Manker F14

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Manker F14 specifications

Brand & Model	Manker F14
Flashlight category	EDC flashlight / Pocket flashlight
LED	Samsung LH351D + Osram NM1
Max. output	1250 lumens
Max. beam distance	268 metres
Max. beam intensity	17,956 cd
Battery config.	In-built 1800mAh LiPo
Onboard charging	Yes
Main modes	10
Blinkies	Strobe
Waterproof	IP65
Review publication date	March 2024

Manker is a brand I’m very familiar with. I have a good number of their lights in my collection and as a rule they have always been keen to provide lights that offer something for the enthusiast end of the market, not just as a tool or a utility.

The F14 looks very exciting with a completely different design to a regular LED torch

What’s in the package

The F14 is available in black or army green. I have the green one on test, although functionally they are the same. The F14 comes in a nice looking retail style box. In the box you will find:

• The F14 flashlight
• Lanyard wrist strap
• USB-C cable
• USB-A to C converter
• instruction manual

There is also a pocket clip that is pre-fitted to the body of the F14.

Overall the F14 seems well put together, it feels solid, is nicely finished and looks great. But the switch is pretty terrible. I don’t know if this is true of every example or just the one I’m testing. It makes a creaking sound and just isn’t all that pleasant to use, requiring an overly firm press, making the complex UI even more difficult to use.

Using the F14 I’m left a little puzzled. As I said earlier, I was very excited to sample a light of this format. But the reality is, it is rather horrid to hold. It is too angular and uncomfortable in the hand. The pocket clip is good, but makes the grip even more uncomfortable and it just feels bulky and uncomfortable in the pocket.

On the flip side, it tail-stands very well and has great anti-roll properties. There is also a decent magnet on the tail end and you can use the F14 as a mini power bank.

In terms of use, I found it was just too uncomfortable to use as an EDC in my pocket. Although it probably would make for a reasonable bedside light, that will heavily resist rolling off the bedside table.

Due to having a built in battery and an electronic switch, there is a constant power drain, so it probably doesn’t serve well as an emergency or backup light, unless you are prepared to check the charge level every once in a while and keep it topped up.

While having a dual beam is a novel idea. It works less well in practice and this light is screaming out for a dual button control. More on this in the User Interface section.

The F14 doesn’t have a traditional bezel as such, but it does have a textured plastic front. The Osram LED has a smooth reflector. while the Samsung has an orange peel one.

The reflectors appear to be the same size and depth for both LEDs, although I think this hampers performance a bit. The floody Samsung LED would probably be better served by a much more shallow reflector or even a TIR optic. The reflector gives quite a narrow beam, which just doesn’t suit a floody beam the best and gives quite a narrow field of view. The spot beam on the other hand with the Osram LED seems to suit this sized reflector more so.

It’ll never be an ultimate thrower, but the Osram’s beam is pretty good for some distance, but is generally more of a general purpose sort of beam.

With the vastly different Kelvin ratings and colours of the beams, it is quite a shock to the system to go from one to the other. They are at either end of the spectrum pretty much and really do pose a conflict. The blended beam is quite nice, but not practical to use, partly due to how the UI works, but also heat and runtimes.

I see the concept Manker where going for, but if I’m honest I find the light a bit of a challenge to use due to its polar opposites in beams.

Spectral measurements: 

I used an Opple Lightmaster Pro to measure the flashlight at 3 metres distance. 

Mode:	CCT:	CRI Ra:	duv
Turbo (Osram NM1)	6324K	68.7	-0.0003
Turbo (Samsung LH351D)	3943K	92.1	0.0039
Turbo (mixed LED)	5784K	73.5	-0.0012

Dimensions: 

Manker F14	Millimetres	Inches
Length	81.5mm	3.21in
Width	39mm	1.53in
Height	20mm	0.78in

Dimensions are rounded to the nearest millimetre and the nearest tenth of an Inch.

Weight: 

Manker F14	Weight in grams	Weight in oz
With battery	110g	3.88oz

Weight is rounded to the nearest gram and tenth of an Oz.

Flashlight size comparison with its competition:

Group 1: Convoy T3, Manker F14, Manker MC01

Group 2: Mini Maglite AAA. Manker F14, Speras E21

Available modes: 

• Far too many….. 11 I think, but there could be more!

