Hi someone asked me to comment on my U22, so here are some initial observations. First I’ve only played with this light a few times over a couple weeks, and I just took it outside for it’s first side-by side comparison.
I bought this light first and foremost because it ran on a 21700, second because it had USB-C charging, 3 because it was a bit of a thrower and I tend to not have many of those; I’m more of a nice clean flood beam person. Lastly I don’t need this light for anything in particular so I can’t judge how it does, or does not, meet any specific need.
First maybe the obvious; this style of light tends to be a bit front heavy, and this one feels similar, but it does balance just behind the switch so it’s a bit more comfortable to use than I expected. The light is quite small so you can easily pocket this thrower in a coat pocket.
As mentioned earlier in this thread I believe, the button is quite sensitive so you’ll want to secure the light during carry so the button cannot easily be activated, or unscrew the tailcap a bit to serve as a lockout. Having to lock it out can be a deal breaker for some use-cases.
The Manker UI is what it is, love it, hate it, I can get along with it if I need to, but long-press for off is not something I really like.
The construction of the light seems fine, I purchased mine without the Manker battery, and just use a bare Samsung INR21700-48G flat-top and it works fine. I have not tried the USB-C charging yet, but I will soon just for a test. I won’t use the internal charger on a regular basis unless I get a protected battery for the light, and that is not likely to happen. Overall a nice looking light.
For a quick test i decided to put it side-by-side with a Convoy L4 I have. I don’t remember buying that light, but someone on here must have convinced me to try it.
The light is roughly 1.5cm shorter than the L4, I didn’t measure it, but I like that it is more compact. The inner diameter of the bezel is almost equal to the outer diameter of the L4 bezel. Makes for a nicer looking light and a cleaner beam.
Just looking a the U22 High compared to the top level on the L4, the L4 has a slightly tigher beam and it throws farther. With the U22 on Turbo I found the throw to be essentially equal for visual purposes. This test was not too detailed, but I was surprised that there was not a larger difference between the U22 and the L4 XM-L2.
The color temperature of my Neutral-White U22 was cooler than the XM-L2 in the L4; the L4 tint was slightly nicer outdoors imho, but the U22 was still very acceptable to me. And the clean beam was overall nicer.