...Are there any with decent regulation as well as decent output?
Coast lights are good if your into flood and throw combo.
M5 and M1 have some kind of regulation.
Did some testing on M5.
The led seems to be xr-e.
I removed the tailcap for every measurement, so there's a little pause during that, maybe half a minute.
Battery is gp recyko AA lsd nimh.
This is what i got:
Minutes Amps
0 0,91
10 0,86
15 0,85
30 0,89
40 0,89
50 0,85
60 0,79
65 0,80
70 0,78
75 0,75
80 0,70
85 0,67
Then I had to call it a day.
Next day, same battery:
0 0,80
10 0,56
15 0,45
20 0,30
25 0,20
1) with noobs yes, with more flashlight educated people not really