i agree with some of the other posters.
if you wanted a stock light, a surge would be fantastic. i find my tec-40 to be a bright as my mag 3d.
here is another idea: i have a mag 3d which i placed 2 luxeon star/o into. these things are crazy bright. they seem to work well out to about 100 feet. not a lot of throw, but...
but what is really fantastic is the quality of beam. very white, with just a hint of green at the preiphery. the ls/o optics are pretty smooth. i would say it looks like a narrow flood...or a wide spot.
and it is so bright that you can point it at the ceiling and read with it!
runtime is fantastic. i ran it for 2 hours with no degradation in brightness. i run it direct drive, so after 2 hours, the head was pretty warm.
if your son likes his current mag, you can get some 1" pcv pipe and use it as a sleeve for 3 c cells. you can buy 2 ls/o, fashion a nice heatsink, and have a light together for around $30. this mod does require some grinding of the base of the luxeon to get them to fit.
the beauty of this mod is that it preserves his mag, creates a fantastic light, long runtimes, and allows him to convert it back to normal if he doesnt like it. my mod does not damage the light in any way.
again, if you want even more simple, or if you really want something with throw, you could go with a tec 40 or surge.
good luck, and have fun,
Bob