Looking at "upgrading" to surefires. How is the distance?

I wouldn't waste the extra cash on surefire. Streamlight is awesome for the price.

The Surefire X300U is rated at 16.5k candela, which works out to a calculated beam distance of 257 meters per the ANSI FL1 standard. The Streamlight TLR-1 and TLR-1HL are both rated at 12k candela for a beam distance of 219 meters. If you are truly interested in long distance illumination then check out the TLR-1 HPL, it's rated at 48k candela for a calculated distance of 438 meters.

After dealing with streamlights CS I'd like to stay away from them. I used to be a streamlight man, but I just tried to BUY a replacement bulb for a light they used to make. (NOT ASKING FOR HANDOUTS OR WARRENTY WORK) The very first thing they tell me is that streamlights warrenty is only for 1 year and ONLY with original reciept and then go on to say they do not support (carry parts for) the discontinued light.
Meenwhile I hear people saying Surefire has fixed ancient mil-surp lights no questions asked.
You get what you pay for.

Sounds about right regarding their customer service. I had 2 TLR-1s fail within a couple months and they wouldn't repair or replace them.

Buy once, cry once. Go with Surefire.

Surefire all the way. Their customer service is AWESOME!!! They will repair it and never ask if you are the original owner.