisted Raven. I will be curious to see which beam pattern/light you will prefer in real world use.
It looks like it strikes a nice balance of TIR and Reflector.

I am very curious to see how the beam is on the Osram White Flat version in this TIR. SBT90 might be too much power for a smaller host like U22, but the Osram will be better matched.

Acebeam’s newest lights have to be what looks like a very similar optic to these Manker lights, and the cslpm1.tg in those is putting out 422kcd. Not bad!

Thanks for your review twisted. Not sure how I feel about the ui either regarding the moonlight. But what surprises me is how hot it gets in that short amount of time. My kr1vn with the same led 5000 lumens will go 45 seconds to 1 minute amd it’s a much smaller light.
I’m still on the fence with this light. Especially after seeing the u22 version 3.
I hope that u22 version 3 has sbt90 option

It could be different thermal implementations on these lights. I don’t have the equipment to measure actual output over time on the Manker, but visually, it looks as though the output degradation isn’t that drastic on turbo. I saw zeroair’s review of the Imalent RT90, for example, and it shows the output on turbo to start at 4600 lumens, but drop down to 2700 lumens at 30 seconds, and 1000 lumens at 1 minute— quite drastic! It could be that the Manker’s drop is less drastic. With the Manker, the cooling fins get warm after 20 seconds, hot after 30 seconds, and too hot to touch after 45 seconds.

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This 2 degree optic looks very similar to the one that’s in the Manker MK37. The beam profile the MK37 has with the SBT90.2 is less than ideal imo— small hotspot, huge corona, something which you typically see of reflectors that are too narrow/deep for their led. Seems like this type of optic would benefit greatly from a much smaller die.

Twisted , thank you for all of this feedback and info. Regarding your thoughts on the optic, so you think the osram option would be good for this light then?

I think depending on your use priority, it might be the better option. I stand corrected on the throw numbers of the Acebeam with this optic. I originally quoted a light with a 10mm larger head. Acebeam has a light with what looks to be this exact same optic, and the Osram puts out ~250kcd throw with it, so equal to the SBT90.2 on turbo. The ~400kcd number was a light with a 10mm larger optic.

I think one of the Osrams would be a better suited fit if you want higher throw for longer sustained outputs, while the SBT90.2 gives you the best of both worlds, with large hotspot+corona and equal throw potential, but only for bursts. I am finding the 1100 lumen mode quite nice with the SBT90.2, as it’s very sustainable, but throw is only 40kcd.

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