Part of the lack of a 'wow' factor these days probably has to do with how we've gone from huge changes (like the 5mm Nichia blues to the Luxeon 1W, or the jump from Lux 3/5W to the Cree XP-G) to more incremental changes, like from the Luxeon 3W to the K2. The XM-L is more efficient and brighter than the XP-E, but it's not a HUGE step up. Ditto the lack of a huge breakthrough in safe, cheap, high-current energy storage. We just can't pack that much more power into batteries that aren't inconveniently huge or low output.
As for modular lights, I haven't gone past my Alephs, as I don't like having spare LE's lying around in unused heads. The danger was never the light that wasn't "just right", but that the tech advanced at breakneck rates. The monolithic lights that are multimode are best if you're not going to devote a lot of time to building the drivers yourself or if you're the type who believes in serious redundancy. Old modules don't always sell well, unless they're just parts waiting for a driver and LED to be mounted in them.
As for modular lights, I haven't gone past my Alephs, as I don't like having spare LE's lying around in unused heads. The danger was never the light that wasn't "just right", but that the tech advanced at breakneck rates. The monolithic lights that are multimode are best if you're not going to devote a lot of time to building the drivers yourself or if you're the type who believes in serious redundancy. Old modules don't always sell well, unless they're just parts waiting for a driver and LED to be mounted in them.
