Review: Manker E02. 1xAAA - XPG3 - L shapped

Manker E02; A very small flashlight with "L" design, which works with 1 battery aaa preferably a rechargeable type NiMH to get all its potential .... which incredibly offers us a Turbo mode of more than 200 lumens, the first with this type of Battery exceeds 200 (at least of the ones I know). It has an incredible and complete interface as Manker already has us accustomed, with 4 normal modes of use (plus 3 special), the lowest of them "Moonlight" fully customizable with 21 power options available to choose from the "engineering" Configuration.

I present a model in red, but there are other colors available.

Manker E02:
  • Led/Reflector: XP-G3 (also available nichia 219C) / Reflector OP
  • Battery: 1xAAA For optimum performance recommended a good quality NiMH.
  • Modes: 4 Normal (Moonlight/Low/Medium/Turbo) + especial (Strobe/SOS/Beacon)
  • Interface: Electronic switch (head)
  • Link: luxlinternas.blogspot / forolinternas.com
  • Link Ebay: Ebay E02

INTRODUCTION

Manker has been a time between us, always emphasizing by design and by power, besides very good regulation in all its models. Now with this incursion into the "L" lights, through a supercompact AAA, with the best Turbo mode that I've seen for this type of battery, surpassing 200 lumens in Turbo mode, with a very complete interface, a configurable Moonlight mode with 21 power options, they have surprised me again.

The E02 includes a quality lanyard, 2 spare Orings and a great clip that allow 2 different Powerful tail magnet that allows the flashlight to be placed on the metal surface at any angle without problems. Being a version of "Pre-production" has not included user manual, but presumably, i can suppose it will be included in the retail version.

Let's look these possible placements of the clip:

The Manker E02 is a very small and powerful flashlight, it is not the lightest in this size, but it is appreciated if we consider that it will offer more than 200 lumens in Turbo mode. Let's see the measurements (32.7 grams only the flashlight, if we add the clip 3.5 gr, and plus the weight of a battery type NiMH, the set will be 47.7 gr.):

73 mm is a very portable size, so that we have a clear idea, compare with 2 other flashligths L shapped, one AA the HL50 and another 18650; the Nitecore HC30:

DESIGN

It is structured in 3 pieces, with perfectly anodized rectangular threads, which will allow us a mechanical lock out to avoid accidental turn on, or for avoid the parasitic drain of electronic switch. Of course we also have an electronic lock out that we will see in detail later.

The Manker E02, perfect EDC, allows not only multiple placements on our clothes or on smooth surfaces like a table or shelf, but also thanks to the powerful magnet of the tail, on the refrigerator, on the side of the car for a wheel change, Also on any element of a metallic structure as in stables, pantries ... infinite possibilities.

It allows us to for example illuminate a small bathroom in comfort or place a light source on the surface of an extractor in a kitchen, a refrigerator ....

The threads are of good quality, perfect in machining, and come well lubricated.

Spring in the negative pole, and design in the positive pole that protects against inverted placement of the batteries, on the other hand if you look there seems to be a possible access point to the electronics, although in this case I have not tried.

USER INTERFACE

Manker has always been among brands that offer complete and complex interfaces with a single switch, and this is no exception. Control by the single switch located at the front end of the flashlight, over the head. In the first place I show you the scheme offered by Manker, then an explanation in the way I usually offer.

This is the control switch:

  1. We have 2 modes zones. One for the 3 normal modes, and one for the Turbo and the specials.
  2. Within normal modes, the Moonlight mode (the lowest) is highly customizable within a range of 21 possible modes, for this we must enter the Engineering mode.
  3. Customizing the Moonlight mode: with the flashlight turned off we will make 4 quick clics, the flashlight will turn on in engineering mode, with short clic now, we go upwards seeing the different powers of the Moonlight mode, there is a total of 21, when we get the Higher (going up) if we click once more, we start again from below. When we are in the mode that we like for the moonlight mode, we simply turn off the flashlight with a long press and it is already memorized in the normal sequence of modes that power.

Warning: to change between different powers with individual pulsations not too fast, if you give 2 quick clicks the flashlight interprets that you try a shortcut to Turbo mode (at least in my pre-production unit).

