No problem listening, all of your concerns are valid... just not sure what we can do to help.

FWIW, any of these lights are plenty for 25 feet or 50 feet in a dark room. Differences would come into play, say, for 50 feet with ambient light from streetlights keeping your eyes from adjusting, trying to illuminate dark corners or under cars. For that, a spot is probably better. For inside, I'd almost always go with a flood. For 25 feet, I'd probably go for a flood anyway. There's a certain amount of safety in being able to see more of your surroundings, instead of just a spot, however bright- but maybe that's just me. On the other hand, a spot is clearly better in fog or smoke... though it doesn't take a great deal of either to render either light pretty useless.

IF you felt confident to do it, I'd suggest getting an E series 2-cell body (SF L4 or E2e, Aleph, Balrog, whatever, $20-35), a 2-stage tailcap($50), and a NEW style SF KL1 head (list $56), which is LED, slightly less power than the L4 (it's a Lux 3), but more focused, more "spot" than "flood". Total cost would probably be right around that of the the L4, with more focus and 2 stages. All of these parts can be had, though "new style" KL1 heads are a little scarce right now.

Or, you could experiment a bit with lower-priced lights (Streamline, Nuwai, SF G2) to really determine what you like and what you don't. $35-70 might be cheaper than a mistake in a more expensive light, and anythiing you don't like can always be sold. I'm quite taken with the Q-III at 2 for$80 shipped, it has a beam similar to the L4 at, I'd guess, about 3/4 the power. It falls short of SF in a few ways, but it's very nice (Nuwai makes several of the Streamlight models), and smaller than anything SF has for EDC.

Keep in mind that there's no real point in trying for the "perfect" light. It doesn't exist, everything is a compromise, and whatever you get will probably be obsolete in a year or two (though useful for much longer). You're just trying to find something you'll be really happy with for that year or two or three, and won't regret buying if you really need it in the interim.

On the other hand, if you keep holding out for the pefect light, it will certainly save you some money for awhile yet. <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />