I got it from doingoutdoor, I’m not sure if it would be OK to post the price on here because I may have got it well below MAP, but go to the site and there’s a coupon code: a36f4b2d75 put it in your cart, enter the code and you’ll see the price. (I just checked and it’s still the same price I paid) however it’s currently out of stock for the U3, (as it was when I went to buy it but I emailed them and they replied after a few days that several had arrived). Not sure if I would have got this if I didn’t get that price, I also decided on it after reading JohnnyMac’s review. Not sure if I will regret getting the U3 over the NW because I usually try to get NW lights, but decided on the U3 for the extra oomph.
As for batteries I felt the same way as you because I needed 4 more for the Terminator so I had to make a decision, l almost bought 4 of the Keepower 3400mAh batteries (also from doingoutdoor) but couldn’t bring myself to pay $50.00 for 4 batteries the same day as buying the light and holster. I agree the AW are high quality and I use them for my 14500 lights, but they are quite pricey as you say for the 18650’s, when I first got into Li-ions I told myself I would always only use AW’s however that changed when I had to buy 18650’s for multi-cell lights so I started using XTAR 18700’s and found them to be high quality as well. So I ended up getting 4 of the XTAR 2600mAh (at a great price I couldn’t pass up: $27.98 for all 4 from pandawill)
I also bought another charger (a 6 bay XTAR) so I could charge all 4 at the same time, I currently only have the XTAR 2 bay model. I think I’m going to eventually get the Keepower 3400mAh batteries for this light, I think they are one of the highest amp/hour rating available in a 18650, and they are based on a high quality Panasonic cell, here is a link to a review on here by HKJ: Test / Review: Keeppower 18650 3400mAh (Black)
I currently only own three 18650’s so I’m waiting for the new batteries to arrive to fully test the light, they are suppose to be here tomorrow.
As for beamshots I may try that if I can find the time, never did that before as I’m kind of a newbie flashaholic, but if I do maybe I’ll do a comparison shot with my HD 2010, I’m hoping the Terminator has more flood with equal or better throw.