  1. Turn on Moonlight mode: a short press.
  2. Turn on in the last mode used: a long press.
  3. Change modes: once the flashlight is on, short clic to go in this normal sequence: moonlight, low, high, low, moonlight, low, high, .... is like a rise and fall (it is not Typical of arriving high mode back to the lowest)
  4. With a double-click from off, we turn on Turbo directly (and we are therefore in the right section of the drawing that I show, that is in the special modes section: Turbo, Strobo, Sos, beacon). In theory with the flashlight on: double click moves us between the normal modes section and the special section. This is what they tell me from the factory, since in the pre-production unit I have double click always takes me to the Turbo mode and to exit the "specials" zone I have to go with normal Turbo / Sos / ... (See diagram).

We therefore have a direct access from shutdown to the lowest mode, the highest and the last used. In addition to being able to program the lowest "Moonlight" from 21 possible, the highest 1.5 and 4 lumens, the other 19 sublumen modes, the lowest, incredibly low ....

Keep in mind that when I talk about the 4 normal modes I mean them like moonlight / bass / high / turbo. The use of the word "medium" is omitted and I do the same in the explanation, although for practical purposes, the High is really a Medium mode.

Electronic Lock out: We will need some practice for the electronic lock ou, which prevents accidental turn on. Anyway remember that as the threads are anodized, just loosen the tail a bit and there will be no risk of accidental turn on.

With the flashlight on we must do a sequence of: 1 click, then 2 clicks and then 3 clicks, then we will see how the Led is in a kind of moonlight mode ultralowwww for 5 seconds and then automatically turns off. To unlock do the same: 1 click, 2 clicks, 3 clicks. It does not seem very complicated but requires enough practice that we take the necessary cadence, the flashlight must interpret the minimum but necessary pause between each group of clicks, this mean: it is not really 6 clicks in a row, if not giving those groups with a micro-pause. I will show a video of it, so you can see that it is possible, I upload it tomorrow if I can make it.

LED / BEAM

As I have already mentioned, this unit assembles an XP-G3 Led, Also will be available the version with Nichia 219C, as optic a small reflector OP, but with a sufficient diameter that will make the projection not too flooding or too throw. We see it compared to others of its size.

1. We started with a small animation: the Manker E02 is compared to the UltraTac K18 with NiMH, in this case the E02 is clearly superior in power, and as for the beam, the hot spot less defined in the E02, makes it preferable for nearby jobs:

2.The second animation; Manker E02 versus another very usual these days, the Jet-u with NiMH both:

3. Finally an animated gif, some distance from white wall, the Manker E02 in front of the Worm V4 and Jet-u and Vs another "L" shapped the Fenix HL50 (in this case using AA battery):

PERFORMANCE

4 main modes, the Moonlight is configurable, I have selected what would be second highest within the 21 possible options, which is equivalent to my estimates to 1.5 lumens, the other higher option would be 4 lumens, and then the rest all Less than 1 lumen, some really low and with great runtimes.

The rest of the modes as you see have a good distribution .. You can miss a mode between the 2 higher modes, or at least that the high one was a greater pinch, although on the other hand later we see that it is very well regulated.

First: a detailed runtime of 6 minutes of operation after turn on Turbo mode with a Fujitsu NiMH AAA battery, without any external cooling, the luminance measurements have been taken every 15 sec. :

We have as expected for this battery format a step down time-controlled that leads to a gradual decline for approximately one minute; from 200 lumens to 65-70 lumens.

It is surprising how well they maintain with the AAA battery during those first 3 minutes the flat line of 200 lumens. Of course to enjoy in fullness of this Turbo mode we need batteries of recognized quality and in good state of use; Eneloop, fujitsu, ... etc

From Manker, it is indicated that as an emergency a 10440 battery could be used, but clearly indicating that it is for emergency, and that then only one mode would be available.

