On The Road U16 Flashlight Review

The On The Road U16 is an interesting little 16340 cell flashlight with a Cree XP-L HD emitter and built-in charging. Read on for more info!

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Official Specs and Features

Sorry! No official spec page for this light, since I can’t find it on the otrlight.com official page!

Versions

There are two options here. One “white” and one “warm white.” The unit seen here is “warm white.”

MSRP

The price at GearBest is $32.80, which I’ll take to be MSRP (thought actual quoted MSRP is probably higher). Who’s to say, with no mfg page? 🙂

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Short Review

I expected this to be a fine light (“passable” might be a better term), but I like it quite a bit. The warm white is very, very warm (they say 3500-4000K, but there’s just no way). I like the charging (a little high for 16340), and I like the user interface well enough (it’s simple!). This is a nice light in my opinion.

Long Review

The Big Table

On The Road U16
Emitter:	Cree XM-L2 (White and Warm)
Price in USD at publication time:	$32.80
Cell:	1×16340
Turbo Runtime
LVP?	Soft
Switch Type:	E-switch
Quiescent Current (A):	?
On-Board Charging?	Yes
Charge Port Type:	micro-USB
Chargetime
Power off Charge Port with no Cell?	?
Claimed Lumens (lm)	720
Claimed Throw (m)	–
Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s)	312lux @ 3.994m = 4977cd
Throw (Calculated) (m)	141.1^
All my On The Road reviews!

^ Measurement disclaimer: Testing flashlights is my hobby. I use hobbyist-level equipment for testing, including some I made myself. Try not to get buried in the details of manufacturer specifications versus measurements recorded here; A certain amount of difference (say, 10 or 15%) is perfectly reasonable.

What’s Included

• On The Road (OTR from here on out!) U16
• OTR ORB1607 700mAh 16340
• Lanyard
• Charging cable
• Padded pouch
• Manual
• Spare o-rings (2)

Package and Manual

The U16 ships in one of my favorite packages: simple cardboard with not a lot of printing. GearBest puts its own inventory sticker on the side of the box. There are a couple of QR codes, too. One links to the OTR homepage (which again, doesn’t seem to contain information about this light), and the other is to OTR’s WeChat. Neither is very useful for us, I think.

The manual is simple but does explain things. I find that the explanation of the indicating side switch could be much more thorough. And the user interface is not complex, but the diagram could be simpler, too.

Build Quality and Disassembly

This is a very solid little light. The head in particular – not that most heads have a ‘loose’ feeling – but this one feels so sturdy and chunky.

The threads are anodized, making for smooth screwing. The clip actually sits in a clip-specific recess in the head. Which is neat and oddly specific. But it adds a nice bit of specificity to the button and charging cover.

The head comes completely off the body tube, and the bezel unscrews easily. The lens comes out and has an o-ring, then the reflector. The reflector comes right out, too. The MCPCB rests on a little shelf. The whole interior of this area is anodized.

Both the head and the tail have springs

Size

Regardless of the specifics, the head of the U16 has quite a bit of mass.

I measure 31.05mm x 71.2mm. Definitely not the smallest 16340 light (that’s probably the Olight S Mini), but it’s very pocketable.

Above is the Astrolux S42. Below, the H1 Nova and TorchLAB BOSS.

Retention

The U16 has a pre-installed clip, which, as I said above, resides in a very specific recess on the head. The clip is very tight, but I was able to get it off. It’s reversible, too. Small lights often flip out of my pocket – that wasn’t an issue with this light. Something about the weight or the balance… I’m not sure. But this one stayed put.

A lanyard is provided and would attach through a hole in the tailcap (seen below).

Here you can see the recess in the head – that’s the only spot the clip will alight and rest properly (this isn’t a problem at all).

The pouch is a thick, padded type of pouch with a drawstring. Holds the light well and is roomy inside.

There’s also a magnet, which is plenty strong to hold this small light in many orientations. Removing the tailspring will allow the removal of the magnet.

Power

A single 16340 cell powers this light. OTR kindly provides a 700mAh cell, too. It is an ORB1607, as seen here. I am not sure if this cell has protection or not, but I will guess that it does not. CR123’s will work. 18350 cells will not work – the cell tube is very narrow, with just enough room to get the 16340 cell in and out easily. With a head this big and beefy, I’d really love to see this as an 18350 light, if for no other reason than to match the head size a little better. Furthermore, I’m sure this light will be (is?) released in the 18650 format, so why not just have one tube diameter? (And I do think this light would be good in 18650 format).

The U16 does have onboard charging.

Performance on the provided cell is adequate. 100% output doesn’t last long – it drops to 95% output by 30 seconds, 90% by 0.9m, and the sharp downward slope at 83% happens at 2.5m. The temperature remains fairly comfortable throughout.

Charging

Here you can see the charging graph, which started after the runtime above (at 3.2V). You can also see one reason I’m suspicious that there’s an 18650 version: The charging “force” is (in my opinion) a little high for the small 16340 cell. Granted, it falls off pretty quickly, so maybe not TOO fast charging for the cell, but it’d be much more suited to charging an 18650. The light was slightly warm during charging, too. Also note that the “700mAh” cell provided didn’t accept quite 700mAh, BUT the runtime also didn’t discharge the cell “fully” (only down to 3.2V, that is). So the cell is probably labeled pretty accurately.

User Interface and Operation

There is one switch on this light, an indicating side electronic switch. The switch indicates blue and red, and is a very nicely clicky button. One thing that often frustrates me about lights with a rubber boot over the charge port is confusion when finding the switch by feel. I don’t really have that problem with this light for a couple of reasons. First, the boot and the switch are different enough in shape for easy differentiation. Secondly, the clip is specifically located – remember that groove in the head for the clip? Well, that groove means it’s easy to learn exactly where the switch is, by the location of the clip. Handy!

Here’s the user interface table.

State	Action	Result
Off	Click	No Action
Off	Hold	On (Mode Memory)
Any	Double Click	Turbo
On	Click	Mode cycle (L>M>H) (Turbo/strobes excluded)
Off	Triple Click	Strobe
Strobe Group	Click	Strobe cycle (Strobe>Beacon?SOS)
On	Hold	Off

Modes

Mode	Mode Claimed Output (lm)	Claimed Runtime	Mode Measured Lux	Estimated Output (lm)	Tailcap Amps
UltraLow	2	140h	144	–	0.019
Low	150	2h30m	2430	50	0.290
Mid	360	1h	5590	400	0.708
High	720	35m	10610	650	1.498
Turbo	1020	–	13900	1000	2.28

Note that “Turbo” isn’t an FL1-rated mode and has no official runtime.

The U16 does not have Low Voltage Protection, but the light does step down when the cell is depleted. However, it will stay on at its lowest state until the cell is completely empty.

LED and Beam

The emitter contained herein is a Cree XP-L HD, rated at 3500-4000K (or 6500-7000K). I have the warm white version, and let me tell you, it is warm. Warm warm. I can only think of one light (DQG Tiny 26650), which might have been warmer than this Warm White light. If warm is your thing, then the U16 is your light. The beam profile is good, too. The reflector is shallow (ok, very shallow), and just almost smooth, but just a little bit of orange peel. This makes a beam with a medium-sized but well-defined spot and little spill.

Beamshots

These beamshots always have the following settings: f8, ISO100, 0.3s shutter, and manual 5000K exposure. These photos are taken at floor level, and the beam hits the ceiling around 9 feet away.

Tint vs BLF-348 (KillzoneFlashlights.com 219b version) (affiliate link)

I keep the test flashlight on the left and the BLF-348 reference flashlight on the right.

So warm.

Random Comparisons and Competitive Options

There’s one pretty glaring bit of competition for this U16: The JETBeam EC-R16. Even has a similar name. I think it pans out to be practically the same light – if the brand name is worth the extra $15 or so that the JETBeam will cost you, then go for that one.

Conclusion

What I like

• Size is good
• It carries well and is good in the hand.
• I kind of like the extremely warm tint, particularly for getting around the house at bedtime.
• A great ‘full package’ light kit.

What I don’t like

• No 18350 option.
• UI: Single click from off doesn’t do anything.

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Notes

• This light was provided by GearBest for review. I was not paid to write this review.
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