It may be a little dimmer from the sides, but it is going to last MUCH^2 longer and is not going to break the first time you bump it either...
I gotta' ask: C'mon, has anyone really had that much trouble with the fragility of incandescent bulbs? To put it another way: is this a real problem or a made-up problem to justify going out and buying some new stuff to try (not that there's anything wrong with that <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> )?
I've got over a half-dozen Maglites that I've been using for at least decade. One or two are probably approaching two decades. They've been dropped to the floor and routinely tossed into the toolbox and have the scars to show for it... I think I've replaced one bulb during that time. Come to think of it, I've got a 5 C-cell Kel-Lite (the predecessor of Maglite) that's around 30 years old (whoa... I had to take that in for a second) that's running on the original bulb despite many years of rough handling.
I'm not trying to put down led lights (I own several), they have plenty of advantages (ruggedness and runtime are right up there), but let's be realistic. I'm not ready to lump incandescent lights together with slide rules and pencil pointers just yet. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />