best (brightest) gift AA cree light under $40

I'm looking to buy good cree lights for my family (they all have birthdays coming up) and would like to spend under $30-$40. between what fenix has to offer and what DX and KD have to offer, its a tough choice without lumens ratings or reviews. my priorities are as follows, in order of importance:

1. runs on AA (1 or 2)
2. Bright as possible (not too concerned about flood vs throw, a mix is preferable). i want it to put out alot of light overall. it is useful to talk in terms of amps getting to the led or lumens but these specs are rarely listed. lux doesn't help me much cause thats just a throw spec right? basically, it needs to have a great boost converter to generate as much current as possible from a AA cell. the ellys can only do about 350ma i think (boost converter draws about an amp at 1.4v from the battery and converts it to 3.4v to send to the led. this isnt even close to the full potential of the cree x-re.
3. low cut off voltage. it should start up on around .8-1v. (the cree'd ellys sometimes need 1.3v to start, leaving you with charged batteries that won't start your light)
4. small
5. quality (glass lens, aluminum reflector, good o-rings)
6. candle mode (tailstand-able and preferably removable reflector/lens)
7. would be cool if it could alternatively take 14500 li-ion but not necessary)
8. good runtime
9. forward clickie

of course you probably cant get all that for $30, thats why i listed in order of importance. main considerations are: brightest AA light for under $30-40. p.s. mods are ok if you know of a cheap light with a great boos converter.
thanks tons to anyone with some advice!

It's a shame DX had to pull their Jetbeams CLE, they would have been perfect giftlights (allthough not meeting that many of your criterias).
IMHO the Ultrafire C3 is the best choice among the cheaper AA-lights for a gift.
I don't know how bright it really is, but I guess it's plenty(I guess any Cree or seoul would be, compared what your family is used to). More importantly when it comes to gifts, is that the light looks good and of high quality, and going by the pics, it seems to be better built than the rest of the cheaper AA-lights.
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1993
Good luck!

You might get some ideas from this thread, started just yesterday. Nearly the same question.

#7's "forward clicky requirement" will be tough to fill thru fenix, DX or Kai...

Not sure which of the chinese mfgs actually make one...

alphazeta said:

#7's "forward clicky requirement" will be tough to fill thru fenix, DX or Kai...

Not sure which of the chinese mfgs actually make one...

Click to expand...

your probably right, but that one is not at all a priority.

Dealextreme:
Cree:1.25W Cree 1AA Flashlight(out of stock, has a 14500 version), Ultrafire C3,MXDL-Style Cree P4(premodded Elly)
Seoul: MTE 1xAA SSCP4
Luxeon(back up): Ultrafire 1W, 1W Ultrafire 602A(out of stock), 1W Ultrafire 602C 1AAA(out of stock)

Kaidomain:
Cree: EVERLEY, ELITE, IVAN(14500)
Luxeon: Ultrafire 1W, Ultrafire 602A, Ultrafire AAA

qualitychinagoods:
Cree:Ultrafire C3, Super Bright LED

Those are the cheapest AA lights that are resonable tough and reliable that I can think off.

I think this is the only foward clickie AA Cree light. LumaPower LumaHunter : M3, only a little out of your price range.

Gunner12 said:

Dealextreme:
Cree:1.25W Cree 1AA Flashlight(out of stock, has a 14500 version), Ultrafire C3,MXDL-Style Cree P4(premodded Elly)
Seoul: MTE 1xAA SSCP4
Luxeon(back up): Ultrafire 1W, 1W Ultrafire 602A(out of stock), 1W Ultrafire 602C 1AAA(out of stock)

Kaidomain:
Cree: EVERLEY, ELITE, IVAN(14500)
Luxeon: Ultrafire 1W, Ultrafire 602A, Ultrafire AAA

qualitychinagoods:
Cree:Ultrafire C3, Super Bright LED

Those are the cheapest AA lights that are resonable tough and reliable that I can think off.

I think this is the only foward clickie AA Cree light. LumaPower LumaHunter : M3, only a little out of your price range.

Click to expand...

wow gunner thats a great round-up. i think the lux ratings are just confusing the hell out of me. on DX it states that the lux of the ultrafire c3, when driven by a 14500, is WAY less than the MTE 1xAA SSCP4, driven by 1AA. i wonder how big the difference would be if the C3 were driven by the same 1AA. of course lux tells us nothing but center spot intensity, so i guess we have essentially no info on total light output for these lights. i bet the seoul just has a brighter hot-spot due to its emission pattern. the broader spread of light can be focused better. :thanks: