After 33 years of using the bike for commuting, on and off, many cheap lights, best that technology could buy at the time and many upgrades, I settle on the following.


My commuter is my SUV, groceries, Dr. appointments, going to movies, occasional touring, and some light hardware store visits. I decided to have dynamo lights with battery lights for backup and safety (blinking lights are seen better). But if your goal is to commute only, you can go with bright LED battery only lights. However, I would have backups though, two for the back and two for the front. At least one of the primary would be 300-400 lumen for lighted street commute or 600-700 lumens for dark streets commute, just my opinion. The rear ones I would get the biggest and brightest money can buy (2watts LED or better). One I would run blinky, the other "on" all the time. Rechargeable would be my first choice and always carry an extra battery for front and back if not rechargeable.


For me having dynamo lights (Luxos U) give a peace of mind that if the batteries fails, you can still be seen and would be able to see the road (safely), even on the darkest of nights. I run the battery front (cygolite 700) on low blinky and battery last much longer (4-5 hours), but have the option of turning it on on higher for a very very bright front (night rain), or in case the Luxos fail, I would have adequate lighting on the front and back to get home safely.


For the rears I run two cygolite hotshots (two watts each) on different stages of blinking and the dynamo rear (1 1/2 watts, three 1/2 watts lights) on steady all the time (only option on dynamo rear). The blinky would catch the drivers attention and the steady would allow him to better judge the rate of closure.


I have been looking for my son college commuter bike (on a budget) and the least I would spend is about $80.00 to feel safe for him. Cree T-6 (not sure on the name) front light, with a different mount, and a cygolite or something similar in brightness on the back.


There is no cheap lighting system in my opinion. You could find good value for your needs, but brightness with efficiency come at a price. No more $15-$25 bike lights, like I use to buy. Hope this help Double O