I've been in the hobby since the early days of Luxeon Tech in about 2003 and earlier and the leaps and bounds that LED's and sabers have come in these last 11 years is astounding to me.
Back then a Luxeon III Star Green, for example, would deliver 80 Lumens running at the full power of 1000 mA.
Now you can get a CREE X-PE2 Green that delivers 122 Lumens running at a third of the power at 350 mA.
Personally I don't see the need to get a saber so bright that you would need to wear eye protection. That defeats the purpose. Plus the obvious problems of run time, heat management, and of course the risk of blindness. My goal is to have a saber that is bright enough so that it looks fairly bright in a well lit room. Not direct sunlight, mind you, but with lamps on in the room. Even the single die LED options available to us can do this with ease. Lumen ratings and LED specs aside, the blade is also key in perceived brightness.
Just my two cents. : )
Psab