Well, since you asked........LOL!!!

An H50-Q5 really saved my bacon last week. A group of us were descending a remote, steep, rocky, brushy canyon after visiting a plane wreck. There was no trail. This was cross country. The ascent took much longer than we estimated so we ended up coming back down in the dark under a moonless sky. You couldn't see your hand in front of your face.

I switched on the Zebra, cycled through the levels to high and BAM, a wall of light revealed the uneven ground under our feet. One of my friends had no light so he walked behind me and slightly to the side. The spill from the Zebra was enough to light the way for him too. I held my compass waist high to maintain my bearing. The H-50 illuminated the dial as well as the ground ahead of me without moving my head.

Cell life (2000 miAh LSD NiMh) on high was well over an hour. My best guess would be more like 75 minutes but I didn't time it. I had three extra AA's plus the four in my camera. That gave me the confidence to know that my wall of light could last almost all night if we got lost.

In all fairness the H-50 has two drawbacks. We had to find and cross a small stream, plus there was a cliffy area where a wrong step led into a dark abyss. The Zebra lacked the throw to really light up these areas and I had to get up close and personal. Had I known we would be spending so much time in the dark I would have also carried a thrower for occasional use. The other problem was that the Zebra's regulation circuit serves no warning when it reaches its low voltage cutoff threshold. No dimming at all, just suddenly no light. A series of warning blinks every 30 seconds or so would have been nice. I worked around the issue by keeping extra cells in a handy pocket and with prior practice in cell replacement by feel only.

Just keep in mind that no light does it all. But for my specific needs the Zebra is almost perfect.

Never had a problem with my H-50 after weekly use for almost a year. I know some CPF members have had their problems but my feeling is they represent a very vocal minority.