Code now public! BLF A6 FET+7135 Light. Short 18350 tubes and Unanodized Lights Available

Kloepper_Knife_Works · August 29, 2015, 1:23pm

I think if the 4 you get are as good as the 4 I just received you’ll be happy so long as lego-ability with the X6 isn’t a big concern for you. I checked one of mine, definitely not interchangeable.

Lilien · August 29, 2015, 1:25pm

This seems to be the same with mine, I can get it to work (light up), if I screw on the tailcap with way to much force, but I fear the electrical contact is then still not optimal and over time it will wear out the threads even with grease.
What to do?

dudunphy · August 29, 2015, 2:43pm

Sand some anodized off your threads? I know not preferable for tail cap lockout. :~

jack-bkk · August 29, 2015, 3:12pm

DavidEF:

jack-bkk:

DavidEF:

nisse:

So the thread problem is only a problem if I was looking forward to moving bits and pieces between the A6 and the X6?

Well, mostly. Some people found their hosts had loose threads and they didn’t like it. Some had tight threads that were hard to turn, and they didn’t like it. If you get one that has reasonably fitting threads, and you’re not trying to fit any of these parts to any other parts in the world, you should have nothing to complain about. What I’m worried about is the shorty tube we requested to be made for this light. How is the QC going to be for that? :~

david the shorty tube has to be made to this standards or it wont fit same disadvantage here it wont fit on any other light but this would be amazing if it fit

but in the end of the day what can we do we cant expect them to make new tubes its a mistake a stupid and annoying one but not the end or the world the light is great ui is too so at least now we got the drives which been so often requested 5555 and we got the tube as freee gimmick

jack, I applaud your positive outlook, but here’s the deal. Yes, we got an awesome driver. That’s great! However, I probably would not have bought this light, no matter how good a deal it is, if I’d known there would be QC issues. On top of that, Manker has shown ill will toward us by using MAP to shut down a Group Buy that WWEFANS was trying to do. If they hadn’t done that, I might be willing to chalk the QC issues up to just a mistake, possibly trying to run too quickly on our behalf, etc. But, not now. They’ve shown malicious intent.

At this point, I’m sincerely hoping that when I receive my four lights, I don’t regret having spent the $100USD to get them. I’m not a skilled modder, like a lot of people around here. And, I don’t have a lot of extra money laying around to waste on buying junk lights. I need them to work perfectly and be decent quality.

Edit: Oh yeah, about those shorty tubes. Here’s my fear on that. In order to “work” with this light, they now “have to” be made to the same low quality standard. With this light, they had a goal, a target - match the existing EE lights - and they failed. What makes anyone think they’ll match these threads now? And, if they do match, then it will prove that they didn’t try to match the threads before, even though they did with the samples. To me, that shows malicious intent. They had the right settings to match the threads, and they decided not to!

David i agree with you but we shouldn’t mix up their GB with MAP issues and this light its 2 different things and you knew that issue before so why take manker then in first place ??

i work with china all the time and i inspect factories get samples inspect production line during production it often happens that i get samples from factory A the production start in factory B and we end the production in factory C which was build in the first weeks of production in factory C.

the problem is if you confirm samples they can come from any factory but one thing is clear this samples are the specs so manker cant get away with that easy another point is in my opinion this solder points we saw in the pics are far from professional if you compare them with many other Chinese light they look more like a back yard production. nothing against back yards i saw amazing quality come out of some back yards.

modder or skilled or not we are all customers there and pay money so the light have to be ready to use.

pilotdog68 · August 29, 2015, 3:24pm

I was addressing Hank’s comment that $25 was worth it for him just for the LED and Driver, even without the host.

I’m not sure what you’re trying to say.

ReManG · August 29, 2015, 3:32pm

OK, so some of the members here have not even received their SE A6 and are worried about the quality… Going into a situation with a preconceived notion sets you up for failure. In this case, any negative QC issues will be standing out and you WILL be disappointed. Not due to the light, but because you are holding on to a negative view when initially looking at something.

