I can't really compare to the photon because my photon is the red led. Best way to describe brightness is around 5 true lumens. Nice even circular beam. Wouldn't be the best with lots of ambient light present, but in darkness or even total darkness it's more than enough to see what you need to do. Sometimes I've found it's a bit too bright when waking up in middle of night for bathroom runs, I'd say it's the perfect balance of output/runtime your gonna find in a keychain light that small. I think it's around 12 hours of straight runtime if not more on a AAA battery, someone can correct me if I'm wrong. But basically your battery changes are very few and far between, don't use alkalines, I recommend energizer lithiums