I recently posted a thread on my own favorite "to see with" light, the Ixon IQ Premium (the battery powered version of the Lumotec Cyo Premium, which is a dynamo light) -
http://www.bikeforums.net/commuting/...e-ranking.html

It uses a highly shaped beam with even light distribution and a cutoff at the horizon like a car headlight -

In the first pic it's not aimed right but it demonstrates the cutoff -


In this second pic it demonstrates more what you see when it's aimed right -


The picture isn't quite a perfect representation of the light - it's not quite that bright, but the sides in real life are not quite that dark either (I could still see them with my eyeball, whereas they look to dark to see in this pic). But notice the lack of a distracting hotspot, and how everything that's lit up is lit up fairly evenly.