Finally complete runtime test in Turbo mode with a Fujitsu 900 mA battery, without any external cooling and measurements are taken every minute. The temperature on the surface of the flashlight (in the head area) never exceeded 42ºC:

CONCLUSIONS

A design like this is a success for Manker, in recent months there have been many new developments in the segment of AAA, but this, makes the difference:

  • - "L" design that together with a reversible clip and a sufficiently powerful magnet in the tail, offers us an almost infinite possibilities of use: it is comfortable in the hand, on a table, hooked in trouser pocket, shirt, a cinch Of a backpack, side of the car, refrigerator, any small field house, tent, .... it is clear that a AAA battery will not offer great runtimes to average powers, but makes a service of all-road flashlight.
  • - In addition to the design, the interface is of the principal atractive of Manker lights; possible direct access to 3 different modes (last used, lowest, Turbo), the possibility of setting the Moonlight mode with 21 different power options , Some really low, cause that in case of emergency and in case of absolute darkness we can have interesting runtimes despite the scarce capacity of AAA batteries.
  • - Can get more than 200 lumens with AAA battery for 3 minutes with a flat line of discharge and later can still offer us one hour and a half of 65 lumens with perfect regulation, is something to keep in mind, great work of the electronics of the E02.
  • - If you want to change something, it would be to include an extra mode of about 100-120 lumens or at least change the high for 90-100 lumens. And on the other hand, electronic locking would be interesting if it were a little more intuitive, or at least simple, although this is not a problem having at hand the mechanical lock out offered by anodized threads.

If we add to all this that there are 3 colors available and that will be offered models with Led XP-G3 or with Nichia 219C ... and that for what the manufacturer says the price will be 19.95 USD, as I have no doubt that it is one of the most desirable models of AAA at the time, or perhaps the most.

Final Score of 9/10

Sample is preproduction unit provided by Manker for review

I starting my test of new E14 II (18650/18350 rechargueable)


Sorry for the Google Translate use

Very nice review. Thanks!

great review!! One thing I wonder is this light is like many that have a turbo mode for a short time, then the output drops down. I assume this is to prevent overheating of both the light and perhaps the battery. But after 3 minutes, can you turn it off, and turn it back on in turbo mode for 3 more minutes? Another review measured the tailcap current at 1.43A vs 0.32 in high mode. with an hour and 40 minutes in high mode available with your battery, that suggests one could get 30 minutes easy at 200 lumens on that battery, albeit not continuous. Is this so?

The colour reminds me of the Klarus Mi7; it’s not red, it’s not pink. It’s like pinkish red. Honestly, this is a turn off. I prefer a standard bright red… But the light itself… pfff… appears to be a potential MVP; well done Manker!
And thanks for the review! Just look at that gorgeous flat output curve…

:wink:
Is really not bad at all this red, I have the red Mi7, I will try get his night a comparative pic red Mi7-red E02, in any case, seems that also available in grey and black (reviews in this forum by Budda and robo819 ).

Thanks all for comment.

Nice review. How long do you have to hold it to turn off?

Normally I prefer make real runtime test than meassurements of tailcap current (runtime test is continuous test, and tailcap meassures are puntual data of current, will be interesting perhaps a runtime tailcap current, this would be more useful).
The battery will not behave like full to half empty, you can not make calculations: amps, time, runtime, lumens as a simple equation.

Regards
.

Thanks for comment Kepling :+1:

Hi Gunga, I will try to measure exactly tonight with the stopwatch …. it is difficult to measure, maybe about 1 second …? :innocent:

I have the same question: Can you turn the light back in turbo mode for 3 more minutes?

Great review!

The AA/14500 version would be very interesting.

I suspected it was not linear math, but I hoped with Nimh battery that the perfromnce would be support such the ability for multiple 3 minute runs. I don’t know the mechanism for the drop down in light output (current draw). If it is simply time, I bet the NimH would support 30 minutes, or close to it, on high. If it is temperature, with long enough breaks between the turbo burst, I think the same still. I guess what I really wonder is with a 25% battery, can one still get a 2-3 minute linear turbo burst,or is the duration more like 15 seconds before it ramps down.

Some guys have asked me about cycling the Turbo again, after step down:

Here my test. At least support one new clic without problem (with a good quality battery):

Thank you, Trevi!

Now I like this light even more.

Yesss, no doubt!,
I have bought now one nichia 219C in grey in his store in ebay.

Regards

Thanks so much for this test!! I hoped/expected this sort of result. I imagine if this continued the light could overheat at some point, but I was more interested in the ability to be able to get turbo mode with a partly depleted battery.

Yes indeed! This light is available for purchase now on US ebay anyway. I got the red Nichia 219C. :slight_smile:

from China only?

yes

Gorgeous flat output!

Start watching at 2 minutes in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTpRKCJ7bvk
Around 2:15 he turns the light off.
I would estimate only 1/2 sec of holding the button down turns it off.