Favorite Flashlight: Currently the Leatherman Serac 2. It has a high beam, a low beam and runs on a single AAA battery which meets my main requirement for flashlights in general. If the flashlight doesn't use "common" batteries AA, AAA, C or D it's not the flashlight for me. I don't like paying big $$ for specialy batteries or have to hunt for them. I prefer batteries I can use in my flashlight, radio, portable cell phone charger or any other battery operated equipment I might be carrying.

While agreeing with the above about how nice a little light the Petzl e+LITE is, I would like to point out that it is also ATEX approved for hazardous environments. From the Petzl e+LITE Technical Notice:

ATEX field of application
e+LITE is category 3 equipment that can be used in Zone 2 and Zone 22 where the explosive atmosphere may be present by accident: installation malfunction, leak.
Use is prohibited in Zone 0 and 20 and in and Zone 1 and 21.
Before using the lamp, take note of all hazardous areas you may enter.

CE Ex II 3GD Ex ic IIC T6
Ex tD A22 IP6x T85°C X
CE: CE marking.
Ex: use of the equipment in an explosive atmosphere.
II: group of equipment for surface use.
3: device for Zone 2.
G: gas environment.
D: dusty environment.
Ex: device fulfilling the requirements of the CENELEC standardization (European standards).
ic: intrinsic protection.
II: above-ground industry.
C: subdivision of gas including: acetylene, hydrogen, ethylene, carbon monoxide, butane, propane, ethanol.
tD: protection by enclosure.
A: European protection for IP.
22: zone 22.
IP6x: dust protection.
T85°C: maximum surface temperature of 85 °C.
X: WARNING DANGER, do not replace the batteries in an explosive atmosphere.
e+LITE has been certified by an independent laboratory (INERIS) as «equipment usable in a hazardous area» when used with the following batteries: Panasonic CR2032, Duracell DL2032, Akashi CR2032, Energizer CR2032, Renata DL2032.
Use only the batteries listed above in hazardous areas.
Maintenance
Water in the battery case can cause a malfunction. After use in a moist or wet environment, remove the batteries and allow the lamp to dry completely.

What environment does it need to meet? We occasionally go underground in coal mines & our lights have to meet the MSHA rating.

I was just browsing some websites of manufactures of flashlights and came across this one from Ledwave: http://www.ledwave.eu/flashlights/led-technology/mtl-defenser-1/
Earlier in this thread I said that I would like to see a flashlight with battery gauge or some sort of indicator on the market and I have finally found at least one. The MTL Defenser-1 doesn´t look bad at all. In addition to the baterry capacity indicator I like the rotary switch with symbols. I am going to search for some reviews of this light.

I think the Serac's are re-branded Fenix lights. That's the word on the streets, anyway. Not that I don't like their lights!

Camping and hiking I just don't need much light. Perhaps a few seconds here and there to find something in the bottom of a backpack or to unknot a tangles line but I have gone days camping without any artificial light.

Second, when I need a light I usually don't need a whole lot of light. My eyes are getting older and I need more than I used to but still 99% of the stuff I'm concerned with is within arms reach. A single medium output LED is fine for most work.

Generally, the advancements in LEDs has meant that my old incandescent lights are being decommissioned and pensioned off. Or converted. I have a half-dozen of the old incandescent 2-AA Mini-Mags. Some pushing twenty years old. Most of these I have converted using a Nite-Ize LED conversion kit. It is a very cost effective package. The Mini-Mags are still, as of last week, available for about 8$. The LED conversion kit goes for $5 if you just get the LED module but $11 with a fancy switch unit that, quite frankly, adds nothing in function IMHO. The bottom line on this is that you can get a simple, reliable and effective LED flashlight for about $13.

