Manker E14 III 18350 Quad Emitter Flood Flashlight

The Manker E14 III 18350 flashlight is a flashlight for all flood.  As part of the muscle combo, it is more of an EDC-type light.  Read on for some testing, and thoughts!

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Official Specs and Features

Here’s a link to the official product page.

Versions

There’s just one type of E14 III.  However, it’s available with 18350 (default) and 18650 tubes.  Also, there are two emitter temperature options:  cool white, and neutral white (seen here).

Price

Alone, this light is $54.95.  That is a pretty great deal alone.  As a “Muscle combo,” which includes both cell tube sizes and the MC13 head, the price is $109.95.  That’s not a terrible deal, too.

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Short Review

I have a long history of loving this style of light – I had the Astrolux versions (still have!).  Something about the black anodized aluminum body with the copper midsection – I just love it.  This one is no exception.  I love it!

Long Review

The Big Table

Manker E14III
Emitter:	Samsung LH351d (4000K CRI>90)
Price in USD at publication time:	$54.95
Cell:	1×18350
Turbo Runtime	High Runtime
LVP?	Yes
Switch Type:	E-Switch
Quiescent Current (mA):	?
On-Board Charging?	No
Claimed Lumens (lm)	4000
Measured Lumens (at 30s)	1311 (32.8% of claim)^
Candela per Lumen	2.6
Claimed Throw (m)	155
Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s)	303lux @ 3.398m = 3499cd
Throw (Calculated) (m)	118.3 (76.3% of claim)^
All my Manker reviews!

 

Manker E14III
Emitter:	Samsung LH351d (4000K CRI>90)
Price in USD at publication time:	$54.95
Cell:	1×18650
Turbo Runtime	High Runtime
LVP?	Yes
Switch Type:	E-Switch
Quiescent Current (mA):	?
On-Board Charging?	No
Claimed Lumens (lm)	4000
Measured Lumens (at 30s)	1421 (35.5% of claim)^
Candela per Lumen	2.5
Claimed Throw (m)	155
Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s)	320lux @ 3.273m = 3428cd
Throw (Calculated) (m)	117.1 (75.5% of claim)^
All my Manker reviews!

^ Measurement disclaimer:  Testing flashlights is my hobby. I use hobbyist-level equipment for testing, including some I made myself. Try not to get buried in the details of manufacturer specifications versus measurements recorded here; A certain amount of difference (say, 10 or 15%) is perfectly reasonable.

What’s Included

Again this is the Muscle Combo package!  So what I got might not be the same for just the E14 III.

• Manker E14 III Quad Flashlight
• Manker MC13
• Lanyard
• Charge cable (USB to USB-C)
• Spare o-ring
• Manuals

Package and Manual

Again, Muscle Combo packaging.  If you buy only the E14 III, it’ll likely be different.

The lights ship like this – very close together.  They don’t mar each other, though.

And since there’s so much copper in the E14 III – exposed, uncoated copper – this light is in a sealed package.

Build Quality and Disassembly

The 18350 is the marketed way this light exists, so from here down I’ll basically show that option first and the 18650 body second.  Since I got the Muscle Combo, the 18650 tube was part of my package, but you can purchase it individually and separately too.

There’s a good bit of copper exposed here – this is really the lineage of the Manker E14 series lights.

The head looks equally at home on either the 18350 or 18650 body.

The threads on both tubes are anodized, lubed, and smooth.  One thing you’ll notice when putting the head on this light is that it seems to cycle through the modes…. I haven’t figured out a way to avoid this.  It’s a little annoying.  More than a little.

There’s minimal branding, but it does include the model and BLF, and a serial.

The body has ridges, but no knurling.  This is probably one thing that makes the light very attractive to me!

Both the head and the tail have springs.

Here you can see the inner sleeve.  Since this light is a tail e-switch light, there has to be a power supply to the switch at all times.  This sleeve accomplishes that.

Size and Comps

Size: 71.2mm (2.8″) length x 28mm (1.1″) head dia. x 25.8mm (1.01″) body dia.

I measure it as 72.24mm (long, 18350) x 28.05mm (head) x 25.79mm (body), and 100.31mm for the 18650 setup.

Weight: 82.8g (2.92oz) w/o battery, 109g (3.84oz) w/ battery

I weight it as the following: 42g (head), 38g (18350 body), 52g (18650 body).

If the flashlight will headstand, I’ll show it here (usually the third photo).  If the flashlight will tailstand, I’ll show that here, too (usually the fourth photo).

Honestly, both sizes of this light are absolutely perfect.  They’re “right” in the same way a TorchLAB BOSS appeals to me.

Here’s the test light with the venerable Convoy S2+.  Mine’s a custom “baked” edition Nichia 219b triple.  A very nice 18650 light.

And here’s the light beside my custom engraved TorchLAB BOSS 35, an 18350 light.  I reviewed the aluminum version of that light in both 35 and 70 formats.

Here’s the “old version” (which isn’t really much similar) – the Astrolux S41.  This one has Nichia 219b, and of course, is great!  But the E14 III is much smaller and much more refined.

