We have a short track (maybe 18 inches, 2 feet at most) with three lights on it at the top of our stairs, which go up to a half second floor with a railing open to the living room below. The track provides lighting for the upstairs open hallway and are the only lighting source for the stairs.

Right now there are three mismatched fixtures (BIG can types, that look to me like something you'd see outside) that provide adequate lighting, although I'd prefer more.

I'd like to replace it with another track fixture (or something with three directional lights) that has much smaller fixtures but provides really good lighting.

What's the best route to take here? Halogen? LED? I don't mind paying a little bit more for this fixture particularly if the bulbs will last a while. It's very scary to service this fixture (because you are sort of perched over the railing to down below) so the less time we spend changing light bulbs, the better.