I bought ten of these, I am very happy with them. They were not pre production samples, but off the shelf lights ( I had to wait for one of the tints to restock prior to shipping ) so I have a rather large sample compared to most. I sat down and tested every one of these when I got them in. I did not have any issues with any of mine…

None were DOA and while side by side with my stock Eagle Eye A6 I bought months ago, they are not the same, the Eagle Eye falls by the wayside for UI, Brightness, and even tint (EE is NW, one of each tint on the Manker A6, and I like all those tints better). The EE finish is better, threads tighter, general workmanship is better, but this is when the light is not on that I notice these things…. Lights have a binary state, and both states influence their impression of them. On and Off are flashlight states, I will take the superior ON state over the inferior OFF state everytime….

Read my PFlexPRO M1 review if you want further information on this. It is simply a Convoy M1 on the outside, the function/build quality sets it apart, way apart. The same with this SE A6 in my opinion. I do not mind the loose threads, anyone that actually uses their A6 and has a possibility of getting dirt into them will understand this… I highly doubt that I will ever pinch an O-ring in the Manker SE A6, the threads allow enough movement to prevent it. I really would have liked the ability to lego with other lights, but what other lights lego across brands right now?

There is no holy grail of flashlights, or this forum would be a single post of “BUY THIS LIGHT” and a whole bunch of boring replies echoing the feeling of pulling a sword from a stone and realizing you are king or queen of your personal light that will do everything for you….

If you have a QC issue, take it up with BangGood, they need to know too… There are plenty of work-arounds for the issues like the tailcap not going down to contact the body, don’t do this unless you NEED the light, just contact BangGood and get them to correct it. Something that wrong is just wrong, on a $5 light or $500 dollar light. Informing others here on the disappointment you feel is good too, but for those that have not received the lights yet, go into it with an open mind…. It is a heck of a flashlight for $25 shipped…

MG1 · August 29, 2015, 3:54pm

You can add me to the list of those with problems. No moonlight mode.

Angel_Martinez · August 29, 2015, 3:57pm

You can add me to the list of those with problems. No moonlight mode. 5A

hank · August 29, 2015, 4:06pm

Quite a few. It’s a feature widely reported and valued. ’oogle “lego” in the search box and sort by date for many more

Let’s play “Guess That Lego’d Light!!!” | BudgetLightForum.com
Let's play "Guess That Lego'd Light!!!" - LED Flashlights – General Info - BudgetLightForum.com

I set up a thread to collect answers to that very question, but now I realize there are already several others over the years.

What Legoes with What? | BudgetLightForum.com
What Legoes with What? - LED Flashlights – General Info - BudgetLightForum.com

This one was darn well close to that, up through the final samples produced. It could have been THE contender.

Now we get to see if Manker follows the DealMetic path.

Thank you. That’s how to do it right.

B42 · August 29, 2015, 4:20pm

DavidEF:

jack-bkk:

DavidEF:

nisse:

So the thread problem is only a problem if I was looking forward to moving bits and pieces between the A6 and the X6?

Well, mostly. Some people found their hosts had loose threads and they didn’t like it. Some had tight threads that were hard to turn, and they didn’t like it. If you get one that has reasonably fitting threads, and you’re not trying to fit any of these parts to any other parts in the world, you should have nothing to complain about. What I’m worried about is the shorty tube we requested to be made for this light. How is the QC going to be for that? :~

david the shorty tube has to be made to this standards or it wont fit same disadvantage here it wont fit on any other light but this would be amazing if it fit

but in the end of the day what can we do we cant expect them to make new tubes its a mistake a stupid and annoying one but not the end or the world the light is great ui is too so at least now we got the drives which been so often requested 5555 and we got the tube as freee gimmick

jack, I applaud your positive outlook, but here’s the deal. Yes, we got an awesome driver. That’s great! However, I probably would not have bought this light, no matter how good a deal it is, if I’d known there would be QC issues. On top of that, Manker has shown ill will toward us by using MAP to shut down a Group Buy that WWEFANS was trying to do. If they hadn’t done that, I might be willing to chalk the QC issues up to just a mistake, possibly trying to run too quickly on our behalf, etc. But, not now. They’ve shown malicious intent.

