Many think of Maglite as a "big" light maker from a period gone by. They make smaller lights too. And their philosophy is US built lights you can pass down to the grandkids.
Most here see Maglite as behind the times regarding new technology. Some feel same about HDS, and for a while Malkoff and SureFire. Malkoff is taking steps to provide more modern technology in the output area but sticks with rock solid, simple designs for their bodies and working parts. HDS has largely moved forward with user interface while sticking with tried and true outputs.
Maglite does take steps forward but they are slow steps.
Streamlight is a well known brand with a lot of variety of models, but have seemingly been plagued with durability issues in some models over the last couple of years.
SureFire, well it's hard to say about them anymore. They were the one everybody tried to keep up with for a while but then they went kinda stale for a while. They pop out radical new ideas from time to time with lights aimed at a law enforcement and special ops market.
Elzetta is purely tactical lights meant to with stand hard use.
Everybody in league with the big boys seems to be favoring more neutral tints, or at least that option. Some still stick with cool white, but it is generally in the lower 6000 kelvin range when they do.
Color rendition is on everybodies mind as LED's become more accurate at producing light with less bias in the color spectrum so the light they provide is better at a more sunlight accuracy (even at higher or lower kelvin than mid day sun).
Fenix, Zerbra Light and other players are out there selling a lot of product too. With prices that appeal to a larger market than the Elzetta, HDS, Malkoff and SureFire products. For a while Fenix was doing the lead for super bright, or were not far behind those that did.
A company called NEBO has some pretty cool ideas. They tend to favor a niche market for plumbers, mechanics and that segment of the market. Streamlight does as well but they are priced higher than the NEBO products so the market looking at price first stay away from the Streamlight gear.
