I now have two Smallrig handles, but no cage to mount them on.
Even though they serve the same purpose and are made by the same company, in direct comparison, they are quite different.
First up, the new one, the 1446b.
It is much nicer than I expected. Most images made it look grey and cheap looking. The reality is a nice, true black padded rubber grip on equally black metal. The thing is long, seemingly much longer than my 2094c from its mounting point (see below) and seems lower in profile, which are both party illusion. The lack of any screw mounts apart from at the handle ends, makes for a comfortable grip, but lacks versatility. This is all about comfortable handling.
The only achilles heel I can see apart from what you know when you go in is, the cold shoe slot is very shallow, only a little over half the depth of most cold shoes, so basically useless. Not sure why or to honest why they even bothered with one.
Something I really appreciate is the flexibility offered by the two screw holes. It looks like they have enough latitude to handle any combination of 2-3, 1/4” holes presented to them.
This was cheap at $29au, so the quality is a pleasant surprise, even if the near useless cold shoe is not. If I were to use this with my monitor, I would screw a mini head into the front (or back) of the handle, so the cold shoe would not be an issue.
The polar opposite in form, design and handling dynamic is the 2094c, shown below with the mini ball head I intend to use with the Feelworld monitor.
The much dearer 2094 has a plethora of holes of all sizes, two cold shoes (one locking) and sits higher than the 1446b. It screws into a cold shoe which was my bad call, but it can now go into the dinky little cold shoe adapter.
The biggest difference though is the mounting point in relation to the handle length (see above).
The 2094c can be mounted forwards or backwards with little difference as its centre is almost over the mounting point. This helps with attachment orientation and getting the best centre of gravity.
Possible applications for them, depending on the cage and the third handle I have coming (2821 mini), is for the 2094c to go on top, using the cold shoe attachment to help with fast mounting/dismounting and the 1446b on the side as a side handle-bar*/bumper. The 2821 was also bought with this in mind, so we will see on the day. The cage may determine this anyway.
Optionally, I may just use the 1446b on top, forward or reversed, with the monitor mounted on the end and the mini handle on the side. The 2094c may be used on a lighter camera or simply dumped as a bad idea. This will give a softer feeling handle with a lower (feeling) profile on a more secure, but less flexible screw mount.
*I much prefer the idea of a side handle-bar rather than vertical side handle as it can help at any shooting angle and act as a forearm rest when focussing.