Commuting - ...and the Lord said

Greetings,

I’d like to pose a question that certainly comes up all the time. Do I need a light system and if so, which one should I buy?
I live in Chicago and generally bike to work everyday. My commute home is late at night on well lighted streets. I have commuted for years in this manner and have never used lights. Last night it was raining and for the first time I felt invisible and vulnerable. I decided then I need a system that allows me to be seen by automobiles. I’ve poked around on the web and seen different systems at different prices. Naturally, I’m a bit overwhelmed right now.
Chicago is a rough place to ride a bicycle, drivers are often belligerently discourteous. If I buy a system, I want to make a big statement, one that demands respect. Further, I want to use the light as a weapon when someone does something stupid, which happens all the time. Expect when I go on my urban adventures, which I do mostly in the summer after work, I want more to be seen than light the path ahead. I need a headlight and a taillight.
As for money, I don’t want to spend a fortune, but I also don’t want to spend $250 only to discover I should have spent $450. Don’t tell my wife, but I love spending money on bike stuff and generally go top shelf (who said it was cheaper to commute by bicycle?). I want a quality system that is reliable and easy to use.
Or, do I need a system at all? I’ve gone this far without one, maybe just a little tail strobe is all I need.
Thank you for your advice and patience, as I know this question comes up all the time.

Most states now require that if you are going to be riding at night you need a front facing head light.

More than that, it's safer. You are way more noticible with them.

Start with the tail strobe. An LED strobe alone will increase your margin of safety in the dark. As far as head lights go, it'll be hard to compete with car headlights in terms of "making a statement" and "demanding respect". HID lights do a pretty good job of demanding respect, but would probably be overkill if you're only riding on lighted streets. You can get pretty good white LED strobes that'll increase your visibility from the front, but they certainly don't intimidate the drivers (for better or worse). Halogen systems are good too I guess, but consume batteries. In my opinion LEDs are the way to go on well lit streets. See the thread,on the cateye 400 (http://64.191.20.129/showthread.php?t=39598)

I commuted in Chicago for 3 years and all I had was 2 LED lights strobing away in the front and rear, at least you will be seen

If you are on well lit streets, one of the Cateye 5 LED lights is more than enough to be seen. We have a couple of them, at $30-40 each they are fine, the batteries have been going for 3 months now and although I'm sure the light has diminished, they still light well. Unless your going to ride where there is low or poor ambient lighting, you probably don't need a higher end lighting system. Don't forget at least one light for the rear of your bike. I ride with 2, one blinking and one solid, can't have too many lights or be too visible when riding at night!

I use a front strobe as well as a nite rider halogen when I lived in Seattle which is light better I just used the strobe (remember it needs to be white or yellow in the front and red in the back) I added the nite rider when I moved up here which does not have all the lights of the big city. I last year I also added tire flies to my stems that attracted more attention than all my lights a reflective gear and they were cheap. If you chose the tire flies they come in several colors I have heard of people getting tickets for using the wrong colors so I stuck with the legal colors (front wheel white rear red). People were stopping and asking where I got them so they where definitely a good hit and the 2 cost me around 12 bucks. Get them from an auto store the local LBS was charging quite a bit more for the same thing.

I live in, "The Electric City" in which most streets are very well lit. I run a simple head lamp on the front and strobing L.E.D. on the back of the bike.