XRE is or was a good way of putting out usable mid range illumination in small packages. OP reflectors make them very useful outdoor flashlights and they throw extremely well in a deep reflector. As far as I played I find XPEs to focus harder with reflectors and I prefer OP with them too. XPE’s are more flexible by their size, I think, and give a more general purpose beam for EDCs. I don’t think they can beat XREs in throw easily. I had been playing with my C8 flashlight plus XPGs and XPEs with some success but I once again saw how it threw with an XRE and decided to leave it like that.