Yea, the run time is not what a less powerful light has. I think what every hunter has to know what they need for run time and how well they want to see. If you are a hunter that stays on stand for 1/2 hour each stand you can only get 6 stands. But they will be great stands to set on because of the amount of light. If you hunt like me a hunter can get 12 stands or more stands. Me, a few extra 186500 batteries is not even something I care about. I have carried a nightforce that cost three times the price of the carnivore 5 light. Plus I still went through two or three extra $35 night force batteries. I even own two night force just so I had one for a back up. So when you say run time is two short, it all come down to what you need and how much money hunters are willing to pay to see better. Look at the coyote light that cost $429 and only 5 hours of run time on high. It is a good light and there will be people that will own two just to run all night and have a back up. That is $858 to hunt with. A few extra18650 batteries sounds like a good deal to me. :-)
Since Ernie brought CoyoteLight in to the conversation, we have a few things to say. The description from Ernie is misleading.
Battery LifeCoyoteLight gets at least 5.5 hours of run-time on full power, and when dimmed to 25% power will get 48 hours of run-time. Normal hunting time when the CoyoteLight is used for both scanning and shooting is around 30hrs. CoyoteLight was designed to have plenty of battery life to hunt all night. If you hunt 5.5 hours with the Carnivore, you would need 11 batteries.
Brightest LED Light?You say the Carnivore is the brightest LED, but have you tested the CoyoteLight? Why only post a picture at 60yds? We have posted pictures at 250yds. We realize not everyone will shoot that far, but it's our responsibility for safety as hunters to see the back drop. In addition for close shots, CoyoteLight can dim down so there is not a chance of spooking the animal with an overly bright light.
CostYou mentioned you use a Lightforce as a backup. If you combine the cost of a Lightforce ($319.95) plus the Carnivore ($112), the multiple lights costs more than one CoyoteLight.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Brett