I got it!

TromboneAl,
You might consider the new Cygolite Streak 280. It's in the $50 range, and it flashes at 500 lumens. The high beam is only 280, but seemed bright enough for urban night rides. The downside is that in flashing mode, the runtime is only 5-hours (earlier Cygolite Metros had 25-hour flash run times).

I returned the Streak 280 for a (much more expensive) Light & Motion Urban 550 so that I could get more than a one or two day rides between charges (18 hrs flashing at 140 lumens). But the Streak seemed like a quality light for a decent price. Some nice features: it starts up in the last mode used, and the"Steady Pulse" mode seems valuable for dark urban commutes.