Quote: "I THINK I've read in the past it's got something to do with the fact the light is designed as a flash, rather than to be lit on any long term basis. So may be detrimental to the life of the LEDs."

We have a winner! It is a catch 22, since the better the flash LED's the less likely to use as a flashlight / camera function. Then people will be complaining that the LEDS's have gone out on them.