Available blinky modes:

• Yes, strobe.

From OFF:

• Press and hold: Moonlight
• Single click: General Mode
• Double click: Turbo Mode
• 3 fast clicks: Turbo Mode (the other LED)
• 4 fast clicks: Dual LED Turbo Mode
• 5 fast clicks: Lockout

From ON:

• Press and hold: Cycle from Low to High to Low to High
• 1 click: Off
• Double click: Turbo or Strobe if you are in Moonlight
• 3 fast clicks: Switch LED
• 4 fast clicks: Dual LED Mode

Mode memory:

• Yes, but it is confusing as it may remember a mode or an LED or both. But no way really to know what it has or hasn’t remembered.

Shortcuts:

• To Moonlight: Press and Hold from Off
• To Turbo: Double click from On and Off, and triple click for Turbo mode with the other LED
• To Strobe: No, only accessible from Moonlight mode

Low voltage warning/protection:

• Yes and switch LED as battery meter

Strobe/blinkies

• From ON: Double click: Turbo or Strobe if you are in Moonlight

Lock-out mode: 

• Yes. 5 fast clicks from Off

PWM

• None that I can detect.

Additional/summary info on the UI: 

• Oh dear, where to start with this one. Let me say, I truly truly hate the UI on the F14. It is confusing, way too complex and somehow also manages to be rather restrictive all at the same time.
• A quote from the Manker website; “New friendly & easy User Interface”. I have no idea what they are drinking, but you clearly need a lot of it to get to grips with the UI.
• Ok, let’s start at the basics. The switch…. Is it not very nice, it is heavy, very heavy to depress, has quite a lot of edge/side movement and makes a creaking sound. The more you use it the more you get used to it. But to perform something like a rapid 5 click action, you really do need to take a deep breath and psych yourself up ready for it. A nicer switch would help, but only so far. The design of the UI is, well let’s say interesting. Confusing would also be a good term too.
• For instance you can only have Moonlight on the Samsung LED, there is no option to use the Osram LED for an ultra low output mode, which is a shame as a throwy low output beam can be very handy to preserve your night vision. You can also only have Strobe on the Osram LED. And to get to strobe you first have to activate Moonlight, which is only available when the light is off….. So if you are using the light in any other output mode and need to use the strobe. Be prepared first switch the light off, then click and hold for Moonlight, then double click for Strobe. Wow, even writing it down gives me a headache!
• Other issues with the UI is the weird memory, as it’ll also try and remember the LED you used last and output mode. Although I’d say this means that 95% of the time it’ll then be in the wrong mode when you turn it back on. But when you have all these different combos it just adds to the confusion as you don’t really know what mode you’ll get apart from Moonlight or Turbo. But moonlight only allows strobe or off as your only options and even Turbo is a gamble on which LED it’ll be. If you are using it all the time to try and recall the complex interactions maybe this is workable, but I found it way too much effort and hardwork to keep on top of.
• To top it all off, the mode diagram is very confusingly written and the key to the diagram is backwards from all the many arrows on the diagram.
• My personal view is, the F14 should have been a dual switch light. Two smaller switches next to each other, allowing individual control over each LED in a more normal fashion, would have been an utter winner from a UI stand-point.

The F14 comes equipped with an inbuilt LiPo of 1800mAh. There is also USB-C charging, which uses the small LEd on the switch to indicate charge state.

While LiPo’s can easily power an LED flashlight, I do know LiPos tend to have a shelf life and can puff up and eventually expire when used in things like RC cars or planes. This makes me wonder how batteries such these will last in a sealed LED where you cannot easily or practically replace the battery should it fail. I guess time will tell, but for now I still chalk it up as a potential concern.

Charge type	Fits	No fit	Charge time
Flashlight with onboard USB-C	In built	n/a	2-3hrs

Lumen measurements

How Lumens are Measured: Understanding ANSI FL1 Standards How Lumens are Measured: Understanding ANSI FL1 Standards: The ANSI FL1 standards specify that output in lumens should be measured 30 seconds after turning on, as this is the standardized time for measuring brightness according to the industry standard. This is why we focus on this part in our measurements. The ANSI FL1 standards require an ambient temperature of 22 ± 3°C. We record the ambient the ambient temperature to identify potential reasons for any observed discrepancies.

