Hey everyone, the 1 watt luxeons are supposed to be equivalent to 10 normal leds such as those found in petzl tikkas. A really good website to see testing of all types of torches is http://ledmuseum.org This guy just gets sent samples from people to test for things like light output and water and damage resistance. Go to the luxeon flashlight part, or if you have a d cell maglite check out the replacement bulb section.

The main advantage of the higher powered LEDs is that they dont break or shatter. The torches that use lithium batteries have a 10 year shelf life. This makes them much more rugged for outdoor use.

Just a quick comment about batteries. In my opinion, the ONLY reason not to get torches that use CR123/CR123A batteries is if you are worried about being able to get replacements in random places. As some people have already mentioned, lithium batteries have a longer shelf-life (good for emergency torch) and are lighter than AAs.

And if you look on eBay, or at www.7dayshop.com, you will see the lithium batteries don't have to be more expensive than AA's: energizer CR123's are currently £1.24 each! I really don't understand why they are so much more in the high street.

I stumbled across 7dayshop the other day and have found them to be very good. You do have to wait an extra day or so on posting, but they are sooo cheap - 35mm film costs almost nothing!