Beyond the emitter, reflector and some subtle design changes, there hasn't been any changes to the light (that I'm aware of) and it can run on any 18650 cells the pre-prod sample can as reviewed by selfbuilt. I know there was some concern posted by Beamhead re: overly long cells but given I don't have any 18700's, I can't confirm this. The longest cell I have is an AW 2600 and that sits perfectly flush in the tube.
I'm in the process of writing a review and will be posting it in the coming week. As far as runtimes, so far the H and M has matched what has been claimed by SWM (2 and 15 hours respectively). Hope that helps address some of your questions.
Cheers,
Tim