I have one too and it is NOT compliant enough with the USB-c standard to receive charge from a USB-c charger. It can only be charged from a USB-a charger. I personally have changed over in my home and car to use PD USB-c chargers exclusively which is why I bought this particular light and it simply does not work. If you're confused put it this way. It will only charge using a USB-a to USB-c cable and it will not work with a USB-c to USB-c cable. On Rhe Road you MUST fix this and TrailTrek should point it out especially because it needs to shipped from China.
Correct I have pinned this comment to the top of the comments. This appears to be the case for most type c lights. I have a type c to type c setup in my car, on the back of my pc and on my Anker pd wall charger so if I need to charge I need to use the type a to type c using an older setup. I now test all lights for power delivery compliance to see if they can do this. The companies will argue that this will only effect a tiny percentage of users I am sure, but the fact remains that type c to type c is a no go on most lights I am testing now.
@@TrailTrek It's actually not a fraction of the market, it's the main market and here's why. Who self-selects to get a USB-c light when there are literally hundreds of Micro-USB alternatives? If you're buying a USB-c light you can't be doing it for the properties of the plug alone because the merits of "just the type-c plug" over Micro-USB is omni-directional insertion - that's it. You have to add "c-to-c" PD charging as the real reason you'd forgo the myriad of quite frankly better Micro-USB options. If I had to guess, a significant percentage of the USB-C light buyers are being let down by the lack of PD charging support. It's like buying an HDMI TV for the HDMI port and learning later that it only works with standard definition DVD players.
@@drcelsius non PD is lazy implementation but I'm certain that the manufacturers think people don't care if they stick a type a to type c in the box. I have type c in the car, my pc, my power bank, my phone and the phone before that, the wall charger I use but I also have type a connectors all over as well. The I have type-C to type-C cable on my at all times and also the older type-C to type a as well which is annoying. I think If you ask most people what power delivery is they will give you a blank look. I will stick up a poll and see what people think.
@@TrailTrek I AGREE they will have a blank look and the poll will likely reflect the general blankness ;) The odd conundrum is IMHO to only reason for have a type-c port on a light is to take advantage of PD chargers. At the same time the manufacturers are looking for "an edge over the competition" and are including the port as a differentiation without knowing WHY. Those who KNOW about PD are drawn to the devices with USB-c ports and then are let down. Further complicated by many of these devices coming from China making them costly or impossible to return! Can you tell I have an opinion ;)?
@@drcelsius he he he yes you are completely right. You know it reminds me a little of when HD TVs first came out. A year later they said "oops that HD TV you just bought, it's not realy HD, it's just 720 Res, you now need to buy another one". So they sold more TVs. Then after a year they said "oops that Full HD TV you just bought......it's not full HD it's only 1080i. What you need is 1080p instead!" And they will do the same with type-C. And 'add' power delivery instead of it being there in the first bloody instance. Just checked the poll results so far and yes only 10% of people are aware and insisting on PD. Which is a dam shame. I think I might do a video on this to raise awareness and call these manufacturers out. What do you think?
I have been using one of these for a number of months in the southern hemisphere winter. The kit I bought didn't include a battery so I sourced a Vapcell 16340 for it. I was able to fit an optic I got from the Aliexpress Convoy store, the 10 degree one works well and has a nice transition from spot to spill. Runtime and lumens are good due to the efficient XM-L (compared to older XR-E and XP-G torches). Wouldn't have bought one if they didn't offer a warmer tint, 5C was initially a bit unusual (not on the Black Body Locus aka BBL?) but it's a good choice. I think the kits Banggood sell now include a battery which makes a lot more sense. Still can't believe the M3 Pro manages to do decent runtime, lumens and tint in a small lightweight package which you can keep topped up via USB.
Excellent info here thanks. And I agree this is a compact and very good light for the price. I have spoken to a few people who love this for nodding as well. I still love mine it makes me smile, not many lights do that these days.
I have the original version, I can tell you that over time the external finish will 'patina' into a sort of champagne/bronze ish colour. As for batteries I was using so called 2300 mah Trustfire 16340s (yes I know!) these would allow it to jump to turbo but even by eye I could tell it wasn't full power, also the batterries would fade over 4-5 days or so after a few months they just died. I decided to replace them with reliable batteries so bought Olight 650 mah worked ok but didn't have the oomph to jump to turbo hope the new version works better Bill
Thanks for all this info, yeah im starting to see a similar thing on mine, the highest points are getting that sort of gold look. I don't mind that in this price range though. Yeah I hear you with cheap battery issues, I had the same with a fake capacity Klarus cell, it would do turbo for 1 second then imediately step down. Now I never buy cells unless they are tested. If you are from the UK try fogstar. They do a test on the cells and you can read it to see if the capacity and output is what they advertise. Anything with a name that has ultra or fire in it seem to have ludicrously high capacity figures and will be fake. For this size battery anything higher than 700mah will be totally fake capacity. Thanks for the info mate and I hope the review was ok. Have a great week.
If they work you can't complain. I just told a mate to try some of the laada batteries from IKEA. Turns out they are identical to the non Pro eneloops which cost way more. Those are the ni-mh though not li-ion.
@@TrailTrek in my opinion the best flashlights were the ones made by foursevens. They were micro-b USB rechargeable. So hopefully eventually they would become USB C rechargeable but then foursevens was sold to Prometheusand Prometheus refuses to make the next models have on-board charging. :(. Sad
@@TrailTrek they claim that people don't want it that always remembering to keep a battery charger in your car or pocket for some reason is the better option..my opinion is they just don't want to spend the r&d to make onboard charging. Which is dumb because that's the futre. If you have your phone charger with you you can charge your light. Speaker and everything with one cable
Richy, thanks for the upload! How can you go wrong for only $27? I usually prefer the cooler tints but agree with you on the tint used in the M3. This light would make a nice Christmas gift. Definitely enjoyed your beam shots at the end of the review, another TT trademark along with the awesome "popcorn music". LOL
Thanks mate i'm glad to help, i really like this light and now have it in my arm pocket daily carry. I just wish they would change the usb flap! i know some people might think i'm too picky on that point but i do love an ipx8 you know that ;-) I hop the gifts go down well. Good choice mate.
