Not sure how I lucked out, but I ordered the crennelated version from Brightguy.com. It arrived Saturday. Overall, I'm fairly impressed, although, it seems like the $75 price point is a bit high. It has a great beam profile, slanted more to throw than flood, with little to no artifact. Just a bright well defined hot spot, well defined from the adequate but not overbearing spill. It's one of the nicest XP-G beams I've seen with a smooth reflector. The pocket clip is rock solid, and heavy duty. I have heard some say it is ugly, but I think its ok. It is definitely big and heavy enough for real-world use. The battery tube looks to be the same diameter (internal & external) as the XL series, with what looks like a delrin spacer to hold the CR 123's. Not sure how easily this would be removed/bored to accomodate an 18650. ( I know Mag will be mortified by this speculation!)
The over-all fit and finish are good. The dull black anno looks like HAIII. It has a no b.s. ready for duty appearance, while not being dull or un-exciting.
This light is in my opinon both a departure for Mag, and a step in the right direction. It's not the brightest or smallest 2x123 light, but I can't think of anything that would require more than the 320 lumens put out by a light like this. I am a firefighter/paramedic, but I would think this light, behind the powerful Maglite name will be popular with military and police personnel.
My final thoughts are that I am happy to have this one in the collection, and I will enjoy playing with it! Also, until my kids figure out the double-click for constant on, the batteries are protected from being killed by being left on and discarded once they get distracted by something more fun to play with.