I am about to retire my well-worn Surefire. There are better lights in the market and it looks very much to me the Surefire range is not what it used to be.

Basically I am looking for the following features :-

1x AA power source (NiMh rechargeables, eg. Sanyo Eneloops. 14500 Li-ion compatibility welcomed but not necessary. Somehow, I do not foresee going the extra mile and hassle for Li-ions)

Click button as main interface. Do not prefer 'twisties'.

Prefer a LED emiiter with beam optimized for good throw (distance) as opposed to floodlit.

Multi output levels - low, medium, high, turbo, sos, strobe, etc.

Pocket carry (clip) and/or belt mounted (holster)

It appears there is one particulat light that fits the bill but the LED model I wanted has been sold out :-
http://www.eagletac.com/html/d25arc/index.html

Any other lights you care to recommend ?

This doesn't meet your 1AA requirement - it takes 3xAAA. Can't beat it for cost/lumens/functionality:
http://www.amazon.com/Nebo-5615-RedLine-SE-Flashlight/dp/B007AJVICS/

Careful, though...those crenulations are *sharp* - as they should be. This thing is a weapon as well.

Big a---d Maglight with thick metal wrapped around a stack of D batteries.

Nothing says tactical like a weapon that is silent and never needs reloading.

You ever hit someone with one of those Maglights? They are anything but silent.

Actually, I have one of those with 5 d-cells. Carrying one in a lanyard loop around my belt when doing impromptu inspections at my factory is like lugging a howtizer barrel. Master is correct. It's not silent. There's plenty of clackety clack. Definitely not edc material.

http://www.fenixlight.com/viewnproduct.asp?id=85

Doesn't run on 1xAA though. Small, but powerful light. I mainly bought it when I was working security in a nightclub but now I use it for just about everything.

I was gonna say the MOLLElight from PentagonLight...but apparently they got sued out of existence by Surefire...

It was a miniature version of the old "angle head" flashlight, but only three inches tall, used a single AA battery, a nice momentary/full on switch, a good clip that could be rotated, and even included different color filters to screw on. High strength polymer, very strong but very light, a reasonably bright LED putting out around 40 lumens...not exactly a "tac light", but plenty bright for normal uses. Love mine, use it at least weekly for three or four years now. Too bad the company's gone.

Another nod for Fenix. I have an LD-20 and love it. Not only is it much more compact, longer battery life & regulated, it also puts out more light than my D cell mag, & 3 wat LED D-cell cheapo (Brinkman I think).

Thanks Panther. This model has been superseded by the PD32 a couple months ago.

Fenix make great lights, but I'm still leaning towards Eagletac. Evaluating further, I'll probably move up to a 2xAA unit from my original idea for 1xAA and spring for their D25A2 Clicky model. It's only 1 cm longer than the Fenix PD32 but pumps out 360+ lumens from 2xAA batteries compared to the PD32's 315 lumens from 2x CR123 Li-ions and both units at not too dissimilar runtimes.

LED Lenser P7 LED Flashlight

Upgraded from a Surefire. Never looked back.