I completely understand your reluctance...the user interface is probably the single most important feature of a light. If it is annoying to use, doesn't matter how good it is otherwise.
Have you used an aspheric light before? I've found that any light with any kind of hotspot is too bright in many cases...but a completely even flood beam is much more forgiving, since the lumens are distributed over a much larger area, and therefore do not create the intensity/glare like reflector-based lights. Obviously if you need to preserve night vision, it will be too bright, but it won't be blinding...something to think about, anyway. As usual, the devil is in the details.
