I needed a reasonable dual fuel AA light to stash in my car, so I picked up one of the recently released Manker E03H III. It came with a 519A-V1 4000k. It is about as long as a D3AA, but much slimmer.
As is ritual with most new lights I buy, I did what I could to void the warranty. I have been overdosing on rosy FFL emitters lately, and I am just not a fan of 4000k with neutral DUV. The solution was obvious…
I unscrewed the bezel, which is not glued, thankfully. There is no lens underneath, just the small beaded TIR sitting on an o-ring underneath.
I was puzzled by the fact that the small, oddly shaped MCPCB (secured by two screws) not only had the usual +/- wires, but it had 4 extra white and yellow wires… Then it dawned on me that it is passing through those wires from the driver to the switch… Bizarre, but I will assume Manker had their reasons.
It is a really cramped space, definitely more so than a D3AA, so required some tiny tweezers and soldering tips to get in there.
Other than that, it was pretty uncomplicated to swap in the FFL351A and reassemble.
The beam is a bit throwier with FFL351A than the 519A, with still plenty of flood left due to the beaded TIR. You can see a bit more of the TIR bead pattern with the FFL351A. Overall brightness seems unchanged. It is obviously much rosier and pleasant now.
The Manker e-switch UI is pretty good with the expected Anduril-like shortcuts, with hold for moonlight (with 3 levels), click for on/off with 3 main levels, double click for turbo, triple click for strobe, and separate mode memory for moonlight and main.
Overall, it’s a nice, practical light.
by fweep
