Manker U22 III

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Manker U22 III review: thrower flashlight test

Manker U22 III specifications

Brand & ModelManker / U22 III (PM1)
Flashlight categorylong-range
LEDOsram CSLPM1.TG
Max. output1500 lm
Max. beam distance1000 meters
Max. beam intensity250,000 cd 
Battery config.1*21700
Onboard chargingUSB-C
Modes8
BlinkiesStrobe, Beacon, SOS
WaterproofIPX8 
Review publication dateSeptember 2022

Introduction:

You’re probably not surprised to hear that the Manker U22 III is the 3rd edition of their U22 flashlight. The U22 is a fairly small but throwy flashlight. A bit too big for EDC but easily small enough to take for a trip outdoors.

I’m reviewing the CSLPM1 version, also known as the Osram W2 LED. Manker also make the U22 in a SBT90.2 version and Luminus SFT40 version.

Marco reviewed the version 2 of the U22 a while back and gave it a mediocre 3 stars. Let’s see how version 3 does…

Package quality.

Manker’s packaging stands out a bit, due to their bright orange and black branding. However, the box is fairly standard printed cardboard. Nicer than Convoy’s standard packaging but not at the fancy gift level that you see from Olight.

You get everything you need in the box with this flashlight:

  • Manker U22 III
  • 21700 Battery
  • A Spare o-rings
  • Lanyard
  • Manual
  • USB cable
  • Nylon belt holster

There’s no pocket clip with the U22. Some vendors won’t include the battery, so double check this when buying.

Flashlight in use

The U22 is a bit of a “pocket thrower”: small enough to fit in a (big) pocket but still throwing the beam a long way. It fits in my jeans pocket easily enough but not when there’s other things in there. In the hand it’s a good size, almost feeling a bit small for the kind of light it is.

The side switch is pretty easy to find in the dark, even though it’s mostly flush.

The head and tail are mostly even all around, so it will roll when put on a not-quite-level surface. The light will tail stand though, thanks to the flat tail. There’s a hole for a lanyard in the tail too, allowing the lanyard to be attached off to the side, so the light still tail stands.

If you like holsters then Manker have you covered, as there’s a nylon holster with velcro belt attachment and a plastic bit to attach a carabiner. For me, the light seems a bit small to need a holster but it’s nice that Manker includes one anyway.

Being a very throwy flashlight, it’s clear that the U22 is designed to be used outdoors, mainly for spotting things at a distance, rather than lighting up a wider are. Being fairly light too, this is the kind of flashlight that you could take on a night hike easily enough.

Build Quality, and Warranty

Manker quality seems to be very good. Leagues above any cheap flashlight you might get from eBay or Wish and at least as good as the likes of Sofirn and Convoy. In fact it almost looks like it could be made by Acebeam.

The U22 has knurling around some of it for grip, as well as indented parts of the body tube. The threads are trapeze cut and well lubricated: no problems there.

There’s no issues with the anodization, which is slightly matte and makes the light look smart. Manker state this is type-III hard-anodized.

Manker’s standard warranty states:

Mankerlight provides easy, reliable, speedy service to all lights under our warranty. Dealers will be responsible for customers.

1. Please contact the dealer for replacement if you experience any problem with Manker product within 15 days.

2. The dealer will offer free repairment service or replace the flashlight with the same or similar model if Mankerlight flashlight fails during normal use within a period of 5 years.

3. LEP flashlight, rechargeable battery, flashlight with built-in battery are warranted for a period of one year (12 months) from date of purchase.

LED, Lens, Bezel, Beam, and Reflector

I have the Osram W2 (CSLPM1) version of the light. This LED is slightly bigger than the W1 in the older U22 II that Marco reviewed. In theory that should result in a little less throw distance but a fair bit more lumens.

The U22 III now has 3 LED options

  • SFT40: 2,300 lumens / 850 meters
  • CSLPM1: 1,500 lumens / 1,000 meters
  • SBT90.2 5,000 lumens / 900 meters

Another difference to the U22 II is the lens. Manker have used a TIR lens with Fresnel style ridges. This looks similar to the Acebeam L19.

