I use mine exclusively with lithiums and have never popped a bulb.
You will get a minimum of 4 continuous hours of functional light with fresh lithiums. After multiple run tests (where it consistantly outran the PT 40 by approx 45 minutes) I personally rate it at 4.5hrs steady burn, with an additional 20-30 minutes half hour of dim but usuable light.
Even if stored in the light, the lithiums self-discharge very gradually, but once you have used them, even only briefly, the self-discharge rate accelerates so that if your next use occurs several months later the light will certainly work, but will be less bright than if the second burn had occurred closely after the first burn.
This was something that I wasn't aware of until it was clarified for me as the difference between shelf life and usage life.
I'm little puzzled as to why you and others blew bulbs on liths and I never have. Maybe different bulb "vintages" have subtly different power handling capabilities.
Brightnorm