I need a LOT more light than any practical dynamo system is going to be able to deliver. I suspect a lot more people are in my situation than want to admit it. I've had quality name brand lignts in the ~120+ actual lumens arena. I've seen people claim these lights are hellishly bright. I don't know but what I do know is the only two wrecks I've had were at night and they happened because I hit something I couldn't see. I'm not riding in Midtown Manhattan. I'm riding in semi-rural suburbia. There is just enough lighted infrastructure to make people think they can pull off a night commute with Nite Rider or Cygolite self contained lights. And maybe you will do it too for months until the night you whack something you didn't see and you fall right in front of someones SUV... crunch. You don't get to tell the DMV that you only drive in well lit city centers so you don't need to spend out for pricey DOT spec headlights. Even if you never drive at night your car better have two of whatever the manufacturer put in the front corners of your vehicle and at least bi-annually you are required to prove to an authority that they actually work. Truthfully, its not even the issue as to whether dyno lights work or not. The issue is that they cannot, in their present level of performance, serve as the sole source light source for a hardcore commuter. So why bother with them at all?

H