The biggest difference, in a word? Warranty. And customer service.
You may remember the story about my 4 year old Pelican M6 Lithium that had the tail switch go out on it. I called Pelican's customer service department, they told me yes, it's a known problem and two days later I had an entire new tailcap in my mailbox. Problem is, my light is old and it's silver; they sent me a black one. Seems that is the only color they make these days. Kinda fugly looking, but functional. I lived with that for a couple months.
Monday this week, I thought maybe I could send them the entire original silver tailcap, and maybe they know how to remove the switch and put in a new one. So I called, got an RMA number, and sent the tailcap on Monday 6/6. Today (6/10, Friday) I got a box in the mail from Pelican, along with this piece of paper.
Yes, they sent me an entire new host in black, including another black tailpiece, at no charge, in the same week I shipped it to them. That is pretty hard to beat customer service, so I wanted to toot their horn here, they deserve it.
I now have an ugly Pelican and a nice one, that I need to find a new drop-in for.
BTW, don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking budget lights, you guys know I have a lot of them, and have not had any real issues with them. But the service I received from Pelican is worth noting. Nice that they are here in California as well.