Manker Striker Titanium Tactical Flashlight Review
The Manker Striker is a nice tactical tactical flashlight made fancy by using titanium! This two-mode light has great throw and is simple!
Official Specs and Features
Here’s a link to the Manker Striker Titanium tactical flashlight product page.
Versions
There’s only one version of the titanium Manker Striker Ti. Manker also makes an aluminum version, of which there are three body colors: black, gray, and white.
Price
The Manker Striker Titanium tactical flashlight sells at FlashlightGo.com for $139.99!
Short Review
I appreciate this light because it fills a void – it’s a fancy tactical flashlight. That might sound useless or pointless – why build a tactical light out of titanium? It doesn’t matter! The Manker Striker still fills the needs of a tactical flashlight but also is nicely made out of titanium!
Long Review
The Big Table
| Manker Striker Titanium tactical flashlight | |
|---|---|
| Emitter: | Luminus SFT-40 |
| Price in USD at publication time: | $139.99 at flashlightgo.com |
| Cell: | 1×18650 |
| Runtime Graphs | |
| LVP? | Yes |
| Switch Type: | Mechanical |
| On-Board Charging? | Yes |
| Charge Port Type: | USB-C (on cell) |
| Charge Graph | |
| Power off Charge Port | – |
| Claimed Lumens (lm) | 2300 |
| Measured Lumens (at 30s) | 1122 (48.8% of claim)^ |
| Candela per Lumen | 42.5 |
| Claimed Throw (m) | 500 |
| Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s) | 1343lux @ 5.953m = 47594cd |
| Throw (Calculated) (m) | 436.3 (87.3% of claim)^ |
| Claimed CCT | – |
| Measured CCT Range (K) | 6500-7700 Kelvin |
| Item provided for review by: | flashlightgo.com |
| 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
- Manker Striker Titanium tactical flashlight
- Manker 2600mAh 18650
- Charging cable (USB to USB-C, with USB out)
- Lanyard
- Spare o-ring
- Manual etc
Package and Manual
This little plastic case is actually quite nice. I don’t always love this type of container but… this one seems worth keeping around.
Build Quality and Disassembly
At the price (around $150) you might wonder if the Manker Striker is actually titanium. I won’t say that I can answer that With Science™ but based on my experience with these things, I’ll say that this certainly feels like titanium.
The build quality is nice. That super spikey strike bezel is reversible and in fact removable, so don’t get tied on that if you hate murder bezels.
The threads are fairly smooth but here’s where you’ll probably notice that the light is really titanium. The threads feel very much like titanium threads.
Both the head and tail have springs, as tactical lights should.
Below you can see the light with that strike bezel removed. On the light body there at left, you can also see just the rim of a sort of “internal bezel” too. That allows you to use the light without the bezel attached.
Regardless of that, the bezel is reversible, too!
Both the head and tail come off the body, but the body is not reversible.
Size and Comps
134.86mm (with strike bezel “out”)
123.44mm (with strike bezel “in”)
39mm (head diameter)
27mm (tail diameter)
20.6mm (body diameter)
185g with battery
If the flashlight will headstand, I’ll show it here (usually the third photo). If the flashlight will tailstand, I’ll also show that (usually in the fourth photo).
Here’s the test light with the venerable Convoy S2+. Mine’s a custom “baked” edition Nichia 219b triple. A very nice 18650 light.
Also above is 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.
Imagine a super shorty Manker Striker Titanium tactical flashlight!!
Retention and Carry
There are a couple (or few, even) of ways to carry the Manker Striker Titanium tactical flashlight. First is the pocket clip, which comes attached to the light.
This clip attaches only on the switch end, and allows fairly deep carry. Because the pocket clip is black and the rest of the light is so remarkably bright, I’d say the clip doesn’t really match at all. But it does work fine.
Clip hug!
Next up is the lanyard, which attaches on the tactical ring. That ring is removable, but is held in place by the tailcap. Thus, the lanyard attachment is very secure. You could also attach the lanyard through a hole in the pocket clip.
Don’t forget that you can use that tactical ring for tactical things, too! It’s great for grip.
And finally, that plastic case that the light ships in is reasonable for carry, but wouldn’t really allow quick access.
Power and Runtime
The Manker Striker Titanium tactical flashlight is powered by a single lithium-ion cell. Manker includes the necessary type – a 18650. This particular cell is rated at 2600mAh and has a button top.
It goes into the light in the usual way – positive end toward the head.
The light has only two modes, and I’ve tested them both. You can see the output below. It does seem that the output claim of 2300 lumens is not met, and output drops off fairly quickly.
The light does exhibit low voltage protection, though, which is appreciated.
Charging
While the Striker itself does not have charging, the included cell does. That’s by way of a USB-C charging port near the positive terminal.
A cable is included. It’s USB to USB-C, and on the USB end there’s a female USB port. More on that later.
Charging is acceptable and works with both USB and USB-C input.
As noted, C to C charging works fine too.
While the cell is charging, an indicating LED on the positive end of the cell blinks red. When charging is complete, the red LED is on steadily.
Powerbank
That USB-C port on the positive end of the included 18650 not only serves as a charging port for the cell but also allows the cell to be discharged into some other device (like your cell phone.) The output is not exceptional and at only 2600mAh you would likely not rely on this for anything but backup power. But it certainly does work and would be useful for that. Here are a couple of graphs for that – it’s the same data but the first one shows the first two minutes of “stress testing.”
Modes and Currents
| Mode | Mode Claimed Output (lm) | Claimed Runtime | Measured Lumens | Tailcap Amps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High | 2300 | 2h20m | 1446 (0s) 1122 (30s) |
4.63 |
| Low | 53 | 33h | 65 | 0.11 |
Pulse Width Modulation
Neither mode really uses PWM.
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
A single switch controls the Manker Striker Titanium tactical flashlight. This is a forward mechanical clicky and allows for very simple operation, including momentary output.
Here’s a UI table!
| State | Action | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Off | Click | High |
| Off | Tap | Mode select |
| On | Click | Off |
| Of | Tap | No action |
| Off | Double tap | Strobe |
LED and Beam
Manker uses a Luminus SFT-40 emitter in the Striker. This emitter allows for great output and is small enough to also give great throw. The smooth reflector also helps this goal.
LED Color Report (CRI and CCT)
On low, the CCT is cool white. On high, the CCT is very cool white. CRI is unsurprisingly low, too. Neither of these things is surprising for a tactical light.
Beamshots
These beamshots are always with the following settings: f8, ISO100, 0.3s shutter, and manual 5000K exposure. I’ve included photos with the strike bezel on and off to note that the strike bezel is very apparent in the beam.
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
- Full titanium construction
- Very simple user interface
- Full package includes cell
- Cell has USB-C charging
- Powerbank from the included cell
- Low cost for a full titanium flashlight!
What I don’t like
- Very cool white
- Just two modes (no “daily” interface)
Notes
- This content originally appeared at zeroair.org. Please visit there for the best experience!
- For flashlight-related patches, stickers, and gear, head over to PhotonPhreaks.com!
- Use my amazon.com referral link if you’re willing to help support making more reviews like this one!
- Please support me on Patreon! Feeding flashlights is expensive! And funding Fun Fund Friday even more so. I deeply appreciate your support!
