Dave - you are absolutely right. Without question there are other solutions available, some of them much less expensive. No doubt about that. If one doesn't wish to undertake any form of "surgery" on their aircraft, and one's aircraft already has a standard incandescent PAR 36 bulb in place, then the existing PAR 36 LED replacements are certainly viable and, importantly, an easy upgrade to existing incandescent PAR 36 units. Just about anything is an upgrade over that vintage technology.
Others, on the other hand, don't mind doing a bit of "surgery". In my case, for instance, I have a pair of Baja Squadron Pro's installed for less money than the equivalent pair of Whelen Parmetheus lamps. The net effect is a similar cash outlay for more than double the light output. Since I was doing a net new installation it was actually easier to install the Baja's using their supplied mounting bracket than to custom fabricate a PAR 36 mount for my wingtips.
Why more light? I'll quote just one instance... Another owner of the same aircraft type as mine hit a deer at night on landing roll out. It cost them a new prop, spinner, cowl, engine mount, fuel injection servo and a few other components, not to mention the engine components that had to be replaced. Total cost was over $50K by the time they were done. Their experience has caused them to retrofit much brighter LED landing lights to their aircraft.
Sure, not all runway incursion incidents will be solved by brighter lights, but if one is already spending X amount of dollars on a lighting upgrade, why not get more light for the same expenditure and buy yourself a bit more margin of safety?