Lambda very kindly sent me a new Luxeon Side Emitter to play with, and I am now a believer. Properly set up (in this case inside a Maglite 3D on DirectDrive), it will focus to a point where it is not only brighter, but also throws farther than a brand new SureFire P6:

And just in case you're wondering which one is really brighter, output readings taken from one meter were:

SureFire P6 - 3,040 lux

Maglite 3D SE - 4,350 lux

Look out incandescents, here come the Luxeons...

Just out of curiosity, I put this 3D SE up against my 5W Cyan Fire Breathing Dragon, both lights shone against a dark gray rock wall from 10 feet away:

No contest, the 5W cleanly blows the 1W SE, even tightly focused, outta the proverbial water.