I did have to change the batteries once this year, but then again I had THREE super long and difficult nighttime trails this year (over an hour each), plus a several other nighttime blood trails, plus field dressing of animals, and put in about 60 hunts total (a low number for me, but more than most folks. And on the toughest of those trails, my Dad's best buck ever, about 80 yards of it was a pinhead size drop of blood about every 5'. I'm positive I would not have found that deer that night without that particular flashlight.
It is literally like night and day when comparing other flashlights I've used to the Main Beam. No comparison.