At this point, I’m sincerely hoping that when I receive my four lights, I don’t regret having spent the $100USD to get them. I’m not a skilled modder, like a lot of people around here. And, I don’t have a lot of extra money laying around to waste on buying junk lights. I need them to work perfectly and be decent quality.

Edit: Oh yeah, about those shorty tubes. Here’s my fear on that. In order to “work” with this light, they now “have to” be made to the same low quality standard. With this light, they had a goal, a target - match the existing EE lights - and they failed. What makes anyone think they’ll match these threads now? And, if they do match, then it will prove that they didn’t try to match the threads before, even though they did with the samples. To me, that shows malicious intent. They had the right settings to match the threads, and they decided not to!

Oh come on, don’t be a drama queen here, it is completely illogical to declare “malicious intent” with this. Its a Chinese company trying to make a profit, probably some lazy/shortcutting employees causing issues here, they certainly didn’t sit down and say “ooh, let’s try to destroy this light or cause harm to David”

I completely understand being unsatisfied with them, I haven’t gotten mine yet and I’m not jumping on any bandwagons. But malicious? We all know those flashlight companies are out to get us!

jack-bkk · August 29, 2015, 4:39pm

B42:

DavidEF:

jack-bkk:

DavidEF:

nisse:

So the thread problem is only a problem if I was looking forward to moving bits and pieces between the A6 and the X6?

Well, mostly. Some people found their hosts had loose threads and they didn’t like it. Some had tight threads that were hard to turn, and they didn’t like it. If you get one that has reasonably fitting threads, and you’re not trying to fit any of these parts to any other parts in the world, you should have nothing to complain about. What I’m worried about is the shorty tube we requested to be made for this light. How is the QC going to be for that? :~

david the shorty tube has to be made to this standards or it wont fit same disadvantage here it wont fit on any other light but this would be amazing if it fit

but in the end of the day what can we do we cant expect them to make new tubes its a mistake a stupid and annoying one but not the end or the world the light is great ui is too so at least now we got the drives which been so often requested 5555 and we got the tube as freee gimmick

jack, I applaud your positive outlook, but here’s the deal. Yes, we got an awesome driver. That’s great! However, I probably would not have bought this light, no matter how good a deal it is, if I’d known there would be QC issues. On top of that, Manker has shown ill will toward us by using MAP to shut down a Group Buy that WWEFANS was trying to do. If they hadn’t done that, I might be willing to chalk the QC issues up to just a mistake, possibly trying to run too quickly on our behalf, etc. But, not now. They’ve shown malicious intent.

At this point, I’m sincerely hoping that when I receive my four lights, I don’t regret having spent the $100USD to get them. I’m not a skilled modder, like a lot of people around here. And, I don’t have a lot of extra money laying around to waste on buying junk lights. I need them to work perfectly and be decent quality.

Edit: Oh yeah, about those shorty tubes. Here’s my fear on that. In order to “work” with this light, they now “have to” be made to the same low quality standard. With this light, they had a goal, a target - match the existing EE lights - and they failed. What makes anyone think they’ll match these threads now? And, if they do match, then it will prove that they didn’t try to match the threads before, even though they did with the samples. To me, that shows malicious intent. They had the right settings to match the threads, and they decided not to!

Oh come on, don’t be a drama queen here, it is completely illogical to declare “malicious intent” with this. Its a Chinese company trying to make a profit, probably some lazy/shortcutting employees causing issues here, they certainly didn’t sit down and say “ooh, let’s try to destroy this light or cause harm to David”

I completely understand being unsatisfied with them, I haven’t gotten mine yet and I’m not jumping on any bandwagons. But malicious? We all know those flashlight companies are out to get us!

no sure they didnt sit there and said lets screw up the threats of this light make it not fit with any other

but i have a manker light this soldering done on the driver dont look like manker so maybe one the way from banggood to the final factory there came a factory and said we can do this tube faster cheaper better but they didnt had the right tool to cut the previous sampled threads….

the threads can cut by tools which are quiet costly or can be done on the lathe which also have to have to right set as a metric or not and tools can be new (tight) or used (loose fit).

manker is in guangzhou so is banggood so would be interesting someone from bbg ever go to the factory and check ?? maybe we could get pics.
one thing is quiet clear we all know the chinese can make very very good qulity flash lights so its not that they dont know whats going on on the market.

