I suppose it's getting away from the initial post, but I want the light for road riding. I do long distance rides (some of which can go through the night) so it's a trade-off between performance and battery life. Until now I'd used a Schmidt dynohub as my main source of power, but I can't have a dynohub with the recumbent trike I've recently started riding. I haven't used many LEDs, and not any of the super bright ones. I have an upgraded Solidlights (works off dynohub or battery), and a Dinotte 400L. I've also messed around with a few Fenix torches. My latest purchase is a Philips LED battery light with cut-off road beam. It's quite good in many ways, but I currently have issues with poor runtime.
All the LEDs I've tried make me feel a bit 'queezy'! It's hard to explain, but the colour temperature makes everything a bit strange looking, and when riding with the lights it's sometimes difficult to make out the verge etc – everything has a washed-out feel to it. Again, the LEDS I've used seem to put out a pool of diffused light which is fine on familiar roads, but I find I just can't see on some nights, especially on unfamiliar roads. I find myself straining to see up the road for clues about corners, but sometimes don't see them until I'm getting into them.
I've dug out the 9N, and I don't think it's an ideal beam for road riding either. I'll still experiment with hooking it up to some AA's.
The best lights I've used have been the MR16 halogens, but the runtime is limited.
I'm wondering if I ought to splash out on a brighter LED – I'm looking at a Dinotte 1200L Plus (I have a few Dinotte chargers and batteries), a Lumicycle System 3 or System 4, or a Lupine Betty. The other option which is always in the back of my mind is the Busch & Muller Big Bang HID.