Wow, thanks for all the replies! Looks like there are many, many opinions on this.

So to answer the questions I can...

Yes, I am new to this sport. Just started riding maybe two months ago so I am a total newbie. My first 40 mile ride was last weekend, prompting my question about lights. I do not plan to ride at night but might end up coming home after dark or possibly even starting before daybreak once in a while.

Elevation where I ride is not that great, according to map my ride the Max is 745 feet so there are some hills, but nothing that you guys to the west of me would consider worthy of mention

I am riding the Trek hybrid in my signature but may move to a road bike if I still have the bug that I do now which is to go farther and farther. Time permitting I will do my first 50 mile ride this weekend on my hybrid

Average speed on my last few rides (mostly the same routes, distance is the only variable) has been as slow as 15.6 and as fast as 16 MPH. The 40 mile ride saw the 15.6 average (up hill on the ride back) and my lunch ride on Tuesday saw a 16 MPH average (1 hour, 10 seconds for 16 miles)

Hope that clears up the questions posed to me

Thanks all for the great insight into bike lights. When I started I never knew there was so much to learn. I appreciate it!