Samsung LH351D

Mode	Specified	Turn on	30 sec.	10 min.
Moon	1 lm	1	1	1
Low	140 lm	158	158 lm	–
High	320-240-7 lm	341	335 lm	266
Turbo	750-240-7 lm	767	660 lm	264

Osram NM1

Mode	Specified	Turn on	30 sec.	10 min.
Low	70 lm	62	62 lm	–
High	260-220-7 lm	243	237 lm	188
Turbo	520-220-7 lm	325	316 lm	185

Samsung LH351D + Osram NM1

Mode	Amps at start	Specified	Turn on	30 sec.	10 min.
Turbo Turbo	Unable to test	1250-364-17	1118	949	346

Ambient temperature during testing:

• 12°C 

Manker F14 Battery Life: Runtime graphs

How Runtimes are Measured: Understanding ANSI FL1 Standards About ANSI FL1 runtime standards: The runtime is measured until the light drops to 10% of its initial output (30 seconds after turning on). This does not mean that the flashlight is not usable anymore. The last column shows how long the light actually works till it shuts off. If there is a + symbol, it means that the test was stopped at that particular point, but the light was actually still running. This happens on certain occasions, with certain drivers, firmware, or batteries.

Samsung LH351D

Mode	Specified	Runtime (ANSI FL1)	Time till shut off
Moon	248h	Not tested	Not tested
Low	5h 39min	Not tested	Not tested
High	1m 30sec+2h 24min+1h	1h 43min	2h 36min
Turbo	1min 30sec+2h+1h	1h 37min	2h 44min

Osram NM1

Mode	Specified	Runtime (ANSI FL1)	Time till shut off
Low	6h 40min	Not tested	Not tested
High	1min+2h 5min+1h	2h 34min	4h 10min
Turbo	1min+1h 41min+1h	2h 31min	4h 3mins

Samsung LH351D + Osram NM1

Mode	Specified	Runtime (ANSI FL1)	Time till shut off
Turbo Turbo	1min+59min+40min	1h 15min	1h 56min

Peak beam intensity and beam distance measurements

About Peak beam intensity: Understanding ANSI FL1 Standards About peak beam intensity The calculated value of distance in meters at which the flashlight produces a light intensity of 0.25 lux. (0.25 lux is about the brightness of a full moon shining on an object). This means that the intensity has decreased so much, it becomes difficult to see darker objects, or objects that don’t reflect light. The columns ‘Meters’ and ‘Yards’ use rounded numbers.

Samsung LH351D

Mode	Specified	Candela measured	Meters	Yards
Low	Not claimed	724cd	54m	59yd
High	Not claimed	1654cd	81m	89yd
Turbo	Not claimed	3079cd	111m	121yd

Osram NM1

Mode	Specified	Candela measured	Meters	Yards
Low	Not claimed	2265cd	95m	104yd
High	Not claimed	8504cd	184m	201yd
Turbo	14,000cd / 240m	9978cd	200m	219yd

Samsung LH351D + Osram NM1

Mode	Specified	Candela measured	Meters	Yards
Turbo Turbo	17,956cd / 268m	13,402cd	229m	250yd

Ambient temperature:

•  20°C 

Camera: Canon EOS 200D, Canon 18-55mm EFS IS at 18mm, ¼ sec, F4.5, ISO1600, WB 5200k 

To take the photos the camera and torch are both mounted to a tripod using a timer on the shutter. Beam shots are taken at two different distances.

Distance: 5m to the tree on the left and 11m to the compost heap

• Manker F14 Samsung
• Manker F14 Osram
• Manker F14 dual LED
• Convoy T3 Nichia 519A
• Manker MC01 Samsung LH351D

Please note that the following beamshots are mainly intended to showcase the beam pattern and beam quality, rather than overall performance. These images are typically taken directly after activation, and in different seasons or weather conditions, and therefore do not fully represent its overall performance. For accurate performance metrics, such as output, beam distance, and runtimes, you need to look at the performance section of this review.

Beamshots of the following flashlights compared @ 100m:

• Manker F14 Samsung
• Manker F14 Osram
• Manker F14 dual LED
• Convoy S2+ Osram W1
• Spearas E21 SST-40

Disclaimer: This flashlight was sent to us for review at no cost by FlashlightGo. We have not been paid to review, nor have we been holding back on problems or defects.