I recently purchased the Streamlight ProPolymer 4AA Luxeon LED and the Underwater Kinetics 4AA eLED from brightguy.com. I'm impressed with both of these flashlights. The Streamlight and the UK get 4.5 and 5.0 stars respectively on a scale from 1 to 5 from flashlight reviews.com.

The Streamlight has the greatest throw of the two, and exceeds that of many CR-123 powered lights. The UK has less throw, but battery life is greater than 10 hours.

If you're looking for a 2AA flashlight, The Streamlight Jr Luxeon LED has reasonable throw, but battery life drops to one hour and twenty minutes before the light drops out of regulation and starts to dim.

Any of these lights are priced well below the $50 barrier.