I can speak from experience since I have ordered a few hundred bucks worth of stuff from dealextreme in the past. Some for myself, some for Christmas presents. I have a bunch of lights from them in the <$10 range that just sit in a box now because they suck. The only light from them that I really use is a U2-style light with a Cree LED, and it's in the $20 range. It runs off one rechargeable lithium 18650 cell, which gives good brightness and runtime, and it has held up pretty well being banged around the house/garage. The light has a simple clicky switch- once for high, click again for low, click again for off. The Trustfire charger DX has for $12-ish works well with my lithiums- RCR123, 18650, 14500, etc. I bought a few lights, modded them with an updated Cree if necessary, and included the charger & batteries and the package makes a good gift for folks who still think a box-stock Maglite is the pinnacle of flashlight technology. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" /> The in-laws have used theirs daily for over a year and still like it.

DX has lots of inexpensive lights that really are cheap and will leave you dissatisfied. Some items they have are worth the money, but don't go hog wild buying stuff on there just because it's cheap, or you'll end up with a box full of junk. They also have problems correctly filling orders, although I did eventually get most of what I paid for.

For a pocket LED light, I would say right off the bat to just take the plunge and go with lithium rechargeable batteries and a charger for them. Li-ions just pack way more juice than an equivalently sized alkaline, NiMH or NiCad, they handle cold temps better, and don't exhibit severe self-discharge. If you get a single AA sized light, make sure it will accept a lithium 14500 in addition to regular alkalines. I prefer CR123 lights myself. The lights that take an 18650 are a little big for pocket carry in my jeans, but would be okay in a coat pocket if you're working outdoors.

Fenix, Nitecore (my daily carry is an EX10 with some extra goodies), Olight, Jetbeam are generally good brands. They aren't dirt cheap, but they aren't too pricey either, and they will actually work when you need them. Buy one of those and compare it to the <$10 crap at DX, and you'll see where your money went. Surefire has always made good lights, but they were a couple years late to the LED party and I haven't bought one. BTW, some of these lights have digitally controlled whiz-bang features like variable brightness, custom memory settings, etc. Read through the descriptions of the various user interfaces and see if that's something that will appeal to you or not. These ain't your grandpa's flashlights. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" /> 4sevens.com sells a good variety of lights and has good service, so that would be a good place to browse.

Head over to candlepowerforums.com, but I will warn you... the flashlight obsession consumed my life for over a year and still nags at me every now and then. I hope for your sake that you are able to control yourself. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />