thanks for the info
I have not found manker to be discounted much
its one of those lights that I pay the asking price because it has the best combinations of features for my particular application
most of the other lights I consider in this category get eliminated for 4 main reasons: they have more than one button, and or, are not high CRI, or they are bigger and heavier, or they dont have USB charging
The Lad is a really good introductory light to gift a newbie. It arrives completely plug and play, battery and charging cable included.
I agree there are areas for improvement, for example I wish there was a shortcut to red, but, I can just cover the leds with my hand when I want to scroll to red and not be blasted with High first… not ideal, but I do know how to get to red in the dark of night without destroying my SleepWalking vision 
sometimes, I just pay retail to get the best feature set for my intended use…
other times I try to save money by buying other things, and then end up coming back full circle and still buying the one I wanted orginally, thereby paying twice for something I could have bought once… Doh!