I was comparing this light to the SolarForce L2M. They are nearly identical in size except one runs on 18350’s and of course the other on 18650’s. Just for fun facts the bezels are close but not interchangeable. Low battery blinker kicks in at 3.18 Volts.
Wow, I never noticed that the pill slides out either. I’ve had mine apart and swapped emitters in it several times, but that pill has never budged and I never considered pulling on it. Then again mine doesn’t seem to heat up slowly. In fact it gets quite hot, quite quickly. So maybe mine’s just tighter to start with. Mine’s also a couple of months older and has the notched lens retaining ring, too, so it could be different in other ways as well.
Either way, I also really like this light and appreciate the full teardown. The factory UI is…okay, workable, but its not my favorite. Now that we know how to get to the driver it may be worth swapping it, or at least trying something different. Thanks!
^ Thanks. In your and ReManG's defense, it was tricky to figure out. Sounds like your version is built to tighter tolerances. If I had your light instead of mine, I might not have figured it out. Regarding the UI, It would seem that one of the board wizards could design a DD driver that has a vertical board the momentary switch. The top of the sliding pill supports the top part of the vertical board. Seems like it would be worth sacrificing in light USB charging. The USB port could be turned into a light tube and make water tight.
EDIT: Since the voltage sense resister is of such a low value, I tried straight up shorting the pads.
I only had a xpl2 XM-L2 handy to connect it to. Using a fully charged INR18650-30Q and keeping the stock 24 gauge leads, I got something like the following currents:
1 Moon - Still very low. Don't remember the current but you could still look at the emitter directly while on
2 1 amp (I think, It was late and I didn't take notes
3 4.5 amps
4 4.6 amps
5 4.6 amps
So it looks like 4.6 amps is about the max (might be slightly higher with the xpl) with just a resister mod. Next step will be to find a resistance value that give 4.6 amps in Mode 5, but still offers good mode separation.
This will be interesting, please let us know what you find…
How did you pulled the pill out? Beating smth soft from battery side?
Nice work ImA4Wheelr.
^
Thank you kindly MRsDNF 
Not knowing what was going on below the pill, I slowly walked it out from above by gently prying, pulling, jiggling, tapping, cursing, etc. Once I had it all apart I cursed one more time because I could have done just what you suggest in your question. I think the cursing is the most important part to the whole process.
Once it was taken out once, no pressure was needed to slide it anymore. There were just a couple burs holding it down.
Nice tear down. This indeed is a great light in terms of both build and performance. Much better and noticeably brighter than my Nitenumen NE01. They’re roughly similarly priced but the U11 is in a completely different quality category. It’s become my favourite 18650 EDC. And thanks to the tear down it’s good to know the quality of the innards are commensurate with the exterior. I’m going to pay more attention to other Manker lights.
Having said that, the lens on my U11 is loose. When I shake the light the lens rattles. I wonder if anyone else has this problem? Is there supposed to be an O-ring over or under the lens? How do you remove the front bezel? I suppose you’d need some sticky rubber to twist it off.
Mine rattled I used a rubber pad used for opening jars. I then placed an extra O-ring in the bezel’s recess over the lens.
Thanks texas. I doubt if I have an o-ring this size. Guess I could contact Manker for one.
This 27mm glow-in-the-dark o-ring fits great in the U11, if GITD is something you’d be interested in.
Cool. They’re blue too! Thanks!
Nice review buddy,planning to buy NW one.
Appreciate your nice review. Manker seem to be pushing the boundaries a bit. Interesting to watch and maybe buy at some point.
Thank you for the nice comments.
Nice tip.
i like it but
it is too big and heavy
my other EDC is a DQG tiny 18650, which has a completely opposite UI - hard to switch between the 2 lights
moonlight mode is too low
would like more evenly spaced [logarithmically] lumen levels
the charger is nice
the LED color is nice
the side blue LED ‘dragon mode’ is fun for about 10 minutes
this is hard to explain, but usually the reason for wider and longer heads is to get a more focused throwy beam
this is not throwy, it is semi-flood at best {which is fine for a pattern BUT…}
…
they could have made the light smaller if they were going to have that beam pattern
the DQG uses a very short TIR to focus the beam - and it makes the light about 10mm shorter, which is a LOT
these guys made a wide and long head but then orange-peeled it, wasting the focus and size
a lot of the other features [blinky modes, “super turbo”, light level programming] don;t really seem that useful after you see what they actually do
the light levels for instance, yes you can change them, but the levels you can use are not really what i want
also the turbo mode and super turbo are not very different from plain old ‘high mode’ with the batteries i use [cheap or laptop recycles]
i am not going to buy $20 batteries just to get 40% more light for a few minutes
wle
I have both the U11 and DQG 4th. Got the DQG first and it was my EDC until the U11 came along. I bought it based on positive reviews here (4wheeler’s included) and don’t regret it in the least. A good flashlight for the money.
The U11 carries deeper and has rounded edges which I find more comfortable. I like the larger switch too (the DQG’s switch is small) and its much brighter when needed. The USB charger is handy when traveling but I’ve only used it once and that was to make sure it worked.
All this said I’d gladly swap the UI from the DQG unto the U11. Much more intuitive for EDC use than the oddly organized UI on the U11.
The U11 is a good flashlight and I will EDC it again today over the DQG but the UI holds it back from greatness.
yes i would like to redo the UI also on the U11.
it annoys me that the thing has a USB port, and i KNOW that is how it is initially programmed, so you could redo it from there, but no one knows how.
i actually wrote to manker from their web site, and asked that - no reply.
wle
I'm ordering one from the US warehouse for $29.56 with freeme's code: MKU11. Shouldn't be a problem getting a Attiny85 driver in there. Planning on doing it to a T01 as well, and lot less space in the T01 from the looks of it. It's very similar to this light: http://www.gearbest.com/led-flashlights/pp_71296.html, which was and still is one of my favorite budget lights, but the U11 is a lot more quality. I got 85/Narsil on one of those Zy-T11 clones. My Manker U21 given to me by Manker for a review died, but it was a blessing in disguise - now it's throwing a lot further and more lumens with a dedomed XPL V6 0D and running Narsil utilizing the RED LED under the switch cover, and powered by a LK 5000 of course.
I've taken my T01 apart and appears to dis-assemble the same exact way as this U11. The U21 scales up from these designs with a separate USB charger board, but I tossed it.
I got my light, actually just ordered another. Wow, it's really a nice carry light/EDC. I got it all apart, as done here. Mine needed more help to get the pill out - it seemed like a tight press fit. I used a screwdriver and hammer and tapped all around the edge of the driver, around the spring.
I totally mis-judged the spacing from the pictures above. There basically is no room between the driver components and the shelf the MCPCB sits on. I don't think a piggyback board can fit in there with the stock driver stripped, even with the OSHPark thin boards. Ideally would be best for a driver board replacement, as ImA4Weelr shows. Securing the switch board though is the challenge, as well as getting a properly sized driver to file down and fit. I think it's do-able, but not easy, maybe not pretty.