As a flashlight nut I bought into many brands before buying surefire. Why? I always thought that surfire is overpriced, snobish company that wont compromise for the customer in terms of price. Also battery life on some of their light was sort of a joke. I bought into Inova lights, Arc lights and Pelican lights. By now I still have my other lights that I distributed among my BOB and my car but my primary EDC is Surefire E1L, my job lights are L2 and M3. They are worth every penny and if you shop around on candlepowerforums you can get them cheaper that MSRP. Surefire offers you great warranty, are made very strongly and reliable. Battery life? Yes it is a problem BUT that goes for all the strong lights. I have M3 with 20 min lapm assembly installed and I've been using it for a month and still haven't changed the batteries. Up to today I broke 2 invoas, have deffective Pelican M6 and send in my old ARC for repair but Surfires are as good as new.