for sure, dude... for sure. me thinks the courier/postal service should open a counter at the customs for people to mail things back to themselves instead of having stuff that cannot be brought on as hand carry be confiscated simply because someone was absentminded enough not to have their penkives/nailclippers packed in their check-in. most times i just go without them simply because i wanna travel without the hassle of having check-in luggage...

it's an excellent campsite overnighter. haven't had the chance to bring her out for longer trips so can't comment much on her endurance. and again, the cool white/neutral white argument probably boils down to personal preference, but i like how my u12nw illuminates the surrounding without the harshness that i perceive with cool whites.
the grip is good and gives one the feel of industrial ruggedness rather than refined elegance as say the olight does. does feel that this fella can take the tumble and falls, although i've been very careful and hence can't really confirm that. it just feels robust. it comes with a lanyard that would fit one's wrist well and avoid that untoward fall altogether anyway. and yes, it comes with its own holster, but the holster does seem generic (i don't have other similar mankers so i'm making a guess here) rather than custom made as it's quite a tight squeeze with the clip on... and the velcro flap, whilst adequate, seems somewhat shorter than it should've been to cover the entire velcro loop strip on the body. for it to be practical, i guess you've gotto remove the torchclip to be able to just drop it in. it doesn't help when the rim is hot and you've gotto push the torch down into the holster. the clip is not reversible so any thoughts of clipping the torch within the holster wouldn't work... and even if if it did, because of the position of the clip ridge, the torch wouldn't be sitting flush against the bottom of the holster anyway. i actually left the holster at home this round and having an either holster or clip situation definitely isn't ideal. the clip works well and provides easy access but i guess if there's gonna be more movement about, then I'll probably ditch the clip and use the holster instead. just wished i could have both!
the beam is uniform and does the job pretty well for illuminating what i personally perceive to be the sweet spot of approx 10-50' upfront (at low 130lm -mid 390lm). i guess most torchlights do that anyway but the u12 has a much better field than my s1r... but that's probably because of the larger reflector also. and as i've mentioned, i have a preference for a broader beam than one with a further throw, and the u12 does this beautifully. the high 870lm also does the job pretty well in seeing what's further ahead (100' easily) and whilst the turbo at 2000lm does an awesome job to extend the reach even further, i have to admit i hardly used the turbo mode, except to test out its reach. wonder whether this function is more tactical than it is practical since the 870lm does the job pretty well as it is. but again, that's a personal preference. i know of others who just live for those high beam moments but it's like: them, "see... the beam goes all the way up the hill!" me, "so what's up the hill?" them, "no idea, we can't see that far away." i suppose the strobe/sos/beacon has its uses... but thankfully, i haven't had a need for them. hope i remember the switch sequence when i do have a need for them though. that brings me to my final point...
i think others have stated that the manker ui isn't as user friendly, and having used the u12 for the last couple of days, i have to agree. i can't remember how many times i ended up stepping up the brightness level (i'm usually between low-mid) when i actually intended to switch it off instead. not sure whether i'd ever get used to that. and yes, the constant clicking will wear out the switch in no time. so for all its robustness, its switch may be its archilles heel, methinks. and the ui sure doesn't help in that dept!
final words? it's a good performer, no doubt... but bear in mind that i do not have any similar torches to make a meaningful comparison. the s1r is, to me, a different performer altogether. as an edc, i'd have the s1r simply because of how compact it is. but in the field, the u12 definitely blows the s1r away, not because of the peak 2000lm... but because of its endurance, which was basically why i got the u12 anyway. oh, and did i mention that the neutral white is easier on the eye?

This post has been edited by WingNut: Oct 29 2018, 10:08 AM

oh, the u12 is a small thing.
i was expecting a big search and rescue piece.

the 2000 lumens is actually close to spec of the maximum output for the LED...2546 lumens...so not exactly manker's choice

the u12 UI is similar to the AA one i leave in the car, the manker e11.
but the manker mk41 is different, in that double click goes direct to turbo instead of strobe...thats what tempts me...as i then have short click to low...or double click to high.
wish manker would reprogram the rest of their lights to follow that ui.

the e11 goes direct to strobe simply because it does not have a turbo mode. the u12 DOES have a turbo mode so double-click from off brings you to the turbo setting. but u12 runs on the 20700mah battery so it's not as versatile as the mk41 if you need to replace the battery. the mk41 is very slightly shorter than the u12 (7mm) but much chunkier in diameter (+13mmØ). so again, it's a personal preference, but here's my comparison in terms of top trumps:

versatility: mk41 (can use aa batteries)
luminence: u12 (500lm more than mk41 hi which records 1500lm with 14500 batteries)
endurance: u12 (at high 870lm, the u12 lasts 3hr. the mk41 on the other hand lasts 2hrs at 520/780lm)
length: mk41 (but not by much. mk41's is 105mm compared to u12's 112mm)
diameter: u12 (physically, the u12 is 31mm... a good 13mmØ smaller than mk41s)
distance: mk41 (520m vs u12's meagre 164m)
weight: u12 (118gms vs mk41's 191gm without batteries. the u12 will trump the mk41 even more fully loaded)

the u12 is a nice carry-on and personally, ideally shaped. that said, the mk41 was actually my first choice to make use of my flashlight batteries that were laying around. and whilst the oos fiasco kinda put paid my plans of getting the mk41, i reckon the 1.2v of my powerex 2700mah wouldn't have done justice to the mk41, which would have ideally run on the 14500's 3.7v instead. so until i get the itch to buy something else, i'm happy with the u12