B42 · August 29, 2015, 4:51pm

jack-bkk:

B42:

DavidEF:

jack-bkk:

DavidEF:

nisse:

So the thread problem is only a problem if I was looking forward to moving bits and pieces between the A6 and the X6?

Well, mostly. Some people found their hosts had loose threads and they didn’t like it. Some had tight threads that were hard to turn, and they didn’t like it. If you get one that has reasonably fitting threads, and you’re not trying to fit any of these parts to any other parts in the world, you should have nothing to complain about. What I’m worried about is the shorty tube we requested to be made for this light. How is the QC going to be for that? :~

david the shorty tube has to be made to this standards or it wont fit same disadvantage here it wont fit on any other light but this would be amazing if it fit

but in the end of the day what can we do we cant expect them to make new tubes its a mistake a stupid and annoying one but not the end or the world the light is great ui is too so at least now we got the drives which been so often requested 5555 and we got the tube as freee gimmick

jack, I applaud your positive outlook, but here’s the deal. Yes, we got an awesome driver. That’s great! However, I probably would not have bought this light, no matter how good a deal it is, if I’d known there would be QC issues. On top of that, Manker has shown ill will toward us by using MAP to shut down a Group Buy that WWEFANS was trying to do. If they hadn’t done that, I might be willing to chalk the QC issues up to just a mistake, possibly trying to run too quickly on our behalf, etc. But, not now. They’ve shown malicious intent.

At this point, I’m sincerely hoping that when I receive my four lights, I don’t regret having spent the $100USD to get them. I’m not a skilled modder, like a lot of people around here. And, I don’t have a lot of extra money laying around to waste on buying junk lights. I need them to work perfectly and be decent quality.

Edit: Oh yeah, about those shorty tubes. Here’s my fear on that. In order to “work” with this light, they now “have to” be made to the same low quality standard. With this light, they had a goal, a target - match the existing EE lights - and they failed. What makes anyone think they’ll match these threads now? And, if they do match, then it will prove that they didn’t try to match the threads before, even though they did with the samples. To me, that shows malicious intent. They had the right settings to match the threads, and they decided not to!

Oh come on, don’t be a drama queen here, it is completely illogical to declare “malicious intent” with this. Its a Chinese company trying to make a profit, probably some lazy/shortcutting employees causing issues here, they certainly didn’t sit down and say “ooh, let’s try to destroy this light or cause harm to David”

I completely understand being unsatisfied with them, I haven’t gotten mine yet and I’m not jumping on any bandwagons. But malicious? We all know those flashlight companies are out to get us!

no sure they didnt sit there and said lets screw up the threats of this light make it not fit with any other

but i have a manker light this soldering done on the driver dont look like manker so maybe one the way from banggood to the final factory there came a factory and said we can do this tube faster cheaper better but they didnt had the right tool to cut the previous sampled threads….

the threads can cut by tools which are quiet costly or can be done on the lathe which also have to have to right set as a metric or not and tools can be new (tight) or used (loose fit).

manker is in guangzhou so is banggood so would be interesting someone from bbg ever go to the factory and check ?? maybe we could get pics.
one thing is quiet clear we all know the chinese can make very very good qulity flash lights so its not that they dont know whats going on on the market.

Yeah it may be a big problem, someone may have massively screwed up, people may be very unhappy (maybe even myself), but malicious?
Malicious:

ma·li·cious
məˈliSHəs/Submit
adjective
characterized by malice; intending or intended to do harm.
“malicious destruction of property”
synonyms: spiteful, malevolent, evil-intentioned, vindictive, vengeful, malign, mean, nasty, hurtful, mischievous, wounding, cruel, unkind

kronological · August 29, 2015, 4:56pm

+1

2_DOGS · August 29, 2015, 5:11pm

My Manker A6 is 100% right out of the box.
Great UI - Thanks TK and Wight et al.
The 1A tint looks fine to me.
EE may have had better CQ but I’m very happy with what I got.
Thanks for the GB.

