The UltraFire Cree C3 runs a P4 flux bin emitter, while Quarks have R2 or better. If the UltraFire is brighter in lumens, chances are that it will have significantly inferior runtime.

As for the flood vs. throw question, that is entirely subjective to your requirements and preferences. If it works for you it's good.

My experience with UltraFires is limited. I had one that I experimented on (I changed the emitter and driver) and that's it. I own a lot of Quarks and I've had one switch get a little flakey, which was promptly replaced under warranty.

Neither UltraFire nor 4Sevens has been around long enough for us to know what long-term reliability will be like, but I've beat the heck out of some of my Quarks with no problems other than the aforementioned flakey switch.