I was at a knife shop recently and came across an interesting LED light by Tool Logic that is an interesting variation on the Arc AAA and CMG/Gerber. Check it out. tool logic led light
Agreed, it's a shame they couldn't do a slightly larger version that takes a sensible battery. Are there any other LED lights out there with magnetic bases ?
The modest additional expense of a step-up converter will likely pay for itself the first time you have to swap cells - which you'll be doing all too often with button cells.