Actually, it had been pretty hard to get a HL35 in Europe lately, even through Amazon. Few dealers have them in stock, and Amazon lost one I ordered somewhere during the shipping (though I got a prompt refund, it did cost me a fortnight of waiting for the light never showing up). I finally sourced one, though.
I am not so sure about HL35 replacement in the future, as Fenix did write to me when I asked, that they did not sell that much of them ("It's a sales game. Sales weren't great for it so we go back to the drawing board on designs. There were no design flaws with the light."). Hopefuly, they will correct the flaws (like impossibility to turn it off by unscrewing the battery cap, or the UI, if I may wish
) and release something similar later on.
Thanks for pointing out the Nitecore HA20 - I had a look on their website, and it seems it has 1-button operation only (although not very specific on the cycling of the red/white light). I prefer the red light on a separate button - having both (especially when cycled together) on one button is what kept me from getting the HL60R (it cycles in the completely incomprehensible order of turbo>red>eco>low>mid>hi with no option to just turn on the red light). I prefer keeping my night vision adapted when I need a little red light by not going through turbo or memorised white mode first...
I like the 2AA format in IP68 body though, for extended winter hikes or caving, it's just the right amount of weight I am still comfortable with on my head, while giving an extended runtime and convenience of AAs or 14500s for more light. About Lithium primaries, is it really incompatible with them (probably no voltage issues, since the driver can take two 14500s, right?), or is it just that their discharge curve is different enough that the circuitry runs them flat and shuts off much more quickly? That was an issue I had when using Li primary in HL21, the lamp just kept on shining than died very suddenly (and couldn't turn on even on low, since the cell was probably too cold by then), unlike other chemistries that gave plenty of warning. I just learned to live with that, if I went to cold enough temps or needed low weight cells to warrant using Li primaries in it.