Elmie, the light output of mine is comparable to that of my Lightwave Illuminator, which is a headlamp version of the Lightwave 2000 -- another 4-LED, 3-AA flashlight, except in a more conventional long-cylinder shape. Thus, I presume it's comparable to many other 4-LED 3-AA flashlights, most of which are much cheaper. The light pattern of both is very nice - a nice bright spot in the center, gently falling off as you get to 90 degrees or so off axis, with no rings or dark spots. Not ideal for illuminating an object at a distance, but excellent for anything within a few yards.
If you just want the nice light pattern and battery life at full brightness, you might want to consider something like the lightwave 2000 or illuminator (I like headlamps, especially with this sort of light pattern), which would save some money. The easy one-hand operation and nifty dimming features (and thus extension of battery life) made the Eternalight worthwhile to me, but then I'm also a gadget freak willing to spend that much on a flashlight.
I think it's an excellent bedside companion, and the one with an internal glow should make an even better one.
A downside to the Eternalight, that I realized once rolling blackouts rolled through here: it's a bit complicated to operate, if you want to loan it out to people. For the reasonably intelligent owner, it takes just a minute or two to figure it all out, but there's a bit of explaining you'd have to do if passing it to a co-worker or neighbor. It's not enough just to point them to the "on" button, as the thing starts out in "timer" mode, and will gradually dim down to nothing over 12 minutes or so, unless the user presses the mode button once to get into dimmer mode.