I had a look at this a while ago and I dont like:
- you have to use an external mosfet
- minimal voltage is 2.7V, so a min pf 3 cells is required if you wnt to drain them to 0.9V per cell
- power is up to 500mW, not very much...
But Maxim has a lot of very good other step up converters, but they are not labeled for the use with white LEDs, just look around a little bit...