I've just received my yesterday just in time for Christmas! It's an awesome torch for it's size 😁 I'm using normal non rechargeable Duracell battery at the moment. Which is the best battery to buy for M3 pro? I've seen on some reviews the the turbo doesn't work on some battery types because of the circuit protection or the ampage/voltage is too low. Any suggestions for a battery that's not expensive which allows turbo mode without over heating or exploding lol?
Hi mate glad to hear you got this light it's very under rated. Yeah if the battery you use is not able to maintain a high amp drain then it is possible that you won't get turbo or you will only get it for a very short period of time. I'm using a cr123 rechargeable with no issues at all. It's just slightly slim for an 18350 battery so make sure it's a cr123r if you went a rechargeable one. I use a nitecore battery. If you are in the UK I can recommend fogstar or ecolux then just pick the highest amp battery then you won't have to worry about anything turbo issues. Hope that helps 😁
@@TrailTrek thanks for the advice. It took me a while to realise ecolux wasn't s battery lol. I've ordered one from them and will see how it works when the battery arrives 😁. I'm only able to get my M3 pro working on high mode for short periods. Hopefully I've picked a tidy one
@@lw6976 Sorry about that I really should have been much more specific. Yeah it's a website I've always had great experiences with them and fogstar. Sometimes a battery cannot maintain a high amp drain. This isn't an issue with low power items or a vape for example which only needs a high amp drain for a few seconds. But extended turbo runtime on a light means you need a cell which can maintain a high amp output. You should be good to go once it arrives. If you have any issues though just let me know and I'll do my best to help. Merry Christmas 👍 and I hope you love the flashlight I carry that model in my bicep pocket if I'm in the woods.
@@TrailTrek Hope you had a nice Christmas ☺️. I've ordered the 16340 650 mAh High Drain 6A from ecolux. I think this should be good? I did order a 3 amp continuous discharge first and then emailed them to change it to a 6 amp discharge before they dispatched it for delivery. Good idea to have 6 amp discharge? They have good customer service. Where can I purchase the clip for the M3 pro? It doesn't come in the set. Wouldn't mind having a clip to go with it. Any direct links to one?
@@lw6976 I did thank you and i hope you had a great time mate. Yeah the 3 amp is about standard for that battery size but the 6 amp is much better for that size of cell. im not sure why you didn't get the clip there i know they sometimes hide it in that cardboard box section mind. im guessing as the bag that had my clip in had gift written on it it was an extra at the time. if you have an ali express account just fire a message to the person who does their contact messages: login.aliexpress.com/?return_url=ontheroad.aliexpress.com/store/3081046?spm=a2g0o.store_home.pcShopHead_6396969.0&spm=a2g0o.store_home.pcShopHead_6396969.13 tell them you just bought an m3 pro and you will pay for a clip, they will only charge you like 2 or 3 quid with free postage. This is their ali express home page sort of thing: ontheroad.aliexpress.com/store/3081046?spm=a2g0o.store_home.pcShopHead_6396969.0 any issues give me a shout il try to get you one mate.
Very interesting, I'll look now, actually I have a new on the road 311 right here for testing and it's a nice trail clicker, I still love the way the M3 is a fantastic value for what you get, I think on the road are doing some great work.
That's true, this is more like a very small EDC light. But if it has to have type-c you are very limited for now. Manufacturers are still dragging their feet and putting micro usb in New releases. I would wait a year and in mean time just grab this light. Just be aware this won't be power delivery compatible. So you can't use type c to type c. But type a to type c is fine.
Excellent question. Well so far i have been using the m3 pro on/off with the m3 and they both still work rock solid, no issues at all. Everything is working great still and im still really impressed that OTR are making essentially an olight clone at such a low price. east to carry, small slim and works great the only possible issue i am aware of is with batteries but that was looked into by Jim who has way more battery experience than i do il get him to reply to you rather then me just try to repeat what he said @Jimmy Mac But for me i love the m3 pro.
From my experience using this light over the past month, the 16340 battery is the way to go. You can use the CR123, but it fades really fast at the higher lumen levels-the CR123 doesn't have enough voltage (3 volts) to power the M3 in turbo mode. I use the Shockli brand 16340-rated at 700 mAh. I found them on Amazon but they also are available on the Banggood website. Hope this helps.
anyone get one of these and have issues with charging? I can charge it with the USB-C cord that shipped with it, but If I use any other USB-C it doesn't work.
I just tried a handful of wires I have piled up here but couldn't recreate the issue sorry. If anyone has this issue please post so we can work out what the hell is going on.
@@TrailTrek This flashlight will not charge off a USB-c charger only a USB-a charger. It does not have the requisite resistors to tell a USB-c charger to deliver current.
Yes thanks for this you are quite right. It can't be used type-C to type-C. I have tried and flashlights seen to be using a lazy implementation of type-C so you need to use type-a to type-C.
No problem at all glad to help. I was hoping they might fit myself but just but possible. M3pro still my daily EDC unit in my left bicep pocket. Love this light.
I completely agree, my phone, both Powerbanks, action cam, gimbal, and headphones all use type c I don't want to have to carry different cables. Type c is great, but for some reason manufacturers are guilty of constantly pumping out units out with micro usb. It's almost as if it's an afterthought.
