Originally Posted by
cehowardGS
I applaud you for seeing the benefit of running mutliple bright lights in traffic.. I respectfully disagree with your "it was obnoxiously bright".. A post in the Safety forum compared riding in traffic to combat. I won't go so far as to do that, but riding in traffic is a whole different ball game. Rush hour traffic and at night time is even worse..IMO, we must be seen to even have a chance in that kind of environment.
I ride with two 1200 rate plus or higher lums up front. and sometimes even back those two with a 500+lum helmet light. Running a Hotshot Cygolite USB on the back of the helmet, and a Sefras USB mounted on the seatpost. During the day, I am running one of the lights up front on strong blinky, with one of the rear lights running too. I know you know the respect you get when running those bright lights up front. The "cut in front or pull out in front" is almost non-existent when running strong blinky lights up front. At night, and mainly on my return leg of the commute, which is in traffic and dark, up front I am running one light on blinky, the other on solid. the helmet light acts like a horn too, and it works on curves..
All of the above is what I do in knock-down-balls out rush-hour traffic, mostly at night too. I would not recommend any of the above for MUPs or bike trails..Maybe a tiny small lum blinky up front might be okay for MUP or trails, that I don't know, because 97% of my riding is on the street with traffic..
Again, with the traffic, keep the lights strong... 
I certainly welcome you opinion, even if slightly different then mine. I do agree bright lights, and multiple lights, is important for safety and being seen by cars. I am often amazed at how many people have some really dull lights front and back, or no lights, riding through SF. My preferred set up is different then yours, partially due to the route I ride which is largely a MUPs, streets with less traffic and/or streets with well marked bike lanes and minimal areas with cars parked or on roads that can pull out in front of me. I have had to go a different, more crowded route a few times and on those I definitely like the brighter blinking light to get drivers attention.
I have recently been looking at brighter blinky options to go with my solid on lights. The "obnoxiously bright" blinky issue was largely an issue for me as it reflected off my bike and things in front of me and actually interfered with my own vision. I recently tried another 700 lumen light that has a blinky that is probably more like 200 lumens and the flash pattern didn't seem to bother me as much, so I might try that in addition to my solid 700 lumen light for the street part of my commute.