When it's dark...solution, get out your elite and use it to see while your doing it. After an extended walk around some North Wales Mountains, I found the need to change the batteries in my Tikka XP head torch.
I hadn't thought about it before, but how do you work in the dark on your main head torch? Fortunately I had an elite in my rucksack waistband, and I used it to change my batteries. It was the first time I'd used it in anger, and I found it brilliant. You could use it to walk with in an emergency, but it is an emergency lite after all, so isn't as good for this as most dedicated constant use torches.
I'm glad I bought mine and wouldn't be without it now. Personally I would suggest changing the batteries in it every 2 years as a precaution, you don't want to be needing it and finding the cells have died.
Oh and Cotswold, if you lowered the price, I think you'd find you'd sell loads more of these :-)