Hi, I just came across this post.

There are a lot of good LED lights out there. There's also a fair amount of junk.

What is your intended use? Is brightness more of an issue than battery life? Do you want a focused, long-throw spot or a wide, diffused spill for general illumination? What about compactness and weight? These factors will influence your choices a lot.

I have had excellent luck (brightness and reliability) with both Princeton Tec and Streamlight products.

The Princeton Tec flashlights are quite bright, but not as blindingly bright as others. I believe this is on purpose. PT lights are tuned for wilderness use, giving them impressive battery life. They're also tough, surviving 6-foot drops with barely a scratch (generally accompanied by a booming cuss word on the way down). I agree that the Impact II is probably the best of the bunch, balancing weight, throw, brightness and battery life quite nicely. If I go backpacking and can only take one light, this is it. I also have an Impact XL. Again, a solid and durable light, but it's heavier (4AA) and the reflector tends to give a "doughnut" effect to the beam as power goes down.

The Streamlights also survive 6-foot drops without complaint (also followed down by that cuss word). They tend to be brighter than the Princeton Tecs, though that naturally reduces battery life somewhat. They are extremely popular in industrial settings, which is why safety supply stores carry them as well as sporting goods outlets. The propolymer 7 LED is a good general-purpose choice, though some say they run hot causing some of the LEDs to fail prematurely (I haven't had a problem). I suspect the propolymer luxeon will be even more impressive, though there will be a noticeable reduction in run time. The TaskLight luxeon 3AA is a sturdy powerhouse, but I find it a bit big to be handy for everyday carry, and I'm pretty sure it's more than $30 anyway.

Both the Princeton Tecs and Streamlights thrive on rechargeable batteries. If you're a frequent user, this saves you a lot of money. (And that in turn encourages you to be a frequent user.)

My favourite Streamlight is the 2AA TaskLight. Very tough and sturdy, fits in my pocket, and has a decent, bright beam. I would estimate the output to be somewhere around half a watt or so. Much brighter than the multiple-LED arrangements used in lights of similar size. It also has a high/low mode, so you can really conserve battery power if you need to.

The other 2AA light I use a lot is the MiniMagLED. It's perhaps 25% brighter than the TaskLight 2AA, and has a combination of a "spot" plus a wide "spill" that I find quite satisfying to use.

There is one big issue with the MMLED that everyone needs to be aware of: when the batteries drain to a certain point, it shuts off completely. No warning, no moonglow mode, just sudden darkness. It will give you a momentary flash when you turn it off and on, but that's it. This makes it a dicey choice for any critical situation, since you must carry a backup of some sort. Or, you must have spare batteries that you can get at immediately and change in the dark (without accidentally reversing polarity, which will fry the MMLED). This is a dismal and annoying flaw in an otherwise decent light.

Rather a long post. Sorry about that. Hope this is helpful.