Maybe a LEP flashlight makes for a good cat toy? Perhaps safer for your cat than a laser pointer. 
Illuminating something at a very far distance (1000m plus) sounds impressive, except that it’s only a pinpoint of light relative to your eye. You’ll see SOMETHING there, but not enough for detail unless you’re also using binoculars. What’s the use case for something like that? Probably military. Think of it — operating the light on a servo-motor gimbal with one hand, while the other hand grips & focuses a tripod mounted magnifier (monoscope or binoculars) to observe something significantly far away at night. It wouldn’t be useful on a boat for that purpose—too much movement. Maybe with a stabilizing gimbal one could use it for signaling.
I have bought the Nextool 4tool L10 (no idea of quality, it is in the mail and could be weeks from receiving it, no reviews found either), this is rather compact and without the circus of the Lumintops, but it is still a 18650 light and with 32mm head. I agree on hoping for a 25mm wide tube-style LEP flashlight for 18350 cells, about 100mm long, and have about 200kcd throw.
I use a Niwalker MM18III around the “farm”. The combo of flood and throw work well. I’d like to see an LEP head combined with big flood like the Niwalker. 1000 feet is about as far as I need for throw.
In the meantime I’ll buy a Thor I because of the size/price and I like the way it looks - I was all set to buy similar parts for a build from Lumens Factory. But this is very similar and includes the LEP engine for about the same price.
I use a haikelite ht35 from boat. Some places are first come first serve and we often drive miles in the dark checking for empty sites. Other places you reserve a site but still need to find it in the dark.
Spill is horrible because there is nearly always some fog/mist.
When beaching the zoom function is great.
I used to use a modded aspheric crelant vg5 but someone dropped it on concrete. Also modified a black shadow terminator to use 4 aspherics. This had a bigger focused beam and worked great. Both meant I needed a second light for landing, and zooming means I can keep Spill off the boat from tiller steering position.
I don’t think leps have enough lumens for my uses. I am sure they would help see buoys and campsite signs, but you need to see back into the woods to tell if canoe campers are there. 5k or less seems to pierce fog better. Hopefully xhp50.3 will come in warm tints so I can swap to that.
I can’t see far enough to use the throw they have over the ht35, and using binos in a moving boat while you drive is impractical.
When they get 2 or 3 times as bright, and under $100, I will certainly give it a try.
We are out on a lake right now. First 5 sites we checked were taken.
Fenix had put out a combined emitter package in an interesting array — LED’s around the perimeter of the reflector for spill, and then a deep reflector LED for the throw. The LR40R.
I think it’s a pretty workable design and I hope they can see their way to putting an SBT-90 or CULMN1.TG in the center at some point. Or perhaps one of the other Chinese companies might clone the setup and tackle the need.
I am suprised how much I like the LEP as an EDC. Its enough lumens for most uses and using it for wall bounce for more spill is amazing. Shoot it at a nearby wall and it makes spill. This is one of the coolest things I ever used. Its like using a C8 for the first time but way longer distance. I tried one with a fresnel lens as well and its not as long but it can do basically the same thing. Very cool stuff.
1 Thank
Make a “lens cap” that’s got diffusion film (even 2 layers if needed) if you want something nice and floody for inside. Pop off for throw.
I use mine to bend light through a large crystal…other than that it might be useful if you’re tasked with guarding a door at the end of a straight tunnel.
put ‘magic’ [frosted] tape over a small part of the lens