There are times when I need a high output flashlight. Search and rescue and reading addresses in a rainstorm come to mind. For those roles my favorite is a Xenon unit made by Hubbel that uses 3-C cells. I bought three of them and am down to one after someone walked away with one and cheap batteries ate one up. Unfortunately it is no longer made by them. The Pelican Sabre is an near exact copy and Hubbel may have had their made by them under contract. The Hubbel is MSA rated for most explosive atmospheres. It is the flashlight I carry working on the gas plant and battery banks. The Hubbel was selling for $13 on sale but the Pelican equivalent goes for $25 to $45 depending on who sells them and if you can get them on sale.

Yes, I have friends that show up with their flashlights going for $100 and up. Nice enough, but then again high end units tend to walk off, cause crying if they get dropped off a seven story building because you slipped, or dropped into a concrete form as the mud is being poured, and really don't seem to be more reliable in practical terms because the limit on reliability is usually a matter of battery life not flashlight durability.

A cheaper, but solid, unit with good lithium cells is functionally about as reliable as a $120 flashlight as I see it. And after spending $13 to $25 on a solid flashlight I have money left over to buy a buttload of really good batteries. Works for me.

I tried the mini-maglite conversion and when compared to a good AA LED flashlight with voltage regulation circuitry, it is lacking. Compared to the newer ones with multiple levels of light (my latest is a Quark AA2 which starts at 0.2 lumens good for 30 days continuous, and runs up to a max output of 206 lumens which is good for 1.3 hours), the mini-maglite doesn't hold a candle.

My maglites have been retired.

I have found the output of the Mini-Mag LED conversion to be entirely adequate and have yet to see a use for multiple levels of output. Sounds like a valuable feature until you get out into the field.

Off/on is simple and effective. A guy I work with has a fancy one, not a Quark, with three levels of output, blinking and blinking SOS functions. The Chinese have made these switch modules so lots of units get the same feature set. He is always having to fiddle with it to get it to do what he wants. And he sometimes brushes the switch and it starts blinking when he is doing detailed work. A PITA. More trouble than it is worth and a set of features that lowers the practical value of the product. Easier to just turn it on, use it, and turn it off.

Those run times are also slanted toward the lowest possible output. Twenty-four hours of light too low to be useful is nothing to brag about. That Quark list 1.3 hours at maximum and 5 hours at 'high'. 'Moonlight' is just a waste of power if you not into mood lighting. Mini-Mag with conversion gets about six hours of usable light off a single set of nothing special alkaline cells and something more than twice that with lithium cells.

That Quark also goes for $59 plus S&H. I owned the Mini-Mags so upgrading was cheap. I don't see any major advantage to spending money to replace something that still works. The only change I have made, after converting them to LEDs is buying lithium cells for the units I keep stored. My every-day tool belt light still gets fed alkaline cells. Use varies widely by what I'm doing but a set every two weeks is about average.

If the Mini-Maglite works for you that's great. I just wasn't content with the Nite-Ize conversion I had. Once I discovered regulated lights Inever looked back.
Actually, I thought that "Moonlight" was a little dim, until I used it at night after my eyes had adjusted. It's dim enough that your natural night vision isn't destroyed -- it seems to augment natural night vision. As for the really bright modes, I can see using them but only very rarely and for short duration. "Max" is brighter than my 3D Maglite.

It turns on in the "Moonlight" mode and if that isn't bright enough you nudge the button once or twice to Low or Medium (from 0.2 to 4/22 lumens) and that should be more than enough. In very dark trees at night you may need to bump it up to High. Max is really bright and I don't see a need for that, but it's always there for the unforeseen.

Another of those Chinese lights that I like is the Fenix L1T. It's simpler with just two levels (16 and 98 Lumens) -- still regulated.

+1 on the Serac-2.
It's my keychain EDC for exactly those reasons.
I like the low beam as it allows me to search through the sock drawer without waking my wife.

Have not yet seen any Fenix for sale in this neck of the woods.

I have the new LED Maglight 2AA MiniMag in my outdoor kits.
I like that they are cheap & effective. The hi/low/SOS sequence is easy to use.