Cree might be based in North Carolina, but they have a very large LED chip making operation in China. I'm pretty sure most all of your 'US Manufacturers' are in fact outsourcing the actual manufacturing to China, otherwise their prices would be way more expensive. I paid under $40 for my chinese Cree XM-L T6 lamp from ebay including postage from Shenzen... I knew up front the advertised lumens were impossible (1800 lumens is the absolute peak light you'd get out of one of these LEDs just before it fries). If it breaks, oh well. Yeah, I could have spent $200 or something on a Nite-Rider system. hmmmm.

btw, "coleen c" mentioned 'lumens out front'. Lumen is a measurement of the total amount of light emitted, it is NOT how bright something is at any specific point (thats 'lux' or 'candela').

the projection pattern of my XM-L T6 lamp is almost entirely a function of the reflector+lens assembly its mounted in. With the lens and reflector removed, there's ~90 degree wide cone of even light (and it probably would be closer to 180 degree but the housing occludes it), the edge is just about as bright as the center. either way, the same number of lumens are emitted by the LED (arguably, with the reflector more lumens come out the front, as without the reflector, a significant portion is absorbed by the sides of the housing).