Retention and Carry

Each body has its own clip.  Not only that, the clips are different.

The 18350 body has a single-screw clip, which in itself is pretty unusual.  The clip fits into a slot, so it won’t twist or wander.  And there’s a hole in the center which allows for removal.

The 18650 body clip is just a standard friction fit variety.  It’s nicely finished though and provides great ease of use.

There’s also a lanyard hole on the tail end of both bodes.  The lanyard hole can be seen above on the 18650 body.

Power and Runtime

With the default 18350 body, the E14 III runs on a single 18350 cell.  Since both ends have springs, various 18350 cells should work just fine.

The cell is installed in the usual orientation:  positive terminal toward the head.

I should note that some of the kits do ship with a cell.  Mine did not.  There was an option to select “with cells” and I didn’t select that option.

Here are a couple of runtimes with the 18350 body.  Again, the 18350 is the default body, so this is what you should expect.

The thermal management on the High output is quite active!

Output on medium is very stable.

Since I have the combo, I also have the 18650 tube.  The cell of course still is installed the normal way.

Here are runtimes for the 18650 body, too.

Even though I didn’t order cells with my kit, I still received the charging cable – USB to USB-C.

But there are no charge graphs, since charging is on-cell, and not on-light.

Modes and Currents

Mode	Mode Claimed Output (lm)	Claimed Runtime	Measured Lumens	Tailcap Amps
Turbo	4000	55m	1421	–
High	1000	1h15m	646	–
Middle	400	1h34m	312	–
Low	180	4h39m	153	–
Moonlight 5	–	–	45	–
Moonlight 4	–	–	26	–
Moonlight 3	–	–	7	–
Moonlight 2	–	–	~1	–
Moonlight 1	0.5	82h	well under 1	–

Pulse Width Modulation

No PWM on any mode.  Just one more thing to like about this light!

For reference, here’s a baseline shot, with all the room lights off and almost nothing hitting the sensor.  Also, here’s the light with the worst PWM I could find.  I’m adding multiple timescales, so it’ll be easier to compare to the test light.  Unfortunately, the PWM on this light is so bad that it doesn’t even work with my normal scale, which is 50 microseconds (50us). 10ms.  5ms.  2ms.  1ms.  0.5ms.  0.2ms.  In a display faster than 0.2ms or so, the on/off cycle is more than one screen, so it’d just (very incorrectly) look like a flat line.  I wrote more about this Ultrafire WF-602C flashlight and explained a little about PWM too.

User Interface and Operation

There’s a single tailswitch on the Manker E14 III.  This switch is an e-switch and has very low action.  There’s also a tritium slot in the center!

The action is very low, and the switch is clickable from any part or angle.

Here’s a UI table!  The user interface is a bit unusual…

State	Action	Result
Off	Click	Memorized mode (LMH only)
Any	Double Click	Turbo
Off	Hold	Memorized Moonlight mode (one of 5 “moonlight” outputs)
On	Click	Off
On (Moonlight Group)	Hold	Moonlight cycle (lowest to highest)
On (LMH Group)	Hold	LMH cycle (lowest to highest)
Any	Click 4x	Lockout (noted by 3 flashes of emitters)
Lockout	Click 4x	Unlock to LMH group (Mode Memory)
Any	Click 3x	Strobe group (Strobe memory)
Strobe Group	Hold	Strobe advance (Strobe > Beacon > SOS)

I’ll be honest, the graphic provided by Manker is hard for me to process.  But it seems to work fine.  It’s very unusual for the Moonlight to be set up like this, and all but the lowest two don’t really seem like “Moonlight” to me.  Would I change it?  It’s novel, that’s for sure, and I really don’t hate it.  It’s like direct access to two separate groups at almost all times, instead of having to switch between them.

LED and Beam

The emitters seen here (four) are Samsung LH351d, in neutral white.  Cool white is also available – and probably what the light is rated with.  As a result, I’m not surprised that the output measured is grossly below the claims.  There’s a lightly frosted optic (which I intend to replace with the narrowest spot optic I can find – the Carclo 10621).

While still great, and I’m happy Manker offered an NW version, they’re a little bit off-color for me.  Green or yellow, I can’t quite put my finger on it.

Also included is a glow gasket!

These beamshots are always with the following settings:  f8, ISO100, 0.3s shutter, and manual 5000K exposure.

Tint vs BLF-348 (KillzoneFlashlights.com 219b version) (affiliate link)

I keep the test flashlight on the left, and the BLF-348 reference flashlight on the right.

I compare everything to the KillzoneFlashlights.com 219b BLF-348 because it’s inexpensive and has the best tint!

Conclusion

What I like

• The look.
• Copper is great for dealing with heat.
• 18650 and 18350 support
• Tritium slots!
• The muscle combo was a great deal, while available
• Size for a quad is respectable

What I don’t like

• Output is much (much) lower than claimed.
• The User Interface is very unusual
• Yellow emitter temperature

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Notes

• This light was provided by me for review. I was not paid to write this review.
• This content originally appeared at zeroair.org.  Please visit there for the best experience!
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