Manker must have read Marco’s review, as he said “​​I would have liked if Manker decided to add a stainless steel bezel. But maybe that’s something for the U22-III”. Well… this lens is behind a grey bezel, seemingly made of stainless steel! Manker says “Sandblasted strike bezel is used to break windows in an emergency situation”, which isn’t something I’ve tested!

The Osram LEDs aren’t known for high CRI or pleasant CCTs. Here’s what my Opple Lightmaster Pro measured (1m distance on low mode):

  • 5749K CCT
  • 65.6 Ra CRI
  • DUV 0.0046

The TIR and W2 LED result in a beam with lots of throw and little spill. There’s still just enough spill to light up by your feet though, so this is more practical than a LEP in most cases.

Dimensions and size comparison

Dimensions: 

DimensionMillimetersInches
Length1345.3
Head diameter51.92.04
Body diameter24.91.10

Weight

WeightGramsOz.
Without battery:1716.0
With battery2378.4

Flashlight size comparison with its competition

Group 1:

  • Astrolux WP4
  • Sofirn IF22A
  • Manker U22 III
  • Amutorch XT45
  • Convoy Z1
  • Sofirn C8L

Group 2:

  • Manker U22 III
  • Manker MC13
  • Manker MC12

Driver & User Interface:

Available modes: Moonlight, Low, Midde, High, Turbo

Available blinky modes: Strobe, Beacon, SOS

User interface:

From OFF:

  • Press and Hold: Moonlight
  • Single click:  On
  • Double click:  Turbo
  • 3 clicks: Strobe
  • 4 clicks: Lock out

From ON:

  • Press and Hold: change between low, mid and high, either going up or going down
  • 1 click: Off
  • Double click: Turbo 
  • 3 clicks: Strobe

From turbo:

  • 1 click: Off
  • Double click: main modes

From moonlight:

  • Press and Hold: change between 5 moonlight modes

Mode memory:

  • Yes

Shortcuts:

  • To Moonlight: Press and hold
  • To Turbo: Double click
  • To Strobe: Triple click

Low voltage warning:

  • The light will step down and turn off around 2.9V.
  • The indicator light on the switch shows red, purple or blue for low, medium and high battery level respectively.

Strobe/blinkies

  • Triple click for strobe
  • Hold to switch between strobe, beacon and SOS

Lock-out mode: 

  • 4 clicks to lock out and unlock
  • The indicator light will pulse to show it’s locked
  • Unlocking turns the light on immediately

PWM

  • None detected in any mode

Additional info on the UI: 

  • What’s unusual about Manker’s UI is that brightness cycling starts by going up (low-med-high), then when you hit high it stops, then when holding again it goes down (high-med-low). This means that holding from medium could make it go to high or low. This is clever but makes the light unpredictable for me.

Batteries & Charging

The U22 III takes a standard flat top 21700 cell. Mine came with a Manker branded one, rated at 4200mAh. Most button top 21700 cells should be fine too but a longer one I tried with a built-in charging was squashing the springs too much. There’s springs on either end, which hold the cell in place very nicely.

The U22 III has a USB type C port behind a rubber flap that does both charging and discharging (like a power bank). I managed to get it to draw up to 1.75A, though the manual says it can take 3A. Charging takes a bit under 3 hours at this speed. A C-to-C cable doesn’t seem to work, so you need an A-to-C cable.

Using it as a powerbank, a C-to-C cable doesn’t work either. You have to use Manker’s weird and special cable for this, which is type-C on one end and both male and female type-A on the other. You then have to plug a normal USB cable in to the type-A socket. Very strange but it works. Ideally Manker would just get USB C-to-C cables working for both charging and discharging (like Sofirn have) but having any powerbank functionality is better than none. Powerbank functionality only seemed to work at 0.5A, though the manual states up to 2A.

Performance test

Lumen measurements

Lux meter: All lux and lumen measurements are from my home made integrating sphere, calibrated with a S2+ measured by Maukka. Measurements are done with a UNI-T UT383S lux meter and Adafruit TSL2591 connected to a Raspberry Pi (using RuTiTe by bmengineer). Expect them to be within +/-10%.

DMM: Current readings were taken with a Precision Gold PG10B DMM for low currents and a Mustool X1 clamp meter for high currents.

