This little light will surprise you with how much light a AA can produce.

Did I read the specs correct and it will run on high for only 5 minutes?

OK, copied this from a site.

High: H1 500 Lm (3min, then 304lm, total 0.8 hr)
H2 304 Lm (0.9 hr) / 187 Lm (1.8 hrs) / 107 Lm (3.5 hrs)

Medium: M1 45 Lm (8.5 hrs)
M2 19 Lm (16.5 hrs) / 7.5 Lm (42 hrs)

Low: L1 3.0 Lm (4 days)
L2 1.0 Lm (16 days) / 0.28 Lm (50 days) / 0.1 Lm (4 months)

Beacon Strobe Mode: 4Hz Strobe at H1 / 19Hz Strobe at H1

It will run on high+ for five minutes. That is 500 lumens, then drop to 300+ lumens until the battery gets too low then drop to medium and continue to drop to the lowest before dying.

You can search the internet and not find I more efficient AA light. Trust me. I searched.

Yeah I read that. Still when it drops to 300 it's almost an hour which ain't bad for a single AA.

There is no other AA light pushing 500

I rarely use H1. I usually use medium and it runs longer at that level than any other light I've had.

This would be a GREAT light for a BOB or GHB.

Put a lithium in it and forget it until you need it.

From my research, this guy, SelfBuilt, is the flashlight testing guru. Read his review here http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?403440-Zebralight-SC5-(1xAA-XM-L2)-Review-RUNTIMES-BEAMSHOTS-VIDEO-and-more!

I have a Zebralight headlamp (really just a Zebralight with the light coming out of the wide instead of the top) I use during my morning runs. I have to replace the battery about once a month. I use it daily since I run before the sun comes up. It gets too hot to run here when the sun is up.