Headlamp for Auto Repair

For the past few years I've been using 2 cheap headlamps to work on my car (Dorcy and Coast):
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...1&keyword=headlamp&storeId=10051#.UKAa5eRm6pk
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-25e...1&keyword=headlamp&storeId=10051#.UKAa9eRm6pk

The battery pack on the Coast and the bulk of the Dorcy were irritating when underneath the car, but the worst was their decreased brightness over time. After doing some research on this site, I decided to upgrade to a Zebralight H502.

Unfortunately I am somewhat disappointed, mainly for 2 reasons:

Brightness: on anything lower than max it is just not bright enough, which means I will be changing batteries all the time
Beam angle: the spill on the Dorcy looks half as wide as the H502's, and it never bothered me. I work on cars with other people all the time so the wide beam is not just unnecessary, it could be annoying.

So I'm wondering if there's another headlamp with the following features:

1. 60-80 degree beam
2. As bright or brighter than H502 on high
3. At least 50% longer runtime than H502 on brightness setting mentioned in #2
4. Size/weight in between the H502 and the Dorcy (which is 3x AAA)
5. Battery compartment in the lamp
6. Regulated brightness
7. Somewhat floody
8. 1-2 batteries (AA would be nice, but I'm open to other batteries)
9. Low profile (don't want it to stick out a lot)
10. Under $100

Basically I'm looking for something like the H502 but with a narrower beam and longer runtimes. Slightly bigger/heavier is okay. Considering the H51f but I'm afraid it won't be floody enough and/or have long enough battery life. On paper the H600f sounds perfect, but dangers of lithium batteries scares me, and it's so long it looks kind of goofy as a headlamp. Any other suggestions?

Thanks in advance for your help!

The Zebralight H600F has all of the desirable battery protection circuitry, and it really should be quite safe - especially if you aquire and use a high quality brand of battery. Most of the issues with lithium cells comes with misuse or when running them in series which compounds the voltage. I bet you will be very happy with the ZL H600F. It'll put out more than 300 lumens for more than two hours.

Alternatively, the Spark SD52 runs off two AA cells and has an optional removable reflector so you can choose between flood or spot beam. I haven't played with one personally though. Runtime on the higher modes is less than two hours.

Not sure about comparison to specs you listed on other lights, but for auto repair I really like my Fenix HL21 that runs on a single AA. I find that with close up work such as this, that mid setting (47 lumens) is plenty for a good view up close. The high is good for walking an unfamiliar trail at night. You get almost 6 hours on mid, and 2 hours on high, and headband is comfortable on your back and 100% waterproof.

Have a look here..

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004XN5MBW/?tag=cpf0b6-20

Here is the HL30 model that is even brighter..
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008HU8P52/?tag=cpf0b6-20