This post has been edited by WingNut: Oct 29 2018, 05:39 PM

oh hmm, i read the wrong thing on the u12 then...

as for the mk41... the ones here are the more desirable HI version with more throw... and actually maxes out at 1500L with 14500 unprotected...
with 4xaa it still puts out a respectable 1280L...and in terms of real life throw... perhaps about 30m less only... which at over 150m or so... well u know already the answer.

anyway i dont really bother comparing diff styles of light... so for 4xaa soda can lights... the mk41 is almost as good as it gets i guess.

then again, for me i will still stick to those with regular single / 14500 batteries...like my nitecore ea11... zebralight sc52w... and now manker e11.

ya, my bad... i was using the mk41hd as the benchmark. will go revise the figures to the hi version instead.

correct! correct! correct! soda can lights pretty much a toss between the mk41 and tn4a... but all things considered, the mk41 trumps the tn4a both in terms of looks and performance, methinks.

can see where you're going with the ea11, sc52w and e11... and yeah, the u12 is a pretty oddball in terms of batteries. then again, it's what i would categorise as the marathon runner among my collection.

This post has been edited by WingNut: Oct 29 2018, 05:56 PM

what oos fiasco? mk41? isnt that the tn4a?
anyway, i dont need either as my jetbeam sra40 is good enough... and if i need moonlight then i use something else.
just hands itchy only

my bad. mk41nw was already oos, hence considered the tn4a instead. but yeah, the oos fiasco was the tn4a.

well, we have our itchy moments. the s1r turbo is in fact an excellent edc so the u12 is one of those itchy moments to quench my neutral white thirst.

if you need moonlight then use moonlight lor...

nice. thanks for in depth review. sounds like the ui is a problem for me then.

Always needed a simple ui like hi/lo knowing manker don't come with it so was curious if it is adaptable

my personal preference for my primary neutral white light of approx 2k lumens was endurance, and the u12 ticked that box. hence i was willing to overlook the tricky ui. if the ui is your primary concern, perhaps you could consider olight's r18pro. that was something i considered also...

i wouldnt say its tricky...just have to remember to long press to off

hahaha. true that. it's just that they're in reverse order (comparing my olight and manker). for one, long press=mode cycle while the other long press=off whereas with the single click, one's off whereas the other is mode cycle. so tricky in the sense one has to remember which is which. well at least double click brings you to turbo on both

the only reason i can see why long press to off is so, is for the memory mode...as a long press from off also goes to last mode used.
wish they would just get rid of memory mode, and have direct access to both low and high...with a single or double click...no long press rubbish.

didn't quite notice the memory thingy since my last mode was in moonlight anyway

well technically it does give you direct access to low and high... but in terms of moonlight and turbo, which i don't really mind, tbh. so if you wanna bypass that moonlight thingy, just go for the long press for the memory (which can be set at low/mid) and double click for turbo. tactically, direct access to turbo is a better option than high mode

Lumintop Tool AA
Lumintop EDC01

Meanwhile I'm just gonna put my wishlists here for 11.11

EDC01 is really tempting and I feel like changing my Astrolux A01

11.11 sure makes me wanna get more stuff also... but i'm beginning to realise that my lights are being underutilized
i'm having the manker u12 with me at the moment, and it's a solid performer. the way i see it, the s1r turbo is really playing second fiddle these days. pity though... she's a solid performer also but the extra lumens do come in handy. may take advantage of 11.11 to get myself more swiss army knives instead!

as the term 11.11 implies... 1 is never enough
im still contemplating the manker mk41... mainly cos for the ui and its currently the smallest 4xaa in the market... its also shorter than ur u12.
swiss army knifes... not sure how big of a discount is possible here...for that im just waiting for a black scale outrider to be in stock and at a good price.

This post has been edited by Everdying: Nov 5 2018, 07:18 AM

v2 of S2R, the bigger brother of S1R II...




longer runtime... much longer runtime... like approximately 5 to 6 times longer runtime...

nice... but still falls short of the u12 in terms of max lumens. simpler ui, and i really like olight's more refined design, though. hmm...

okay, here's where i'm scratching my head about olight's upgrades. first it was the s1rII... now it's the s2RII. brief comparison between the s2rII and s2rI:

distance (m): 135/153 (-18)
max lm: 1150/1020 (+130)
candela: 4600/5800 (-1200)
endurance:
@400lm/@500 lm: 4h0m/3h20m (+40m)
@120lm: 14h0m/13h0m (+1h0m)
@15lm/@12lm: 100h0m/120h0m (-20h)

weight: 98.5g/101.5g (-3g)
length: 100mm/105mm (-5mm)
diameter: 23mm/23mm (0mm)


methinks not much improvement, eh? hence, whilst v2 has nicer looks, and may be a tad bit shorter/lighter, for the price, the sr2 would be the one to get (sure got discount). same like the s1r...


This post has been edited by WingNut: Nov 7 2018, 03:27 PM

Manker U12 is nice little hand warmer, especially high in lumens per dollar value. I like that Manker often offer neutral white option besides the cool white. Their machining has improves a lot over the years and being a young company, they are pretty dynamic. I love my E02Ti Nichia, but none of them is a light that I'll take with me when SHTF. Having to say that, same goes for most Olight and those newer Fenix and Surefire.

In terms of S2R Baton II upgrades, the devil is in the details... I gave away my review sample of S2R, but I'm definitely keeping this S2R Baton II due to the finer details.