Update: The need to replace my front blinky is no longer, though I do still plan on getting something else. I let my wife (6+yrs as a US Navy Electronics Tech, ITT Computer/Electronics Engineering grad, and currently building circuit boards for an outfit that primarily supplies DoD contractors) look at it. I turned it on, handed it to her, and it died as she closed her hand around it. Pronounced that it had a loose contact somewhere and promptly returned the light and went back to her book.

So, since the light was deemed defective, I decided to salvage the new batteries that I had just put in the other day. Two of the cells just fell out of the holster on their own, so in a moment of saying to myself that I'm either going to kill it or cure it, I took some pliers and pulled the springs out a bit... and now the thing seems to be working fine. I didn't get a chance to use it this morning; hopefully I'll be able to report back tomorrow.