I do a bit of night hiking (and camping), and my all-time favorite hiking flashlight is the Underwater Kinetics 4AA eLED. IMHO, the beam and brightness are nearly perfect for hiking in the woods at night, and you can't go wrong with the 10+ hour regulated runtime! I also use a Princeton Tec EOS headlamp on occasion... It's a very nice, well-designed light, but the beam is all "spot" and not much "flood", so it may not be the best for use on rough trails with lots of little obstacles underfoot. Great for seeing things at a distance though.
I have an E2e, and the short runtime kinda dooms it for use hiking in the woods at night. It may be better with the long-runtime bulb.
Now, if I were you, I'd either...
a) Save up a bit more, and buy a Surefire L2 or A2 (two brightness levels, longer runtime, good beams for hiking)
or
b) Buy two UK 4AA eLED's from Brightguy.com, and whatever headlamp appeals to you. Figure out which eLED has the best/whitest beam, and use it (along with the headlamp) for night hiking. Put lithium AA's in the other eLED, and keep it in your house or car for emergencies.