Joat · August 29, 2015, 5:29pm

I doubt that these lights were produced one at a time with the threads hand fitted, which is the old artisan method that lead to non interchangeable parts. If you are going to make 1000 tubes and then make 1000 heads and 1000 tail caps and then put them together into 1000 lights you need to have a spec or a print for each piece and build them to that print. The print should call out all the important dimensions, ID OD length, thread diameter, thread pitch etc. If someone made 1000 body tubes with a thread pitch different than the spec then none of the heads or tail caps would fit.

Maybe that’s what happened, the body tubes were cut wrong and they found the problem before all the tail caps were machined and they changes the thread spec to make it work, or maybe they they changed the print before they started production. I don’t know if it was a simple mistake, poor quality control, or intensional change so that the parts won’t fit together with the EE A6’s.

No mater how it happened I’m disappointed, I thought I was buying a light was was the same as the production A6 I have but with a really good driver a better MCPCB and a slight machining change to allow for a clip. What they made don’t match the production A6 so now I have parts that look the same on the outside but have threads that don’t match, I can’t just swap my spring bypassed X6 tail cap over to see what difference in output is. I can’t just put my triple head on the new tube to go to get the deep carry clip for my EDC light.

I was thinking about getting in on the X6 v2 group buy, partly I was waiting to see how the quality of these turned out. I was also excited to get short tubes, and extend tubes but I’m not going to be buying them from Manker now either.

jack-bkk · August 29, 2015, 5:48pm

Joat:

I doubt that these lights were produced one at a time with the threads hand fitted, which is the old artisan method that lead to non interchangeable parts. If you are going to make 1000 tubes and then make 1000 heads and 1000 tail caps and then put them together into 1000 lights you need to have a spec or a print for each piece and build them to that print. The print should call out all the important dimensions, ID OD length, thread diameter, thread pitch etc. If someone made 1000 body tubes with a thread pitch different than the spec then none of the heads or tail caps would fit.

Maybe that’s what happened, the body tubes were cut wrong and they found the problem before all the tail caps were machined and they changes the thread spec to make it work, or maybe they they changed the print before they started production. I don’t know if it was a simple mistake, poor quality control, or intensional change so that the parts won’t fit together with the EE A6’s.

No mater how it happened I’m disappointed, I thought I was buying a light was was the same as the production A6 I have but with a really good driver a better MCPCB and a slight machining change to allow for a clip. What they made don’t match the production A6 so now I have parts that look the same on the outside but have threads that don’t match, I can’t just swap my spring bypassed X6 tail cap over to see what difference in output is. I can’t just put my triple head on the new tube to go to get the deep carry clip for my EDC light.

I was thinking about getting in on the X6 v2 group buy, partly I was waiting to see how the quality of these turned out. I was also excited to get short tubes, and extend tubes but I’m not going to be buying them from Manker now either.

+1

Vene67 · August 29, 2015, 5:50pm

Great flashlights, all works well after study how to get special modes as well.
Thanks to everybody developing this GB and lights.

Joat · August 29, 2015, 5:55pm

I will be taking one of mine apart tonight to measure to make sure that spacer I made for the EE A6 fits, if is does I’ll be sending stock off to the machine shop on Monday.

manxbuggy1 · August 29, 2015, 6:14pm

I am still hoping to get mine in soon.

hank · August 29, 2015, 6:24pm

I am still hoping the “out of stock” delay is due to an agonizing reappraisal and correction at the production end.
Fix it, orphan the early thread as incompatible with anything, make a big run with the specified thread that legos — and I’ll buy three or four more made to that spec.

Then my three original unique-thread lights will become unique collectors’ items, like postage stamps with the airplane upside down.

Hey, there’s always hope.