Moonlight mode is listed in the manual as 0.1 to 5 lumens. There’s 5 different levels you can set for moonlight.

ModeAmps at startSpecs@turn on@30 sec @10 minutes
Moon5mA0.1 to 51 lm1 lm
Low0.35110107 lm107 lm
Mid0.92350335 lm336 lm338 lm
High2.13710663 lm664 lm668 lm
Turbo4.7315001282 lm1227 lm846 lm
Turbo at 3.7V1189 lm1153 lm

Parasitic drain:

  • 90 µA (much lower than on the U22 II)

Battery Life: Runtime graphs

On turbo, the U22 III holds over 1000 lm for 6 minutes, before dropping to a reasonable 850 lm. It stays above 750 lm for the first 30 minutes and keeps above 500 lm for the first hour, before turning off around 1h 20m.

High mode is very stable, staying over 500 lumens for an hour and a half. Medium mode is incredibly stable too, over 300 lumens for well over 4 hours.

These runtimes don’t quite hit the specs in the manual but nevertheless are pretty good, especially how stable they are.

ModeSpecified runtimeMeasured runtime (ANSI)Time till shut off
Med5h 44min4h 21min4h 21min
High2h 44min1h 51min1h 51min
Turbo*2h 30min1h 19min1h 19min

ANSI FL1 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.

Peak beam intensity and beam distance measurements

Throw was measured indoors at 10m at 30 seconds with a UNI-T UT383S lux meter. A handy tip for any reviewers (including my future self): double check the distance and battery, otherwise you’ll need to do the measurements again!

ModeSpecsCandela measured MetersYards
Low287m / 20,640 cd20,000 cd283309
Medium447m / 50,000 cd63,000 cd503550
High642m / 97,200 cd128,000 cd715782
Turbo1000m / 250,000 cd235,000 cd9701060

Extra info: Peak beam distance according to ANSI FL1 standards: 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).

Beamshots

The distance to the building is 170m. Photos were taken with a Pixel 6 Pro, set to 1/12s shutter speed and ISO 400, F1.85. 

Beamshots of the following flashlights compared:

  • Astrolux WP4
  • Amutorch XT45
  • Sofirn IF22A
  • Convoy Z1
  • Manker U22 III
  • Sofirn C8L

Disclaimer: This flashlight was sent to me for review at no cost by Flashlightbrand. I have not been paid to review, nor have I been holding back on problems or defects.

Final Verdict

Pros

  1. Better performance and features than earlier version
  2. Great size and shape for taking on a night hike
  3. Very throwy beam profile, with still a little spill

Cons

  1. Powerbank functionality needs a special cable
  2. Doesn’t quite meet lumen or runtime specs

Explanation on star ratings:

1: Avoid: a match would be a better choice – 2: Poor: significant defect or issues; almost unusable – 3: Average: some defects or issues; but still usable 4: Good: recommended (minor issues) – 5: Great: highly recommended

Reviewer Dave
Author: Dave

4.5 stars: ★★★★⋆

Manker have made a good upgrade to the U22 II. The W2 LED gives almost as much throw with a load more lumens, at the cost of some battery life. The lower battery life is due to the better sustained output of nearly 700 lumens, up from around 400. You also get power bank functionality (albeit I only got 0.5A from it), a better bezel and a much improved UI.

The U22 III is still a bit odd though, with the weird USB cable and how it cycles either up or down through low-mid-high modes. Overall it’s a great light if you want a pocket thrower with a usable beam profile. 

The W2 is a good LED option but based on the specs I’d probably recommend the SFT40 LED for almost as much throw and a fair few more lumens. The SBT90.2 version is twice as bright at turn on but almost twice the price.

Manker U22 III for sale

Note: August 2023: WARNING: don’t buy from flashlightbrand.com!!!
We received questions whether flashlightbrand.com is still legit, because they either didn’t respond, or didn’t receive their orders. We tried to reach out multiple times, through multiple platforms, and they never replied to any of our messages. Warned: DO NOT BUY FROM FLASHLIGHTBRAND.com, because you will not receive your flashlight

1lumen selects and reviews products personally. We may earn affiliate commissions through our links, which help support our testing.