I love people who push Surefire flashlights, they are like Mac owners (I am a Mac owner), they think that what they have/use is the best, and you should accept no substitutes. However, I still can't justify paying twice the price and not getting twice the flashlight. That, and my previous arguments still stand, while it is always nice to have nice things, I would rather not have to worry about a $65 flashlight (yeah dunno where you came up with $36, unless you don't count the cost of LED upgrade or just buying the LED version). I don't want to carry a flashlight that I have to worry about who I let borrow it, or if I forget it in the theatre overnight.
Now, of course if someone wants to gift me a nice new flashlight, I will happily use it, but in spending my own money, it just doesn't seem like a logical investment.
I still want to know what makes the SureFire so much better that warrants the additional cost. You can drop a mag light or run it over with a truck, I bet if I was really creative I could get the other batter out of mine and clean out the inside and it would still work, but to replace a mini-mag at $10 or less in any store makes it not worth my time or effort to fix it. So, the SureFires are brighter, so are Streamlights and many others. Durability, size, weight, and ease of use are probably about the same across the board, so in my eyes all you are paying for is the name. That just doesn't do it for me, I'll take the same quality at a lesser price and be quite happy.
I'm a mac owner as well, and I own more than just surefire lights. I recommended surefire because of their customer service. As an example, call mag instrument about your light. Then count all the departments you're forwarded to and transfered to, and see how long they tell you it will take to get a new light. Most likely, they'll ask you to send back your old one, and then send you a new one. Surefire doesn't bother with all that, and instead just says OK what's your mailing address, we'll send you a new body tube, screw the old head on and you're fine. I got the 36 dollars from surefire's website, and you don't necessarily need the Surefire brand drop in. PM me if you're interested in learning more about the LED's, but my point is that surefire has many positives. I'm not saying Mag doesn't. Mag lites are very difficult to destroy, but they also have their downsides. A mag needs to be replaced every few years due to wear and tear. I've had a surefire since 2001 that's still working as well as the year I bought it. I was attempting to point out that there are alternatives to Mag that may be better suited to some folks' needs.
-Max