Let's not inflate Surefire's specs as well:
"And it continues producing useful light levels for an impressive 12 hours on a single set of batteries."
MAX is claimed to be 80 lumens, but they don't say for how long you will get 80 lumens. It could be the first 5-10 minutes, first hour, first 4 hours, etc. It says it will produce useful light for 12 hours. My P3D Fenix will produce useful light for around 70 hours on 2xCR123a's.
As for cheap DX lights, sure, many of them will put out more than 80 lumens of light (out the front). However, many lack in the regulation department, most aren't near Surefire quality, etc, but if all you want is a lot of lumens, DX offers low cost solutions. Obviously if Surefire is using a Cree P4 or Q2 LED and driving at 350-500mA, or whatever, and some cheap DX light has the same Cree P4 or Q2 but is driving it at 750-1200mA, of course it will be brighter.